The continuing quest for Milky Ways

Hi. This post is mostly for those of you who THINK you read my last post, but then I updated it today. I saw on my sitemeter that four or so people had visited already, and that's most of my readers, so the four of you, go back to the last post, and pay particular attention to the bottom part and the conflict in Cochabamba.

Today I continued trying to get reservations for La Diablada, but have decided that it isn't feasible now. I posted a comment soliciting help on Lonely Planet, and am going to look into booking over the internet (although my hopes aren't high). Otherwise, my only other plan is to try and call people in a couple weeks, although I have my doubts that an unpaid phone reservation will be reliable.

I went to see a movie called "Silent Hill" last night, which was a bit crap. I kind of picked one randomly, since it's only $1.25 to see a movie here (in the higher-priced seats, the cheap balcony is only $.75), so I thought I'd take a gamble. I read today on Internet Movie Database that the film was based on a videogame, which actually is quite apparent - the atmosphere and static visuals are quite good, the plot, acting and dialogue are not (in fact there is no plot at all really until the last 20 minutes). Thinking back, the movie feels just like a videogame, like a scene where they show a big interior courtyard and my videogame mind instantly began pathfinding through it (ie, figuring out which ways got you to the next area of the game, which looked like they had items or clues, and which were dead-ends). I guess I'd actually say that for a videogame movie, it was alright. Like probably better than "Doom," the movie, staring The Rock, but not as good as, say, Mortal Kombat II, which is probably the greatest cinematic masterpiece of all time.

They have another movie at the theater called "Acechada," which I haven't been able to translate, and it's kind of driving me mad. The closest I have been able to come is that it's a conjugation of the verb "acechar," which means "to lie in wait" or "to bushwhack," depending which dictionary you use. It has Samuel L. Jackson and Ashley Judd, and it seems like with the tool of the internet I could figure it out, but so far no luck. It could be that the translation is poor or doesn't fit well; the Spanish title for Silent Hill is "Terror on Silent Hill" - they seemed to add in "Terror on" for no apparent reason.

The movie theater in Oruro is a turn-of-the-century stage theater that's been converted for movies, which is kind of cool - there's three sections of seating; high, ornate ceilings; and cool murals and stuff, so that was kind of fun. The volume is really, really loud though. Fortunately I happened to have earplugs with me, which didn't hamper my understanding of the movie one bit.

Oh yeah, and I also went to about 180 stores before I found one that had a solitary Milky Way for sale. This isn't as maniacal as it sounds; there are maybe 34,480 stores between the plaza and my hostel, so I just had to look every couple feet to confirm they weren't in supply of my sugar of choice (until I get back to someplace with decent ice cream, that is something besides frozen water that tastes vaguely of cinnamon). And when I say "store," don't think "7-11" or anything like that, think more like a table set up on the sidewalk with some random candies and crackers on it. They're really into plain, unsalted crackers here (galletas de agua, or "water crackers"), at least judging by how many are for sale everyplace.

Everyone is out practicing their dances, trying out their costumes, and harmonizing their instruments for Carnival. Since I don't think large, indoor public spaces exist here, this happens in the street or on sidewalk corners. In fact, a group is going by right now with bright purple shirts and rusted metal platform shoes with large spurs attached, dancing with pink ribbons. It's the first time I've seen Bolivians acutally smiling and being festive. It's pretty fun.