To the drama capital of the world.

While I was gone...

...my supervisor got into some kind of trouble and will be transferred to a different unit. A former colleague who has been supervisor of the Asian group will become our boss.

...several of my colleagues were told to sign up for the August Quality Control workshop (they hadn't been allowed to do it previously because of potential schedule conflicts), as a result of our supervisor being told it was compulsory.

...I found a barrage of e-mails from my supervisor telling me to do things I had taken care of before my trip to Chile. She even booked me a flight to the QC workshop. (I hadn't thought to CC her on my itinerary.)

...Rebecca and the kids bought half a dozen chicks, which raises the chicken count to somewhere around 30?

...their lop-eared bunny had a litter of babies. They hadn't realized she was pregnant. One died Sunday afternoon while we were over there.

...they bought a pregnant goat.

...my cats pooped seven times downstairs in the family room.

...my schedule got changed so I'm working six nights this week, which will make for a nice paycheck (I get holiday pay for the 4th).

*****

Chile was great. My flight on the way down got cancelled due to mechanical problems, so AA put us up in a local Hilton, gave us vouchers for meals, and rebooked us for the next night. Kind of a wasted day. We got to Santiago early Sunday morning. One of my colleagues had the misfortune of getting caught with a forgotten banana in his pack by the agricultural inspectors in Customs, so he had to pay a fine of $200.

(If you ever go to Chile, go ahead and mark "Yes" to the question about bringing in ag products. If nothing else, you can point out your cotton clothing. That way, if they discover any fruit, they'll just take it away.)

The little bit of sightseeing I did was on that same Sunday. We checked into the hotel, and immediately took off for a visit to the zoo with some colleagues. The zoo is on the slopes of Cerro San Cristóbal. There is a cablecar that takes you to the top, where there is an enormous statue of the Virgin, a couple of chapels, some tourist shops, and a spectacular view when the smog is thin.

We ate lunch at a nice seafood place, then visited a museum by Plaza de Armas. There was a Father's Day event going on in the plaza, hosted by a Peruvian radio program. It was odd to watch a Mexican song being performed for Peruvians in Chile...

I'll post more about this later. My session at the library computer is due to expire.

Tim