“Gracias a La Vida” (Thanks to Life) is a very beautiful song by Violeta Parra, a Chilean folksinger who died a long time ago. I’ve been working all day on a presentation about her that I have to give on Tuesday. She was a very interesting woman who led a very interesting life, to say the least. She grew up in a very poor family in the country and is known for helping to bring about a movement called La Nueva Canción (The New Song) in Chile–a musical/artistic/political movement that brought out Chilean tradition and culture, especially bringing attention to issues of the poor farmers and indigenous people here. I’ve been very interested lately in her story and her music, though I won’t recount it all here. I wish I could upload the file to play this song for you all, but it refuses to let me for some reason.
On to less pensive things. This weekend has been a rather relaxing one. Thursday I went with some friends to see a band called Chico Trujillo play, even though I was exhausted. The band was great, but the venue was very claustrophobic and hot due to the large number of people packed in there. We got home around 2ish in the morning and I completely collapsed.
Friday I was pretty lazy. I managed to meet up with Jennifer (chilena, not American) for lunch in Viña and a delicious sugar- and fat-free milkshake afterwards…mmm. When I got home I had to take a nap from being so tired. I wonder if my medication is having some sort of an impact on me…lately I’ve felt unusually tired. Maybe just from staying out too late, I don’t know. I did stay up Friday night too to watch a movie with friends–The Motorcycle Diaries (story of Che Guevara’s travels through S. America before he became a revolutionary)–which probably could have done it. I never paid attention before to how much of that film takes place in Chile…there’s even a few scenes in Valpo, which is cool. I guess the times that I watched it in the past I was never thinking about going to Chile, so I didn’t notice. It’s a beautiful movie and maybe makes me love Chile just a little bit more seeing it in all its cinematic glory.
Last night I went to home of another Chilean girlfriend in Villa Alemana, about a 40 minute bus ride from where I live. She invited some friends over and we stayed up all night talking and choking on the patio around a fire. Excellent. I got to meet her adorable two-year old too, which was nice. I thought it was hard to understand babies in English, but in Spanish it’s worse. I just have to follow the smile and nod rule, I guess…haha. At any rate, it was a grand time. I spent the night so as not to have to travel back by myself and came back this morning. Since then I’ve just been lazing around and doing homework, trying to get caught up before I head out again on Friday for Mendoza. Sleepiness is beginning to overwhelm me, so I think it’s time for bed. Sorry for a less than interesting post. Maybe when I wake up from this fog I’ll feel more motivated. Let’s hope.
Lauren, I meant to tell you that Dr. Gupta said on CNN that Diabetes type I is linked to lack of sleep! You can read the article for yourself on CNN.com. Please get enough rest. I love you. Mom
Hi, girl – your touring and visits with family and friends look wonderful. So I finally got to wondering – what is your run-around vehicle? Landrover, VW Bus, Midget? Something has to handle all those out-of-the-way roads.