un dia muy largo

carlito picked me up at 8:30 as usual. i got to the U and left with Carlos to go to the rural community. we basically just drove around for several hours measuring the distance from schools to health centers, to water stations. etc. we also walked around a bit and took pictures. in the process i stepped in el feces de perro and was very smelly. it even got on my jeans. then, carlos dropped me off with a dentist so i could go to the promotoras de salud meeting with him. we continued to drive around and look for people who weren't home. the meeting was interesting, and all the promotoras were very nice. interesting people. and my spanish was actually working. sorta.

two pictures from zapallal. the photographer and i simply switched places

i tend to make stupid mistakes like use the wrong form or a past tense or say juego instead of jugo. pero esta bien.

getting home was a bit of a chore. the meeting started and ended very late. then there was much much traffic. and then the dentist had to get some dentures from his assistant at her home, but we had to wait in the car for 20 minutes for some reason. this was never explained to me. at least in a language i could understand. at one point i was sure that this was eventually going to result in my murder and burial in the hills outside of the city. but eventually, we got the dentures, got to his office in Pueblo Libre, he got me a cab, and I arrived home about 7:45. however, somewhere in this process, a pen exploded in my bag and got on my camera. fortunately, the lens cap was on. but still, i need to find a way to clean it.

the good parts of the day were being in Zapallal, getting free lunch, and the dentist gave me 3 things. toothpaste, a toothbrush, and chocolate. how's that for a combination. i should have had him clean my teeth....

and now, i'm tired. its friday night, but i'll probably just watch law & order in spanish or something and fall asleep fairly soon.

its my last full weekend here. i'm starting to get a little sad about it....