punta arenas
so, after spending two days (well, one really today is the second day) hoping and doing virtually nothing, i finally got myself organized today (thanks to the help of the owner of the hostal i'm staying at) and go out and see some sight today. i went to an expo on the magallanes region, which means artesanal stuff like clay things and scarves and blah blah blah but then there were chocolate places (!!!!) and also fresh bread places (!!!! again!), though they did not sell empanadas that had veggies, instead they had the same ol' meat meat meat. so i had ice cream instead. i'm surprised i held back on the chocolates..they were infinite.
the other thing i saw today that i'd actually prefer to comment on is the cemetary here. there are huge mausoleums here housing families that seem important, but i unfortunately don't necessarily know who they are. my main objective here was not necessarily to see the different mausoleums, rather to see the memorial to the disappeared and political prisoners that were affected within this region, or at least in punta arenas. (as an aside, punta arenas is the largest city in the southern tip of the earth, 120,000 people here in patagonia, and has some great winds that in the winter must be ridiculous -- someone mentioned that people in the campo (the farmers and such) have to take off their roofs in the winter so the wind doesn't blow 'em off, and move off to another more sheltered place...yikes!) the monument itself is not impressive. it's rather solemn, and a bit like the vietnam memorial in the US: reflective, black marble with some names on the wall and on top it says "in memory of the political prisoners and the disappeared" etc etc. it's simple and quite effective. there are also small plaster poles of sorts to symbolize i'm not sure, but they're flanking the memorial. what's strange is seeing people within this gigantic cemetary mourning for their own loved ones. you feel, i felt, like a voyeur in a way, sort of interrupting and being curious about their own grief. it's not that i was curious, it's that i happened upon someone from a distance, and looked more closely to see what they were doing. this happened twice. once with one person (saw from a bit of a distance) and the other time in an actual funeral. i don't think there's a sadder sound than a shovel sinking into a pile of dirt. besides maybe the clump that you hear as it hits the casket. but anyway, not to be morbid, it's just very...what's the word...well, it makes you feel small in a way and embarrassed as if you'd done something wrong and entered into someone's small world for a quick second and didn't mean to. it's not your pain, it's theirs. but either way, this is a cemetary and you would imagine that's what it's for -- to memorialize someone's death. obviously there'll be pain.
anyway, on a lighter note i saw penguins! pictures to come because they're unfortunately, um, not digital. i have to put them on a cd. this will be done soon, i assure you all, so don't forget to check facebook at least SOMEtime soon, i hope to have 'em up before getting to argentina, which will be rather soon. argentina's up next, to buenos aires where it's HOT as a muufuggah, probably 90 and humid. anyway, at least i got rhubarb preserves and jarred rhubarb to pass the time in delicious glory.
andrew "mmm...rhubarb" bloggerheads
the other thing i saw today that i'd actually prefer to comment on is the cemetary here. there are huge mausoleums here housing families that seem important, but i unfortunately don't necessarily know who they are. my main objective here was not necessarily to see the different mausoleums, rather to see the memorial to the disappeared and political prisoners that were affected within this region, or at least in punta arenas. (as an aside, punta arenas is the largest city in the southern tip of the earth, 120,000 people here in patagonia, and has some great winds that in the winter must be ridiculous -- someone mentioned that people in the campo (the farmers and such) have to take off their roofs in the winter so the wind doesn't blow 'em off, and move off to another more sheltered place...yikes!) the monument itself is not impressive. it's rather solemn, and a bit like the vietnam memorial in the US: reflective, black marble with some names on the wall and on top it says "in memory of the political prisoners and the disappeared" etc etc. it's simple and quite effective. there are also small plaster poles of sorts to symbolize i'm not sure, but they're flanking the memorial. what's strange is seeing people within this gigantic cemetary mourning for their own loved ones. you feel, i felt, like a voyeur in a way, sort of interrupting and being curious about their own grief. it's not that i was curious, it's that i happened upon someone from a distance, and looked more closely to see what they were doing. this happened twice. once with one person (saw from a bit of a distance) and the other time in an actual funeral. i don't think there's a sadder sound than a shovel sinking into a pile of dirt. besides maybe the clump that you hear as it hits the casket. but anyway, not to be morbid, it's just very...what's the word...well, it makes you feel small in a way and embarrassed as if you'd done something wrong and entered into someone's small world for a quick second and didn't mean to. it's not your pain, it's theirs. but either way, this is a cemetary and you would imagine that's what it's for -- to memorialize someone's death. obviously there'll be pain.
anyway, on a lighter note i saw penguins! pictures to come because they're unfortunately, um, not digital. i have to put them on a cd. this will be done soon, i assure you all, so don't forget to check facebook at least SOMEtime soon, i hope to have 'em up before getting to argentina, which will be rather soon. argentina's up next, to buenos aires where it's HOT as a muufuggah, probably 90 and humid. anyway, at least i got rhubarb preserves and jarred rhubarb to pass the time in delicious glory.
andrew "mmm...rhubarb" bloggerheads