Kings, penguins, and french people.

Tuesday, a good friend and I made plans to ditch class and head out to the Emperor Penguin Park that is about two hours south of Porvenir. Unhealthy snacks and cameras in hand, we embarked. After snatching some photos and watching those crazy animals be all penguin-like, we then head further south to a tiny little town call Cameron.

This town optimizes small. The school has about 20 kids from 1st to 12th grade and has one street. We were walking around, talking life and being watched the people who are clearly not used to foreigners (me, he is chilean). After walking up the one road for a bit, we ran into something strange. A group of tall French and Argentines speaking a slur of Spanish and French loading up horses with camera and trekking equipment. This, my friends, is not something that happens every day in Cameron. After talking to them a bit we figured out they were doing a reality adventure type contest t.v. program right here in Tierra del Fuego. It was pretty neat to talk to them. In midst of it, a slight jealousy of their adventure started to creep over my shoulders when I realized something wholesomely beautiful. They came to this country for 2 weeks to be guided through it by natives and to snap pictures of the scenery. They will never get to know the people, the food, the dances, the lifestyle, or the truly remote and beautiful spots. This is why I came here, I am perfectly content in that decision.

Now you are all wondering what in the world the "king" part of the title is. Well let me take a minute, just sit right, and i'll tell you how I became the King of a town called Porvenir. (just dropping some Will smith beats) 

This week was my schools spirit week and my team elected me to be their King! Well, I was all for it. Well turns out, as part of king, I had to dance a lot (not a problem), cheer a lot (eh), eat some gross food in the name of competition (ok), and take off my shirt so my queen could give me more lipstick kisses than the other team (heck ya). Its been 5 days and I still cant get the lipstick of my back. Their competitions here are super funny. They have a Mr. and Mrs. competition and for example, there was a Mrs. Curves and they actually measured the girls from both teams to see how curvy they are. I couldn't believe it. Last night was the dance and well, my team won. Team blue for life.

Thats all I got. Below are some pictures. Viva Chile.

This is when I went to a farm and rode for a couple hours and this beautiful steed. Look at the good looking Chilean. 

some pics of Santiago

Cuidate en Santiago.

Last wednesday, this small town boy headed out to the big city. As I told my classmates and friends I was heading out to Santiago, they all gave me some big city advice. Translated to english it read a little like this:

*Dont drink the water there, its terrible and will make you sick.
*If you walk the streets past dark somebody will most likely jump you and steal all your money
*its really dirty there
*people aren't nice

That was most of the advice I received for my 3 day journey north. Now lets take some time to analyze it. The water, while not quite as good as patagonian water, did not kill me, make me throw up, or spend days pooping. So that was cool. I could even order a tap water in a restaurant, which when I do in Porvenir, they just look at me funny. Secondly, I was out till approximately 3 in the morning two of the nights with friends walking around and to my demise, am still here and nobody robbed me. Shucks.
Now to address the dirt. Yes, Santiago is super smoggy but it wasn't terrible when I was there and they streets were cleaner than in Porvenir! Them southerners really like to litter. And finally, I asked a variety of people for advice and where to eat or go out and they were super friendly and willing to answer.

Now, I am sure there are exceptions to my experience and dangerous, dirty, silly places, but all in all, had a very pleasant experience in Santiago. I must say however, its wreaked of America. I stepped off the plane to a starbuck and cinnabon and there was english at every turn. Viva Patagonia!