¡A Bordo!....(almost)

So today saw me back in the classroom after a two-week absence spent navigating my way through the Peruvian mountains and the equally challenging system of buses, terminals and transportation in general in Perú and Chile respectively. My first night of vacation was unexpectedly spent in a hostel in the city of Antofagasta becuase I had failed to purchase my bus ticket from Antofa. to Arica ahead of time, thus forcing me to wait 24 hours in a city only 4 hours from where I live.

In order to aviod chronological dimentia, lets begin at the beginning though. Some blessed day in the second week of July brought the news that the mayor of Taltal was requesting the presence of the students and teachers in a parade on July 12th to celebrate the town's anniversary. This was welcome news, not only because I figured it would be pretty neat to participate in the desfila, but also becuase it meant the mayor was obligated to tack on an extra day to the two-week-long Winter Vacations which would commence immediately after our marching duties were complete.
Score.

Thus I would be free to roam about the continent from the 14th till the 28th of July, giving a little more breathing room to my travel plans, and my pilgrimage to the famed Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. As it turned out, I needed all the breathing room I could get, but more of that later. In order to get to missed itineraries, border delays and floral pattern buses, I first have to tell you about the pub.

You see, Alfredo--my co-teacher in the Ingles Abre Puertas program, and also my host-uncle-brother--seems to be a bit of a dreamer. For a long time now it seems that he has been nurturing one dream or another involving building a quaint beautiful little hotel, restaurant, snack-shop, what have you, in a quaint enchanting location somewhere in Taltal. One such dream took root on La Puntilla, a little point that forms one arm of the Bay of Taltal (once a major trading port in the saltpeter era). It included lodging, food services, and even some sort of building stationed on a rock about 50 yards off the point. Suffice it to say that the Puntilla dream never materialized; however, the same weekend we began our vacation, another vision--that of opening up a pub on the back of the house--did become reality. El Rincón de Corwatt (Corwatt's Corner) has now taken its place as arguably the most happenin' bar in Taltal. And no, that's not because it is the only bar in Taltal (there are actually 3 or 4 others). What makes this place so great--other than the fact that it is located on the back of my house--is that, number one, it has an amazing view of the ocean. Two of the four walls consist largely of window glass and open directly out onto the ocean, a little beach, and--if you are there at the right time--one of the best sunset views Taltal has to offer.

Alfredo's grandfather, Alfredo Cordero Watters, owned the main ship trade and customs-house back in Taltal's heyday. The restobar, as they call it (they open each day as a restaurant for Almuerzo--a heavy lunch, and the main daily meal for most hispanics--and every evening but Sunday as a bar), is fittingly centered around said grandfather and the shipping trade. Trimmed out and panelled in beautiful woodwork, the bar is super-enchanting with everything from a giant model sailboat, a large portrait of Corwatt, a topless mermaid and a bar shaped like a boat (complete with a mast which supports a cross-beam/glass rack).

All that was lacking on the Thursday afternoon before we opened was tunes and customers. The former was installed at the last minute, and the latter showed up later that night for the inaugaración. Having had previous table-waiting experience, I was enlisted as one of the garsons, and even got a sweet apron out of the deal. The first night was, of course, pretty chaotic. I may have written here somewhere about the non-linear thinking of most Chileans (and probably South Americans in general). At any rate, at least in my family, things are not generally planned out in a hyper-organized and regulated way. Life is sort of encountered, and then responses are made to fit the situation. For instance, no one really thought of the fact that a restobar would need a storage room until about three days before the place opened. Thus, three days before opening, the carpenters were levelling ground and pouring a slab for the bodega that would house all our back-inventory and also serve as a prep-room.

In keeping with such non-stratified thinking, a nice little snack menu and list of drinks/cocktails had been printed up and laminated for the bar, regardless of the fact that no one had bothered to list, quantify and purchase all the requisite materials to prepare said food and beverages. Luckily for everyone, one of Alfredo's favorite sayings is: don't worry. Some of the guests were a little worried because there wasn't anything to eat except peanuts and potato chips, I was a little worried because I had to tell a lady that we couldn't make either of the 3 drinks she asked for, but Alfredo, and most of the family/management weren't really that worried. And with good reason apparently. That whole weekend, from Thursday night through Saturday night, the place was pretty slammed from 10pm till 4am. Oh, that reminds me. You know how in the States last call is about 2:00 - 2:30am, and 3 o'clock is a respectably late night? Not so in Chile. Like in Spain, normal kids don't even get together to hang out until 11 or 12 at night, and a 5 or 6am return is looked on as normal. One night we closed at 5am.

Suffice it to say I had a fairly busy weekend before heading North for my Peruvian pilgrimage. In the midst of all this, I got to march with my kids in the town anniversary parade on Saturday, which was highly gratifying. Sunday I spent sleeping, catching mass, and stuffing my things into a bag before catching about 2 hours of sleep previous to my 3:30am bus departure the next day. I am afraid this entry has run a bit long, so I'll insert a pause now, and if you feel like reading on about travel adventures, feel free to read the next installment.

Peace,
Billy

P.s. I'll put some accompanying pics. in this post when I can
P.p.s. Details about the trip itself to follow in a couple of days