Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

November 14, 2009

Remember back in the day when I wanted to be on the Chilean reality show, Peloton? Well, I never got off my ass to find out when they had casting calls or anything, and then I eventually stopped watching and just forgot about it until now.

In Algarrobo the pace of life is pretty slow. We get up and spend about two to three hours cooking lunch, then eating it and then cleaning it up. Afterward, I work on editing photos while Seba watches tutorials on his computer because he’s trying to learn to edit videos. In the evening we go down to the beach to walk Papi and I go on my run. At some point we hit up Cibergame to use the internet, answer emails and post on the blog. In the evening, I continue editing photos while Seba watches the news, and then eventually Peloton comes on.

For those of you who have never seen Peloton, you’re missing out. It’s sort of like the Road Rules but the contestants live on a military-like base sleep in barracks and compete in challenges like really crazy obstacle courses and touching spiders while people spray the contestants with hoses. The show is simultaneously ending one cycle and starting another.

And THERE’S A GRINGO ON THE NEW CYCLE!!!!

So far, he’s gotten fully naked in the group showers where everyone else wears bathing suits (gringos have no shame, rock on) and reprimanded for it. You know, because one must not offend the feminine sensibilities of the woman participants like the demure and innocent Kenita Larrain who has only dated 99% of the elite athletes in the entire country of Chile and I’m SURE has NEVER seen a penis before. One of the girls, not Kenita, got really worked up about the gringo being en pelota*, in the shower. I was just waiting for her to start screaming out the RIDICULOUS slogan on the back of the stall doors in every female restroom in Chile, CUIDA TU IMAGEN. CUIDA TU SALUD. CUIDA TU INTIMIDAD DE MUJER!!!**

It took a gringo on Peloton to remind me about the crazy double standard when it comes to women and innocence. The contestants on Peloton who were showering next to the gringo, in the skimpiest bathing suits you’ve ever seen, many of whom are actually bailarines profesionales***,on national TV aka they ho it up in next to nothing, grinding on the fat old man show hosts to earn a living, are still supposed to act shocked and offended when they see a guy’s dong in the shower. Give me break!

Anyway, aside from random bouts of nudity, having a gringo on Peloton also means we get to be treated to the other show participants showing off their English skills. So far it’s been nothing but, OH MY GAWD! and, Yessss. Very good. I like very much. Pretty much the sort of thing you hear from the random gawkers on the street.

And the other night, the Gringo won the first competition he competed in. He was yelling and screaming during the crazy blindfolded wheelbarrow run with his partner and Seba commented, “Pesado el culiao,” which translates to something along the lines of, “He’s a mean mothertrucker.” I said, “He’s not pesado. That’s how gringos compete.” And it is. I like that. I miss that intensity. It was one of the reasons why I was always so frustrated when I played soccer here. I felt like nobody took it seriously. And that’s probably one of the reasons that the girls didn’t like me. Maybe they thought I was pesada. Who knows.

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10 Comments

I love that slogan! I always end up reading that. I mean, what else can you do there? It's for those little trash can thingies…right?

Comment by Sara — November 14, 2009 @ 3:40 pm

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I might just have to watch an episode of Peloton now.

The language teacher in me screams every time I see that sticker in a bathroom. “Evita contagios, malos olores y cuida tu intimidad de mujer”??! I mean, if someone's going to print a ridiculous sticker, s/he should at least master parallel structure first.

Comment by leigh — November 14, 2009 @ 3:49 pm

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haha. awesome. frankly, i think the show sucks even more than the majority of reality tv shows, but the gringo dynamic kinda brings a special interest. i just might pause before changing the channel next time its on.

haha god that sports thing at the end. i've played multiple sports my whole life. the minimum i've ever had was 2 practices and 1 game per week, maximum, well… probably shoudl've been considered a full time job…so i joined 2 sports teams when I got to chile, soccer and basketball. we were a team of gringas and all the other teams in our league were chileans. in soccer, we had a number of games and nobody really took much seriously, but they weren't the worst of the worst in that category either, they played OK. its was more like really relaxed, you can tell they didn't practice.

but basketball…. hardly any of the chilean girls showed up, ever. actually, every single game of the season was a forfit until the championship, which we were of course in by default just for our amazing talent of showing up. a couple of the chilean girls from the other team showed up for that. but it was a big lesson for me in terms of the sports intensity i knew and understood in the US compared to here.

Comment by lydia — November 14, 2009 @ 5:24 pm

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Are you using asterisks to denote post-script notes? I don't see any if so, but maybe you were just emphatic in your Spanish…

Comment by Brendan — November 15, 2009 @ 1:58 am

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haha, but that slogan is so WEIRD! Why??? Just why do they have that in there?

Comment by kyleracine — November 16, 2009 @ 2:45 pm

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I just spent like five minutes trying to figure out what's wrong with that sentence aside from the obvious. My brain hurts and I still have no idea what parallel structure is

Comment by kyleracine — November 16, 2009 @ 2:45 pm

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That's funny, I love it! It's the only thing on national tv that I watch. Although I only like the competition days, I don't really care abotu the drama inside the house and who's boinking who. But yeah, the gringo dynamic makes it way more interesting for me now! It's definitely going to be a culture study to see how he's portrayed.

Comment by kyleracine — November 16, 2009 @ 2:46 pm

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Ooops. Thanks for catching that Brendan. I meant to put post-script notes and then completely forgot, haha!

Comment by kyleracine — November 16, 2009 @ 2:47 pm

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Agreed on the pesada thing.

Comment by uniquelyordinary — November 19, 2009 @ 4:34 pm

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Agreed on the pesada thing.

Comment by uniquelyordinary — November 20, 2009 @ 12:34 am

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