voy a morir (im going to die)

lets get one thing straight: chile is a dangerous place. on more than one occasion, i have seen my short life flash before my eyes. i have other times considered myself to be in immediate danger. actually, im surprised ive made it this long, ive lived here what... a month? i suppose the key word in that sentence is lived, as in, im still alive. im pretty damn proud of that fact. now you might be thinking, jeez, whats going on in chile thats got ali so riled up...is it political unrest? unsavory characters? bird flu? alas, no, my friends. its the ground. i have noticed that in this country that there exists a very different perception of liability. and that idea can be honed in upon by simply walking down the street, sidewalk, hallway, etc, of any given location. remember being young and delighted by the perfect combination of polished hardwood floors, new socks, and velocity that would propel you from one end of a room to the other? yeah, chileans love that shit. but they love it in high heels (or sneakers, or flipflops), and they love it in the metro stations (and the discos, and the street). ill be walking along, minding my own business, and BAM! pulled groin muscle. its like walking on ice...but hotter...and alllllllllll the time. also, theyre tricky with those sidewalks. like, they look nice, all tiled or whatnot, but tread carefully my friend, because that stone that looks so normal, all lying in the grout like stones do, is actually a black hole. oh my god where did my foot go??? yeah. these chileans are tricky. i find myself looking around for the candid camera, but i think theyve hidden it pretty well. and then, if the sidewalks dont kill you, the micros probably will. those tin cans masquerading as buses dont take no crap from nobody. dont even think about trying to flag one down...theyll drive close enough to the sidewalk for you to think theyre going to pick you up, pound on the gas, and take off your raised arm. its a clean tear, doesnt hurt much, but man, try and keep yourself from slipping with your balance all thrown off like that. actually, chileans just dont have time for stupid people. can you believe that their coffee cups dont say ´´contents may be hot´´? its like they think you should know that or something. tricky. anyway, bought some tickets to argentina today. thats about it, just me, chilling, in a country full of mullets.