Goodbyes suck ass

Sentimental side note of the day (part two of a two or three part series): I had to say farewell to the Arniboldi's last night because they stayed up at their ski house for the long weekend, and I needed to get back to Santiago to catch my flight. I was incredibly fortunate to meet the Arniboldis and I will never be able to repay them for their generosity, hospitality and for them taking me in as their gringo son. They played a huge role in the success of my trip, and were are big reason I ended up coming to South America to begin with. Furthermore, they taught me that Chileans dominate most board games and that mostly countries with latitudes of 49 degrees or higher host indoor tennis tournaments. It was a sad goodbye, but I am confident that we will see each other again in the future. (They will certainly be seeing a lot of me during Season III of Lost).

Another sentimental side note: The Arniboldi's have a massive furry white dog. I have never been able to remember his name, so I just called him "oso blanco" (white bear). Sadly, white bear is on very sick and may have cancer. This make me very sad, because I love to goofy bastard. Dogs just moved from On notice to Chill with Me.

On the topic of animal humanity, I think I need to confess a certain incident that occured about 8 years ago on Interstate-95. I was driving down the highway with my highschool girlfriend going about 75mph, and while passing a line of cars that were moving slowly in the right lane, a mother duck and her 10 ducklings in tow started crossing the highway. When I saw them, they were about 200 feet in front of me. I had three options:

1) Stop my car in the passing lane from a speed of 75 mph and with traffic behind me. This was a bad option.

2) Vear my car over into the other lane, thusly either engaging in a high speed side collision with the car next to me, or running that car off the road. This was a bad option.. OR

3) Staying the course and wipe out a full family of 11. This was an unfortunate option.

Long story short, it was either us or the ducks, so the mother duck met my front bumper with a thud, and the remaining baby ducks (who I don't think I explicitly killed) were left to fend for themselves without a mother. I still hold out hope that a few of them survived.. WHY COULDN'T THEY HAVE BEEN PIGEONS??? or giga pets?? I feel bad.

Along those lines, I have given up my angst towards many things:

Chill with Me: Dogs, Dinosaurs, Steak, Ear Muffs, Duck Duck Goose, Argentine Vendors laughing at my 'Benjamins', Olga, Shats, People giving me horn, Stray Dogs, Sahne Nuss.

Upgraded from "On Notice" to Chill with Me: Bolivian Buses, Screaming kids on buses kicking my seat and farting, Not outsourcing my travel planning, Dish rags.

Upgraded from "Dead to Me" to On Notice: Chess, Mandarin Oranges, Hangovers, The Secretary of the Treasury, salami.

Still Dead to Me: Mamushka Chocolate Store, persons who stole my Camera, Nalgene, Spaulding Jacket, ski gloves, ear plugs and headlamp.

I am Sorry: Ducks