We took the final, and passed

Today was suppose to be the last day that we were in Antofagasta. Notice I said that we were SUPPOSE to leave. The government of Chile seems to be highly centralized and because everyone in Chile is taking vacations and such around the holiday seasons, there is no one in Santiago who can get the bus tickets for us to return and there isn’t anyone in Antofagasta who can authorize it. As a result, we will have to purchase our bus tickets and be reimbursed. I’m not holding my breath. The good news is that we get to spend an extra night here in Antofagasta with Mama Nuevo and Katie and Gina. The bad news is that the only bus we could get is Semi-Cama. Semi-Cama means no nice seats where we can lay back in. Think of sitting in a movie theater for 19 hours straight. Then take the movie away and replace it with the choice of watching a barren desert or Allie McBeal in Spanish on a blurry TV. That’s what we got going for us tomorrow, if Dante was on this trip with us he would have used it to replace one of his lamer circles of hell.
When Mama Nuevo heard that we were going to spend an extra night here she actually started dancing in place. When she found out that the girls were coming over to eat she actually did what I believe was a “Chilean Jig”. Jake and I were talking earlier about what we could do to say thank you for all the things she has done for us. I believe having extra people over is just the thing.
The last day of school was pretty nice. We got to the school and I went to the computer room to load QuickTime on the computer that I was going to use for the slide show and set up the last of the equipment that I needed.
The ceremony was to start promptly at 11:30. At 11:55 we started on time. People said some stuff in Spanish and then we were called up to the stage to hand out some diplomas to our students, then we all sat down. Then we went up on the stage to hand out diplomas to students with perfect attendance, then we all sat down. Then we went up on the stage to hand diplomas to our “top” students, (choose Juan, what can I say…he’s my muse, and also the one of two students who showed up consistently and worked hard), then we all sat down. THEN all the teachers went up on stage and we were handed diplomas, and we though we were suppose to sit down, but weren’t, so we went up to the stage and they gave us some presents, then we sat down. We got a nice framed picture that was taken on the first day with all the students. What I mean was that the frame was nice. The picture itself is blurry and looks like it was taken as the person jumped off the 2nd floor of the school. I think that I’m going to replace it with one of the other pictures of the school that I took and keep the frame with the knowledge that the frame was given to me as a present.
On a side note, I don’t know what it is with Chile, but everyone seems to have really bad photographs around here. I’m not talking about the professional ones used in advertising, or the actual composition of the pictures, but the technology of the print process. Many of the photographs that I see framed and displayed are horrible color management and print quality. It’s not because of the cameras; they are using the same ones that we have. It has to be some other reason that I have yet to fathom. Whatever the reason, I hope they fix it, my snobbish photography sensibilities are being bruised.
After our gifts we were given an additional musical present by the students. They all came together and played some traditional Chilean songs. About eight of the students played instrument, 3 guitars, 2 drums, 2 xylophones and a traditional flute. I’ll also try to get some videos up of the songs. The sound quality is poor, so I may just put a small clip on it and then up the MP3s that they gave us as presents. We also had Juan take my video camera and provide us with a “view of the world from the eyes of Juan” I don’t know if it will be funny to anyone who has not spent a month in Chile and 2 weeks working with children to you have to communicate 80% of your message with pantomime and sound effects, but It has me rolling on the ground.

After the whole ceremony we had cake, then lunch. I almost finished about half of my lunch. Partially because I realized we were going to be stuffed when we got home, partially because students were having me sign their dictionaries. I made sure to add sage wisdom to every passage that I wrote and encourage them to continue on with their English studies. I also think they will be slightly confused if they ever become proficient in English.
The final part of the day was the slide show which I had been working on. I have to say that it went off very well. For a period of 26 minutes all the students sat in their seats and laughed and awed at over 450 pictures set do different American songs. The actual file is HUGE, 846mb, I don’t know why it was that large, but it’s too big for me to post. Hit me up sometime and I’ll show it to you sometime.
After that it was time or goodbyes. Hugs were given, kisses were planted on cheeks, diseases were passed in that manner and the teachers received uncomfortable hugs that lasted just a few seconds too long. Jake and I ran down to the computer lab thinking that we would not get another chance to post a goodbye on our blogs, just in case we were wiped out in a horrible Allie McBeal bus incident.
When we returned home, Gina and Kati headed out to the bus station to get the tickets for our return trip, the ones the government failed to buy. Jake and I had an outing with Mama Nuevo. We ate our evening lunch of salad, soup, a large piece of fish and cup of rice, followed by canned peaches in cream. We then got into a Micro, (the small busses that serve for transportation), and headed out to a beach I the north. Ah Antofagasta, you never fail to amaze me. The bus didn’t go directly to the place we were going, instead it stopped as some bus repair station and we were told we needed to wait 20 minutes for another bus of the same number that would continue going north. As we sat there for over an hour we were joined by other lost beach travelers. Jake decided to strike up a conversation with two kids about pro wrestling and soccer, I just put my headphones on and wished the flies would stop crawling over me. After 3 dropped cell phone calls from the girls, we decided that we may be there forever waiting for the bus and if we ever wanted to make a break from this city we needed to know what the girls had found out. The ride home was uneventful, Antofagasta public transportation: 1, gringos: 0.
We decided we would walk to the girls house, about mile away and try to find them. As we walked out of the gate they were there with their Mama Nuevo, which is an entire story in and of itself, and we found out that we were going to spend one more night in the city. Mama Nuevo danced and the rest is history.
As always, read Jake’s Blog, he is the Matthew to my Mark in writing the adventures of Antofagasta, I’m sure he has a slightly different twist on what happened in this exciting and unique day of attempted escape.

Update:
It’s 2:20 in the morning and Jake and I have finished our final. Gina and Katie came over for a while and we hung out. Mama Nuevo had taken off to go get food or something and we all relaxed. Around 10:00 Mama N. gets home and is excited to see the girls, but is disappointed when she finds that they will not be staying for dinner, however she tricks the girls into staying for tea. At 11:00 or so another group of the family comes over, 3 of her sisters, grandma and one of the sisters husbands and 2 kids. The son takes Gina ad Katie home and I try to make pleasant conversation for about 30 minutes while I wait for Jake to return from dripping off the girls. Then the fun starts, the sons and fathers have caught fresh fish, and that is what we eat, along with pork and empanadas eating around 1:40. I’m so tired, I’m going to sleep.
Morning:
I hurt still, I think I’m going to have to go through de-tox. This is the last meal she can possibly serve us. I’m ready for anything, even an 18 hour bus ride of pain.