All is quiet on the southern front

Since our return from Elqui Valley things have been fairly quite. Monday class resumed as normal, but we had our lecture in a coffee shop in the middle of downtown. It was an interesting class because we were people watching while people were staring at us. A lot of awkward eye contact and a little bit of learning later we had the first truly awful lunch. After lunch Matt, Dave, and I went to the grocery store and hopefully bought enough food and wine to make it through the next week. After a glorious nap the whole crew went to Martin Fierro to celebrate one of the professors 56th birthday. Martin Fierro is a mecca as it turns out because they bring you grills with slabs and slabs of meat sizzling and looking delicious. After struggling to get enough money to pay the bill we went back to the cabanas for a cocktail (or two) before heading to one of the bars on the beach. The night was pretty uneventful as we just hung out and enjoyed each others company. Our spanish college ambassador type person, Cristobal, hung out with us and I foolishly promised that I was going to play soccer with him today. We returned from the bar and Dave and I had a minor tustle. His weapons of choice were a sauce pan and a large spoon. I chose a large spatula. As our minor slap battle progressed Matt watched from the sidelines cheering us on. Dave lost the bout as he realized this morning he had a bruised thumbnail. This morning we awoke to ominous clouds. Unlike the states, ominous clouds just mean that it is miserably cold and there might be slight precipitation every once in a while. We managed to survive the longest lecture of the trip on Africa and the AIDS pandemic, a real uplifting topic at 9 in the morning. Luckily for me it was misted the entire class so I didn't have to play soccer with the Chileans. Nap time was a certainty and we attended a boring lecture about the Chilean economy. Dave counted plates and tiles, Matt made imprints on his hands by squish them between his butt and the wicker chair, and I stared at the bottom of my shoes for the better half of an hour (we might still be 6 years old). As I am typing this Matt and Dave have gone to the casino and hopefully they don't lose all their money(but don't hold your breath). Thusday we are going to a soccer game in Coquimbo and Friday we shall attempt to not make ourselfs look too dumb in our very own game against Chilean students (should be a specatcle imagine Matt's tugboat feet, Dave's utter grace when he runs, and my washed up soccer skills).
Adios,
Stretta