day 1: rebirth
On Jan 29, I departed Asunción, Paraguay, by bus for Buenos Aires (18 hours), to catch my plane back to Seattle. I had a lot of fragile stuff with me that made it home fine despite: being thrown into the baggage compartment of the bus, stuffed into a locker at the bus station, transported to the airport, sent through baggage on the plane, onto the baggage claim carousel, and then by bus to my Belltown apartment. Only one thing was pretty badly destroyed: the little Amanita muscaria figurine that we bought in figurine central: Aregua, Paraguay. (Note that this infamous hallucinogenic species does not grow in the Paraguayan climate, but it is a very common symbol in - ready? - nativity scenes).
I am a big proponent of fixing stuff. I really hate throwing things away, partially for environmental reasons, and partially because it is such an act of sad resignation and loss of potential to put something in the garbage. Thus my first act of creation was to bring this sucker back to life.
The picture on the left is it’s state when I arrived in Seattle; on the right is after super glue came to the rescue. This wording seems appropriate, since, in Brasil, the brand they sell on the street is “super bonder,” which strikes me as more of an action hero than a brand name. Maybe its the fact that the brasilian formulation (unlike the US version) rhymes.
