First, a hearty bienvenidos to those of you who may have come from a news outlet that, in order for me to arrive for my appointment there (because a. I am stubborn and b. transantiagoinforma.cl really let me down on the directions) had me walking along a highway in a skirt and girly shoes. Here it is, ready? Bienvenidos!

More news on the cryptic first paragraph as I have it in my greedy little hands. But here’s a picture I took of a projection of my own giant face in the studio where we filmed, and word to the wise, if you’re going to be mic’d, for goodness sake, do not wear a very loose skirt, because the guy who has to mic you will probably clip the microphone pack to the waistband of said skirt, and thereby be privy to more of what you have on below your back than you were hoping.

Now back to the business at hand. Observing.

I had written about the new light project to use the Mapocho as a canvas for light here, except it’s not yet January 19th, so who knows that that is about.

And last night I had a chance to check it out, first from on the bridge that is the Teatro del Puente, where it looked like this:

And then from the wrong side of the river, which yielded this view:

and later from the right side of the river (right side being the south side, closer to the Alameda). Where I spied this configuration.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. At the time I saw a keyboard, but now I see a musical score. You may see what you like, and certainly pop by some evening in the next year to get a better look. There are many spotlights casting colorful light into the water, this was just one, near the bridge at Purisima.

I marveled at the loads of people zipping right by, who didn’t even hesitate to get a better look, who didn’t see what I was seeing. And then I also slowly slinked away from two guys who may or may not have been opening a bag of something not quite legal on a bench facing the river, and whipped their heads around to see what was going on when they heard my camera shutter click. (not pictured)

And then R and I went back to the Teatro del Puente where we watched a tocata (small concert) by Nano Stern with the energy of every single person we’d seen ignoring the light artwork concentrated into one, bearded, sweaty, long-haired mega ultra talented musician (oh! the guitar riffs, oh, his gorgeous voice). I really enjoy his music and was blown away, along with 139 other fans and family members (heard his cousins recalling childhood memories of him during the long pre-show wait).

And here he is at the beginning of his show with his snake-emblazoned guitar and a musical instrument that he got more sounds out of than any of us expected.

And if you’re dying for some audio input, this song is a great place to start. His lyrics and voice are both way older than he has any right to be able to pull off.

And then late, very late, because the concert started late and ran over, I took a cab home, and listened as the cab driver observed (as they often do), that I’m not Chilean. That seems to be the one thing people almost never fail to notice.