Parque Cultural Ex-Carcel

Kate you're cheating if you read this before talking to me.

Estoy teniendo un buen dia.

So this is skipping way ahead of Mendoza and my weekend; kinda. I have to report on something cultural for my comunicacion y cultura clase and I picked the parque cultural ex-carcel after going there on Friday with a friend. So I ventured out alone this morning to go again and talk to people, take notes, pictures, etc. I was told there were tour guides who wandered around but I hadn't seen one and so I showed myself around. I have lots of pictures and as soon as I work out the kinks in Flickr or move to a different sight they will be up. The place is a former prison that closed nine years ago and is now a cultural park of sorts. The cells were converted into artists workshops and the walls of the surrounding yards are covered in graffiti art some commissioned, most not. People play soccer, or have drum sessions, or if I understood right trapeze artists perform? I know that sounds like it was lost in translation, but I think I might be right. In colonial times it was a fortress for the Spainards to protect Valparaiso from the pirates.

Anyways, so I'm getting ready to leave and go home and a security guard appears out of nowhere and starts talking to me. Which is perfect, cause I had to talk to someone for my report and so far had only found a Spainish couple who didn't know much more than me. Anyways he gives me the grand tour again and then when I think he's walking me out, he takes me inside the building and to this locked room with stairs. That sounded sketchy but I swear it wasn't. He tells me to watch my step and leads me out stairs in the old guards path that rises above and circles the entire compound. It was so badass. He told me it wasn't part of the tour, but he was doing just for me. He said it was a safety risk, although I didn't know liability existed in Chile. So I got a view of the whole city and compound from where the guards guarded. At one point I understood the safety thing, because the path broke in two directions and we took the one that cut across the compound. This is where the railing disappeared and I have trying to keep up with a fifty year old as he deftly crossed a 18 inch path 20 some feet in the air, including stairs. I'm glad he didn't see my face, cause at one point I wasn't so sure it was a good idea. But it was completely worth it. I got amazing pictures, made a new friend, and did another thing completely in Spanish and by myself. I like how I'm slowly gaining my independence back.

Oh, and I found kick ass boots 2 for $20 usd on the way home.