While writing my previous blog about my exit out of Chile, I realized there were other fun, random and interesting events that occurred during my stay there. And I feel the need to share some of those events before getting deeper into my Argentine experience.
In my lifetime and travels some of my most special moments for me occur when random encounters with strangers and marijuana join forces.
As a self proclaimed pothead, one of the happiest moments I find is when I am without marijuana and magically marijuana appears. The best is when you have no money or means to get it and Wallah there is nothing to get or find, rather it finds you :).
I also say to myself that I have a strange marijuana karma. Somehow it finds me and the more I have tested this theory the more I find it to be true. Maybe it is the law of attraction or my faith and confidence in the universe, all I now is that it finds me.
Sometimes I wished I had the same belief in some kind of Vagina Karma as I did in Marijuana Karma, if I did I probably wouldn't feel so lonely, horny and bored. Sorry that's a side note and has nothing to do with this post or maybe somehow its all connected.
In my early days in Chile, I was desiring for some Ganja. I've never been much of a drinker so Maryjane has always been my medicine of choice. I say medicine because to me this is what it is. There is not much else that pisses me off that when someone labels Marijuana as a drug. To me it is the highest offense, possibly as or more offensive then talking shit about my mother. And usually the person making this erroneous accusation is some goody two shoes that has never even partaking of the herb.
Granted, they are many things in life that are not necessary to experience in order to formulate opinion. But in this day and age with all the knowledge, research and info that now exist regarding this medicinal plant, it is beyond me to comprehend how people can be so ignorant, blind and plain stupid.
Now of course there is such a thing as to much of a good thing and moderation. And of course in my 13 years of partaking of the herb I have experienced many sides of the marijuana coin. I have had moments where I had visions and felt like I could touch the sky and then very dark depressed introspective moments. But at the end of the day it is the good and bad, the ying and yang that shapes and mold us into the person we are or desire to be. And of course everyone's experience and journey is different and unique, therefore there is no need to judge another for not being identical to oneself.
In my opinion, you take the good with the bad and everything is a learning process. Just like I try to accept people as they are, same goes for marijuana. And just like any medicine sometimes the dose needs to be adjusted.
Anyways unto the story
Before Arriving to Chile I signed up for an expat website called InterNations. Back then I knew nothing about couchsurfing, so Internations was my network resource. By the little that you know about me, I definitely would fit more into the backpacking, hippie couchsurfing crowd then the upper middle class semi yuppy coorporate crowd. My main reason for signing up for this website was to use it in order to network to find work and make new friends. Several times a week InterNations would have gatherings in different bars or restaurants around the city.
One evening I decided to go to one of there events and take advantage of my one free drink for being a member. Since money was so tight, that one drink was my night. As planned I made some contacts and one of the admins. She was very friendly added me on facebook. Once on facebook, I noticed she was part of a group in Santiago that volunteered to feed homeless people.
Since I believe in community and helping others I decided to participate. So I got the address to the house where this group met to prepare the food for the homeless. The house was in a pretty hip middle class neighborhood. I arrived and immediately started to get a feel for what was going on. It turned out that the majority of this group of volunteers where Yogis.
I had never practiced Yoga and was definitely open and curious to learn something from these people. Since I had spent so many years of my life as a Christian, Yoga was something I use to see as taboo form of Godlessness contrary to my beliefs, so therefore I never got involved in it. I also was embarrassed and had some macho bullshit in my head that said that the only guys that practiced yoga were gay. Many a time when I use to go to the gym back in the states I would see all the females in the yoga class. I always thought about participating but my ignorance and ego kept me back.
The people at the house were nice but not too nice. Since these people were Yogis the food that was prepared was a healthy vegan soup and Chai tea, perfect for the cold Santiago nights. I was more then happy to give a helping hand but did not feel that the people were so warm and open to get to know me. Not that I need people to kiss my ass, but it's definitely nice when your with a new group of people for people to be friendly, ask you question and get to know you. If that doesn't happen you just feel more awkward and more of an outsider then you already are.
But this group didn't show they were so interested in getting to know me. We did most of the prep work in the backyard area of the house. I pretty much just did what I was told to do hoping someone would talk to me, but nope no cigar. Instead I just worked and observed these strange yogi people and listened to there conversations.
I did my best to follow the conversation or at least try to understand since Chilean Spanish is not the easiest to comprehend especially if your not familiar with it and after 2 weeks I definitely wasn't.
I thought maybe they didn't like me cause of my Argentine background. This was about the only thing they knew about me other then me being from New York. Chileans and Argentine's are not the best of friends and have a history of conflicts with each other. But in a reality I just think they were in the own world and just didn't seem to care to include me in it. Oh well such is life, not everyone will like you.
So I continued to do my prep work and there were just a few volunteers left as the majority had already left. One of the girls asked me if I would like some Mate. Mind you I probably had been waiting 2 hours for someone to ask me I would like some Mate as is normal the custom for South Americans or at least Argentines do it this way.
