Lola is a new "teleserie" that began a few weeks ago and it has a fantastically barmy central gimmick: the titular character is actually a man who has been transformed into a woman by a weird old witch after he seriously pissed off a one night stand by promising her the world and then failing to return any of her calls. If that sounds convoluted, fear ye not - it's just the tip of a very farcical iceberg. The soaps here might not be quite as trashy as those from Mexico/Brasil, but they are just as dramatic; each climactic moment is preceeded by a "duh-duh-duh-duh-duh!" sequence of stabbing strings. What can I say, I'm hooked.
Back in the real world, I have followed through with me plan to increase my presence at uni, and rewards have been reaped. I now assist with a couple more classes in which the teachers are actually glad to have me as a native-speaker-resource, I've hung out with the students more and my first office hour was a success! On the other hand, I do seem to have gained a semi-stalker girl: the first years warned me she was a "gringo-eater" and a few times now she's appeared out of nowhere and started blatantly flirting with yours truly... uh oh.
Yesterday, my flatmate Julie and I decided to head off to Valparaiso, a bohemian and colourfully chaotic coastal city a couple of hours from Santiago. We enjoyed an unexpectedly fancy lunch with beautifully presented tapas on arriving there, and proceeded to wander around and explore the characteristic hills filled with zig-zagging streets and mucho graffiti art; this included riding on the famous wooden lifts, creaky contraptions that don't feel entirely safe, but have contributed to the city being named a UNESCO World Heritage site as they are apparently in danger of disappearing - I wonder why that might be?!
I was originally planning to stay the night, but felt the beginnings of a cold coming on and so decided to make it a day trip instead. Fate, however, had other things in mind; after hanging out in a dimly-lit bar for a while where the music policy seemed to consist solely of cheesy 80s ballads, we headed to the bus station only to be informed that the last bus for the capital had left half an hour earlier - demonios! We ended up being lead to a hostel by a woman we encountered there, who promised us a cheap room with a private bathroom. What we got was bug-ridden bed sheets and mysterious voices/noises throughout the night! Ah well, at least none of us got bitten...
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