La Cultura Chilena de Fiesta

Briefly addressing the title: not sure if it's right, but what I meant to say was "The Chilean party culture". Moving along...

I spent all of six nights in Santiago, Chile, in December 2013. I hope I return. I really, really do. I want to. It was fun. And I really like this city of 6 million people, with it's world-class metro*, easy-going atmosphere, and dangerously potent drinks. But it took me only six nights innately understand, or at least get a taste of, real Chilean party culture.

At some point on that 6th night, I drunkenly sent myself and then discovered the next day an e-mail titled "Chilean culture". The body of the e-mail read "Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead". I knew this was uttered by somebody in a war and has been one of my favorite quotes of all time, not just among my favorite war quotes. A quick Google search tells me it was uttered by none other than David Farragut**, admiral in the United States navy during the American Civil War. He did during the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864. The Union won the day. It is unclear the impact the quote had on the battle but it is clear how memorable the quote is. To me, without further explanation, even knowing no context, it perfectly captures and explains Chilean party culture. You go on, you go ahead and do what you're going to do, balls to the wall***, perfectly brazen, and you enjoy the hell out of yourself. Chile and I were friends before this night, but I believe you don't really know anyone until you've gotten blasted with them. Chile and I are bros now.

I am sure part of the reason I partied so much in Santiago was because I was there for only a week. I had to make the most of it. YOLO, right? It seems like every time I went out, people went HARD. I mean hard. Real hard. Hard hard. Like, it's 4 AM and you're still drinking pisco like it's water hard. Yeah. Basically, that's all I really have to say here. Lots of cultures have fun with it but in my limited experience in partying in Chile, they almost take it seriously. It's like "we're gonna get blasted END OF STORY." Now, of course, not everyone does this. But from what I saw, plenty of people do. And it was glorious.

Rock on, Chile.

*That is no exaggeration. If there's better metro anywhere in the world, I challenge you to find it.

**In the 2009 movie "Star Trek", one of the ships is named the Farragut. Any idea if it is after this man? If so, it's ironic as it's one of the ones destroyed by that massive Klingon ship that did not speak for the empire.

***TO DA WALL!

Sacrificing The Couch

I really, really, really hope you read the title of this post and got the image in your head of someone standing behind a couch, with a white face, white like lightning, so white it is unnatural, as if they've just been frightened, with short, dark, tussled hair, wearing a long-sleeved blue t-shirt, holding their hands above their hands, knife tightly clasped in between, a crazed, maniacal look on their face, ready and willing to sacrifice said couch. The room is dark, quite. He's waiting, just waiting. Waiting for the lightning strike and inevitable thunderclap following to time the strike of the perfect blow.

But maybe that was just me. I really need to work on my prose. And my everything.

But no, this is not the type of sacrifice to which I am referring. I mean giving it up, forgoing it.

Life is, well, up to you. I know, I know, there are times when it's not. If you have a child and also happen to be responsible, no, you can't pick up and run off to Argentina like I did. But, I think, in general, you can. I have met lots of people who think they can't, but they can. They have the means. They can. And I believe the numerous travelers I have met along my way, and those who came before me and those who will invariably come after me prove, it is possible. It is possible to make your own choices and live your own life.

You can stay at home. I'd imagine there are people who could live in the town where they were born and/or raised and stay there all their lives. People used to do that, I think?

You can do whatever you want.
The couch is comfortable.
But you only have one life.

This post is not about saying you only have one life, get out there and life! Etc etc shamey inspirational bullshit. In fact, the world more or less needs some people to stay home and do their jobs. We can't have everyone traveling. Someone's got to work the fields, harvest the food, and ship it to the cities so we can all eat.

I more or less want to point out that when you do choose to travel, in a way, you're choosing the more difficult path. You could say this is true of anything difficult. And you could also argue traveling is like running away and never wanting to grow up.* But I argue it's easy to sit on the couch, and it's counterintuitive to travel. Don't people want the easy thing? Not necessarily the path of least resistence, but why consciously make yourself uncomfortable? SO YOU CAN SEE THE WORLD. You have to give up the couch in order to see the world. You have to make yourself uncomfortable. You have to hike for four days up and down hills and mountains and sleep three nights on the ground on a mat in a sleeping bag in a tent so you can experience said beautiful hills and mountains.

I could be at home, in Atlanta, going to bars, enjoying great food, beer, my friends, hookah, making more money, etc. But I am in Punta Arenas, Chile, using a desktop computer that is an LG CD-ROM (maybe DVD-ROM at this point?) and the rest mystery, a Maxell mouse, and a Philips monitor, with very good electricity and internet writing this post. And I'll have the memory of this, not Atlanta. I will, regrettably, miss good trips and times with some amazing friends. But I'm making new friends and seeing new parts of the world. I do feel the twinge of pain when I think of the things I'll miss out on with my friends. And that's the sacrifice I'm talking about.

-B

*Don't get me started on growing up, suffice to say it, it's overrated.