Riding the Ascensores
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Valparaìso,
Chile
Friday, December 10, 2004
To get up and down from the seafront to the houses on the hill, just take an old ascensor, or lifty cably cary thingy. They are loads of fun.
Groovy Cafes
Big flashback to Melbourne. Valparaìso is quite a bohemian, arty place, and it is full of groovy cafes and bars, especially near my hostel. I keep finding myself thinking about the groovy cafes in St Kilda and Fitzroy/Brunswick and can´t wait to go back there and sit and chat with my buddies.
It was whilst having lunch in Café Color with Jerry and Derek that I ran into Darren (aka Cheezel) who is my friend Janine´s brother and Michelle´s boyfriend. Very coincidental. He didn´t recognise me for a bit although I think the fact that I shouted out "Cheezel!" gave him a bit of an idea where to place me. My first run in with someone from home and my yearlong trip is almost over!
Around Town
Valparaíso is a town on the sea but the hills spring up very close to the shoreline. Each hill has a different vibe to it and all of them test out your calf muscles. I found myself comparing it to San Francisco and concluded that Valparaíso is nicer with all the brightly painted corrugated iron houses clinging to the hills.
The ascensores were fun, and gave great views of the city and sea. I went with Derek (Ireland) and Jerry (USA) to the Polanco Ascensor which is the most touristy and marvelling. The boys trusted me with the map and never once queried my sense of direction. We did get a little offtrack, but I put that down to the map missing road names and taking on an abstract style. Anyway, it was nothing that a couple of questions to people in the street couldn´t solve. We had to go through a tunnel that was so cool after the heat of the street to where the ascensor went straight up through the rock to a tower with a lookout. We spent ages chatting and admiring the view and I tried my best to point out a clump of very colourful houses, but the others couldn´t see it. Maybe they were just colourblind, it is something that strikes males, but at least I didn´t have the "It´s orange" "No, it´s pink" debate like I did in Mendoza with other colourblind boys.
Big Night
Derek, Jerry and I were keen to hit the town and whilst Derek and I were having a bite to eat at Café Vinilo (Café Vinyl) Jerry was having a nap, but he found us as we were waiting for our dinner. Derek had ordered the lucuma (jungle fruit like a locut), avocado and meringue cake. I was a bit grossed out by sound of avocado in a cake, but it was actually quite nice, and I don´t even like avocado.
Derek and Jerry started the night with some pisco sours and then I had to go home as I wasn´t feeling too good in the tummy. I told them to wake me up and see how I was when they came back as if I was feeling better I would be ready to hit the town.
I drifted off to sleep for about an hour and when Derek woke me I thought I was already awake! Felt much better, so grabbed my things and quick as a flash I was ready to go. Both Derek and Jerry were quite surprised but happy that I was joining them on their night of rampage!
We had missed the appointed meeting time of 1:30am with Jerry´s friend by 15 minutes, so wandered down by ourselves to the bar area. We picked one place and that was where it all began. The boys redeemed their free drink and we wandered about checking out the upstairs area where the music was crap and going back downstairs where the DJ must have had ADD as he would play a 30 second highlight of a classic tune and then skip to another. It actually wans´t as annoying as it should have been. We marvelled at the big 3L jugs of beer on tables. The "jugs" were mini taps of beer so they could pour their own glass instead of going to the bar. Neat. Only they didn´t do it with Coke and Raspberry.
Derek proceeded to get absolutely blotto and turned into a groping octopus, surreptitiously snaking his arm around me or touching my leg. It was kinda funny, but it was Jerry I was interested in. My wishing and hoping and leaning back into him worked and I felt his hand on my leg. Whilst it took awhile for the kiss to come, mainly due to us needing to babysit Derek, it was well worth the wait. And I have been waiting for a long time for a good kiss to come my way.
Derek was so drunk, so lecherously drunk, that he couldn´t even walk up the stairs. This posed a pequeña problema for us because to get home we needed to climb up the stairs as the ascensor doesn´t run at nighttime. At one point, Derek ran down the stairs and disappeared into the crowd. We were quite worried about him, and I went outside and proceeded to ask if a very drunk gringo had gone past, but they said he was still inside. So we looked and looked inside and eventually I spotted him sitting in a chair in the table area with his hands on his head doing the best reindeer impersonation I´ve seen in a long time. All that was missing were the other reindeer and Santa with all his presents, although I saw them down the street the next day.
The solution to the Derek problem was to get a taxi home, which in itself proved difficult, but by waving my leg on the curb I managed to flag one down. (short interlude: just saw a buddhist monk in full get up walk past the window. What the?!?! Almost thought I was back in Thailand.) Back at the hostel, I helped Derek remove his boots, and despite having seen me pashing Jerry in the club, he thought I was going to roll into bed with him. He then proceeded to undo his jeans and then passed out in a sitting position on the bed with his boxers hanging out and I left him like that.
Deja vú
I hung out with Jerry all the next day. It was great and I felt so relaxed and honest around him (yes, that doesn´t happen very often). I was getting very addicted to his kisses and caresses and was intent on making this moment last as long as possible. We then went to dinner in another cool cafe and proceeded to talk about all sorts of stuff. Then out comes "I can´t keep going with this, I´m still in love with my ex". I don´t know, but to go from telling me that you really enjoy my kisses to then in the space of an hour telling me that you don´t want to continue is kind of shocking. Anyways, it was only a moment in my life. Have to learn from each of them you know. I was disappointed (mainly because I am selfish and just wanted more lovely kisses), but not gutted. I then prophecied that he will be married in 18 months just like the last guy that said that to me. Why do I seem to have a wife-finding effect on guys? Seriously, a scary percentage end up with their lifelong partner after me. So boys, if you´re looking to get married, just kiss me and I can guarantee that within one year you will find the mother of your children (and it won´t be me).
Things I Learned
* When a good kisser comes along I´m very reluctant to let them out of my claws.
* It is possible for me to be honest with someone I´m kissing.
* I miss groovy cafés.