For those who don't know Mate is a very common loose tea type beverage drunken out of normally a wooden vessel with a metal straw called a Bombilla that has a strainer to filter out the herbs. It was the first time in my life I think that I experienced being in a group of people drinking Mate and not being offered Mate. The common practice is to fill the Mate with water, then someone drinks it, it gets refilled with water then passed on to the next person and so on. So experiencing this was a bit of a slap in my face and made me feel like Captain Invicible.
So of course I accepted, better late then never I thought to myself. Then the 2 Chilean girls continued there conversation and continued drinking Mate in my face as if I wasn't even there. And this is after they had offered me. I think another hour went by before the girl asked me again if I would like some after I said yes in the first place.
I thought to myself Chileans are fucking weird and rude as fuck, no offense to any Chileans who might be reading this.
So all the prepping and cooking was done, now what. Well what I found out at that point is that the food was prepped in the afternoon and then served in the Evening. So I debated whether it was just best for me to go home and come back later or not come back at all. So I decided to just hang out in the backyard and wait for the evening to help distribute the food to the people.
A few hours later as I was just chilling in the backyard, there were a few guys who I hadn't seen before that were just hanging out, talking and drinking some beers. I had no clue who they were, for sure they weren't Yogis, I at least knew that much. I just assumed they were guys who lived in the house, but for sure they were not volunteers and were on a whole other program.
As evening approached more people arrived, maybe around 20-30 from what I recall. It seems that either people worked in the day and were not able to help out. Or people love the Glory of feeding people without actually doing the labor involved to prepare the food. I guess it doesn't really matter what there purpose was, besides I was there to help not judge. But as student of human beings and behavior I just observed, analyzed and came to my own conclusions.
Now things got lively and I meet other volunteer who were not Yogis and who were much nicer, open and engaging then the others I meet earlier. I started to feel comfortable and part of the group. Then I met the leader, a kinda Buddha looking Chilean Yogi. I say Buddha cause he was a big guy with some extra weight on him. He was a nice of enough guy and seem to be genuine.
I was started to be glad that I was there, even though I was bored from the little interaction I was having. I met a nice Scottish girl and was able to have a good chat with. There some other Europeans there also, so at least I wasn't the only outsider. But there is a big difference on how a European will be treated and how a guy with an Argentine flag tattooed on his arm is treated. This is just a reality, I have nothing against anyone but neither am I delusional to this fact. Maybe in some other part of the world I am looked upon as exotic or some hot commodity, but not here.
After everyone was gathered and plans discussed we headed out to feed the homeless. I was in van cramped with people. I had no idea exactly where we were going but I was excited. Finally we got to one of the stops and distribute the soup, tea and blankets to anyone who had need. We then went to some other spots and did the same.
It was a successful night and was glad to be a part of it, now it was time to go home. So as luck would have it, some of the Chileans offered to give me a ride to my apartment. I was definitely happy since it was already late and I was freezing my balls off. The other fortunate thing about this offer is that the guys who drove me home where not Yogis. In my mind I was hoping they would be the once to drive me home.
They were just regular dudes like me helping out. So we headed out all 6 of us jammed into this small vehicle. Then I notice a familiar smell coming from the front passenger side of the car and I started to breath it in as my marijuana senses were on high alert. I thought to myself is that what I think it is, yup it was, Praise the Lord. Good old maryjane, exactly what I had been hoping for. Before I even smelt it, I had a feeling that the weed ferry would show his face.
It was also a relief to smoke quality bud and not the compressed garbage weed that is filled with chemicals such as ammonia. This weed is famous in many parts of South American and usually either called prensado (which is to say compressed, cause its compressed or sold as a block. The other name for it is Paraguayo, because much of this garbage weed comes from Paraguay and its cheap. There are also different grades of this shit, but when you desperate you take what you can get. Some THC is better then no THC in my opinion.
Without having the right contacts it can be challenging to get good weed in Santiago. There is a huge hippie culture in Santiago and you can find people smoking in the parks all the time. In the city there are many smoke shoppes that sell marijuana paraphernalia and even seeds but its still illegal, go figure. So I was overjoyed that these guys had what I wanted and were kind of enough to share it with me. Many a times I went to the parks and just starred at the people smoking with puppy dog eyes. On one occasion I took advantage of a situation and asked a guy if I could get a hit as was being distracted by another guy trying to convert to Christianity. For shits and giggles I chimed in the conversation and told the guy what the mushroom told me, that its all just fantasy, a story. I'm not sure if me doing this was bold or plain desperate.
This is the type of magical moments that I live for, this is a true gift from the Divine. So of course I asked if I could partake, and my new friends happily obliged. We then parked the car somewhere near a park and smoked a joint and hung out. I can't tell you how happy I was and amazed at how lucky and fortunate I am. Afterwards they drove me home, success.
