As promised my entry on the meeting with Mr ****´*. I have quoted word for word from my written journal, so apologies in advance if it sounds in any way repetitive. It does however signify just how frustrated I was meeting this ´human being´...
Ok...so not gone as I had hoped with the NGO idea. Something which I feel will become more of a disappointment as time gones on. Met potential business partner today and he turned out to be an absolute control freak! As well as completely self-absorbed. One of the first things he said to me when he collected me from the bus station in Viña Del Mar was(two hours North-west of Santiago):
"I just know I´m going to be famous for something one day, like the ´Nobel´ prize or something."
You can honestly only begin to imagine what I had let myself in for, for an entire day. He was so intense and so pessimistic about the world (and particularly Chile) in which we lived. The day resulted in a huge headache and pleading to go back to my hostel, which thank you god I had booked beforehand (as he had offered his Family´s apartment in town).
He and his emotional state which at first seemed complex but underneath was fairly simple; a combination of anger and frustration. It reduced me to depression,all I kept thinking about was being away from this man.
His qualities don´t end there...He was a complete hipocrit who detests vehemently just about everything which commercialisation and materialism brings to people, yet, he couldn´t point out quickly enough: "When my law suit goes through (two of which he possessed) that´s the car I want, that one." He was also (as we can appreciate) an EXPERT on ´everything,´ and I quote "EVERYTHING." For instance, if people are younger than him they are stupid and inexperienced (note it is his language, not my´n)in particular, photographers, so just to rub it in I told him that I have taken some incredible photographs with my camera!!
We were either a serious clash of personalities or he was one troubled person. He also told me about how he was close to committing suicide five times a day...I thought what am I doing with this random freak. I knew it, I knew it, I should have listened to my instincts, to myself. At least, as yet ´touch wood´ i´m in no sense of danger. I would not have felt safe at that apartment he offered to me. At night I kept imagining his face in the dark...
He did kindly drive me around Valparaiso. He also took me to one of the three houses owned by Pablo Neruda. (But timed how long I took to go around and said I was four minutes longer than anyone else he has shown it to. As well as his house in Southern Chile has many features of the house but only BETTER). Are you getting the picture...
We visited the Bohemian sector of Valparaiso, which is a ten minute drive from Viña Del Mar (where I later stayed and consequently met the American family) where street names included Templeman and Atkinson due to the large infiltration of many English at late 19th early 20th C.
I barely talked the entire day. He was so self consumed. It were as if I were his friend come round to play and entertain him. I only spoke to contradict a ´firm-belief´or his manifesto on todays´society. His opinions on the environment and how he would love to be Austen Powers "yeah baby!" Because in the times of the 60´s when he was growing up there were no problems! The fact thats its barely worth getting through the day with our environmental crisis and overpopulation, and poor sanitation, and capitalisation. All I could think when I got back to the hostel was, Thank you god, Im on my own again. And how do I get away without having to meet this man a second time to face either an argument or temporary depression? As it turned out there was no potential funding for the NGO anyway, as it was purely based on the success of a legal claim. Hardly reliable and a long waiting game for sure.
"yeah baby!!!!!"
