the much anticipated story of the men in tights and a really long list...but try to make it to the end!

it's been far too long and i honestly don't know if i can possible delve back so far as to truly relay the story of the men in tights...but i shall try

so after my final adventure of chiloe and riding on a bus for 2 hours in wet, sandy clothes, then more bussing, we spent a night in Puerto Montt, an ugly port city which seems to be encompassed in shady. it was the first time i have felt unsafe since i've been here, so needless to say we left pretty quickly for Valdivia which surprised us with it's size and lovliness. but we were determined to camp a little more or at least see something of the indigenous culture, so we rode through the sleepy rolling countryside the the drowsy town of Futrono on the banks of Lago Ranco. After entirely too much time wandering around the same street, a beautiful sunset, some toffee liquor, and many failed attempts to get to the stupid island with the Mapuche tribe stuff, we returned to Valdivia on friday and decided to go ahead and by overnight bus tickets for home.
however, while waiting for our bus in the plaza central, catie mentioned that maybe we still had friends in Vladivia.
and friends we did! not even 5 minutes later, 3 men in tights and medeival costumes with instruments (and one in normal dress)! we looked at eachother with glee, both hoping they would burst out in song or at least lend themselves to conversation. lucky for us, they took a seat next to us and we were invited to share a pitcher of cerveza in no time, of which i of course did not partake because beer is like a mix of acid and urine for me. we found out that they were part of some group from the University of Concepcion that dates back to the 1500s (hence the medeival dress) and they travel around playing and singing in the street and in resaurants for change to have money to pay for room and board because there aren't scholarships for that. Conversation flowed nicely and it did not take long for us to decide to just ditch our plan and our bus tickets and stay another night in Valdivia with our new oddly dressed friends. we followed them around as they played in restaurants for the rest of the night, went to the store, and finally returned to the hospedaje where they were staying and got a room. then one of the guys made dinner, at 2:30 am mind you, spaghetti with tomato sauce with apples in it and a cream sauce with tuna...neither of which seemed particularly appealing. however neither of them turned out to be terrible but that might have been because we hadn't eaten for like 13 or 14 hours. then we stayed up sharing music and playing the guitar and chatting. we slept in real late and catie made pancakes and eggs, the boys donned their "panties" (tights in spanish) and we set out for another day of seemingly aimless wandering through this cafe and that, all the while their tambourines clanging and strings strumming. we ended up in a little mountain town outside Valdivia called Niebla, which literally translates to "fog." Fog indeed. the whole town was enveloped in a cold misty cloud that made the summer-ish heat and sun of Valdivia seem a hundred years away. ***Drew! do you remember that episode of Freakazoid where there was some evil glowing cloud in the mountains? i kept thinking of that all day, but had no one to share it with!***we walked around, went to yet another cultural fest complete with preteens performing traditional folklorico dances in constume and i was reminded of coutless ballet recitals and childhoon performances. we finally returned to Valdivia, gathered our now heavy laden backpacks and went to the store to get stuff to make sandwiches for dinner and snacks for our long ride home. We also proceeded to buy an entire Kuchen, something we had been looking for an excuse to do since we discovered Kuchen back in Frutillar. another man in tights had joined the quartet and we sat in the grass near the plaza, eating a meal of cheap bread, sketchy lunchmeat and Kuchen de frambueza in the dim light of "crepusculo" (dusk in spanish and another favorite word). the boys then serenaded us one last time and we rushed in a taxi to the bus station to have a sleepless and very uncomfortable night on a Linea Azul bus(which i do not reccommend). aside from that, it was the perfect way to end a month of crazy-awesome.
* * * * *
now i am back in Vina, just trying to digest the last month of free-spirited wandering while trying to feel out this whole living in a big city with a new family and going to a new school with a foreign system and being surrounded by Americans(other exchange students). Since our return to "real life" Catie and I have found all our new friends on Facebook, the international symbol of friendship, and hung out with "The Chicos" (the guys we met hitch hiking in chiloe) who continue to exhibit their scouts honor and un-sketchiness. classes start next week although both of us are having some extreme issues(probably not that extreme, but it feels like a big deal) with our classes and credits and all that jazz, which may have to do with the fact that everything is in spanish. but, soon it will figure itself out(thanks God, in advance) and we will settle into patterns, friendships, and the micro-system(public transportation between valpo and vina on mini-buses) and our minds will stop wanting to explode after thinking in Spanish for more than an hour. we will know the good beaches, the good clubs, how to order coffee and chinese food, how not to set off the alarm in my house, and maybe, just maybe, how to not look like a foreigner. for now i will end this blog with my usual list of newly gained knowledge and go with Catie and our new friend Pippa (yes, she's American) to the beach to chat and zone to the sound of the Pacific, the ever present neighbor to our new home.

Things I've learned:
*It is almost impossible to get to the island of Huapi. it is very possibly a figment of catie's lonely planet book's imagination or a cruel joke they like to play on tourists.
* a lot of times when you try to make plans, God changes them for you. and sometimes when you try to change your plans, God changes them back. it's quite an interesting process.
* you can win any argument with men who are wearing tights by saying, "yeah? well you're wearing panties!"
* it is a common practice to charge gringas more to travel in buses or taxis. it is a good idea to have some chileans, preferable in renaissance attire, close at hand to negociate prices.
* it is NOT a common practice to purchase four mochaccinos from the same kiosk within a ten minute period, even if it is the best coffee you've had in a month.
* really bad kung fu movies are very popular among Chilean bus lines. and by bad, i mean incredibly entertaining.
* panqueques(pancakes) are really crepes. gorditos are pancakes as we know them.
* a guy whose claim to fame was being chosen by the chilean version of The Bachelorette and then dumped overdosed and was found this morning, still alive. i know this because every news channel was showing the same photos and 5 second clip of him in the hospital this morning. chileans love their reality tv.
* it is illegal to consume alcohol on the beach. also transvestites like to hang out in vina at night (we just learned both of these things about 20 seconds ago from my host sister).
* ISEP is lame...
* every bathroom in Chile must have an awkwardly placed window, either right behind the toilet and at butt-level, in the shower at chest-level, or any combination of other inopportune places for windows. this includes bus bathrooms. it seems that my bathroom here in vina is the only exception to this rule, which is nice.
* "pasta de loco" does not in fact mean "crazy paste." loco can also be mollusks. why any one would want to eat mollusk paste is beyond me, but a confusing experience with this item on a menu has lead to a nice long running joke where we often say "so and so has been eating crazy paste!" or "did you have crazy paste for breakfast?" and even, "they are on a steady diet of crazy paste" and so on and so forth.
* someday, i will have a purple house.
* i should never be allowed to be the one making plans in english. this is doubly true in spanish.
* just because a bus you need is pulling away does not mean you should run after it screaming and beating on the window. they might just be parking, in which case, you will look like a fool when you have to wait 30 more minutes before it actually leaves.
* it s very important to achieve the perfect mani to pasa ratio (referring to peanuts and raisins)
* cereal with cold milk is still always welcome treat.
* floating by the seat of your pants, or in out case God's pants, is sometimes much easier and more enjoyable than knowing what's going on, or in our case pretending to know what's going on.
* trusting God is easier when you stop trying to make plans altogether. and is much harder when you feel obligated to understand life and all it's happenings.
* being home, whether one you have always known or w new one in a foreign land, is always nice and makes traveling that much better.
* apparently i've learned a lot of things.

i still appreciate comments!
ciao!