I returned the next week to the house to volunteer once again. I got there early as I did the previous week to help with the prep work. After we finished everybody left but they said it was ok for me to stay. As I was passing the time one of the hippie looking guys that I noticed that was part of the non volunteer group the week before arrived.
He was very friendly and we began to conversate. I noticed he had an instrument so I began to ask him questions about himself and he revealed to me that he was a Musician. This guy was a real hippie and made much of his income from performing on the street, something you see a lot in Santiago. He was a very humble guy, not arrogant in the least bit. It was a new experience to meet a bohemian like this especially since I also desired to live free and independent. Sadly I'm not a musician or a skilled artist, so I have to find other ways to survive.
As we continued chatting other friends of his appeared. By time I knew it there was probably 6 to 8 guys who were part of this group. I then asked them if they lived in the house and he told me know. As it turns out these guys were a band and use the small outhouse in the backyard to practice. So now it all made sense to me.
It was such a different energy being around these guys as opposed to the quasi spiritual yogis. I myself consider myself a spiritual person so I have nothing against people pursuing some type of higher enlightenment. But at the end of the day what good or what is the point of any spiritual path that doesn't teach you to be the kindest, loving person you can be.
Many times I find with religious and spiritual people is that rather then becoming more humble they get more arrogant and see themselves as better as others. I too was like this back in my Christian days, so I speak from my own experience. It wasn't until I departed from Christianity did I actually start living more like Jesus, before this it was mostly words.
As evening was approaching the other volunteers began to arrive. I was enjoying myself with these guys that I wanted to just hang out with them. Out of respect I went inside to hang out with the other volunteers. Then ever so often I would go back outside to hang out with La Bélica Banda, that's the name of the band. Then I'd go back inside the house to try to connect with the Yogis. The truth was I was terribly bored and preferred to hang out with the band but I felt guilty to do so as I was there to volunteer.
Then something magical happened while in the house. Once again I smelt a familiar smell coming from outside, so of course I had to go outside to investigate. And what do you know, good old Maryjane the star of the show appeared.
Now the guys were outside huddled in a circle drinking beer and smoking the herb. I immediately jumped in the circle and awaited patiently for the joint to come in my direction.
Finally it did and it was just what the doctored order. Now things were in full swing and I was having a great time with my new stranger friends. And the best part of it is that I was high as fuck. The weed also helped communicate with these Chileans aside from a few times when one of the band members would say to me No Te Cachay - which means I understand. I asked the leader of the band what kind of music do they play, he told me its was a Latin Jazz fusion. Sounded like just the type of music I would appreciate. At this point I was in another world and completely forgot about volunteering.
But volunteering didn't forget about me. Out of the blue I hear someone call out my name from inside the house, ALEJANDRO!!. So I went inside to see who it was and what they wanted. It was the leader of the Yogis checking up on me making sure I wasn't lost. I appreciated his concern but I was having to much a good time to give a shit.
I went back outside to see where this marijuana adventure was leading and when was the next joint coming. I was back in the circle having a grand old time when the leader of the band asks me if I would like to watch there jam session. I was definitely honored by his offer but felt a bit guilty to ditch feeding the homeless. Then I rationalized with myself and said I already helped out with the hard part which is the actually prep work and there were more then enough people to distribute the food.
So I said fuck it and joined them in there tiny shoe box of a studio. They had all types of instruments, flutes, base, accordion, drums, piano, etc. There was only enough room for me to squeeze into one of the corners sitting on the floor with my legs crossed. They began to play and wow it was amazing. These guys were drunk, blazed and playing freestyle. The music was very eclectic, a combination of latin jazz , tango mixed with New Orlean style from the early 1900's. I sat on the floor memorized for 3 hours straight listening to these guys jam. I went to another dimension, it was possibly the best musical experience I ever had.
Finally the session was over and it was time to go home. They invited me to check them out anytime I wanted. I never did as I left Chile shortly afterwards. But I will never forget this day that the universe gave to me. I love the mystery of life, how anything can happen at any moment when you maintain positive vibes and put yourself out there.
My travels have blessed me with many random encounters such as these. It is these moments that make up for the difficulties and hardships one faces as a traveler. I am forever grateful to the Universe for giving me the courage to say fuck it and leave the US when I did and the way I did it. The only downside of traveling to me is having to go back to the mundane boring so called Real World aka The Matrix. Life can appear to be pretty boring when your only purpose is to just work and pay bills.
I prefer life to be mystery that can go in many directions rather then live a mundane boring existent where everything is planned out and there is no room for magical moments and randomness. I figure if the only purpose of life for me is to wake up, eat, sleep and shit then I am already dead before being in a grave.
The culture and society is always seeking to control, manipulate and impose its views as to what life is all about. When you realize that it's all bullshit, then are you truly free to experience whatever your heart desires.