Days 8 & 9: Baseball, TV and Margaritas
April 6, 2008 | South to Santiago
SANTIAGO, Chile — It’s been an interesting mix of events for the past two days. Some catch-up and then some future look.
First, I won’t have pix of Day 6 anytime soon. When I do, I’ll be posting them in my new gallery, along with a ton of other pictures from the event. There’s a logjam releasing anything I’ve done here officially. So, chances are you won’t see any of the stories I’ll write either.
Day 8 was all about baseball, though we did spend some time at FIDAE. Mostly, the FIDAE portion consisted of photographing our fantastic band doing its thing. I ate lunch in the Lockheed Martin pavilion (thanks for the invite). However, that lunch lasted about six minutes. Then, I raced back to the hotel to get out to Estadio Nacionale for the baseball game.
We managed to gather about two dozen people to play. We had no real line up. No one kept score. The Chilean team consisted of some of its best young players. And when they showed up, each looked about 30. The grey stubble was a dead giveaway. :) In any case, it was apparent that before the game started, “little league” didn’t mean little. These guys could rake and play the field. And our guys thought they were out there for a little beer league ball.
Our ambassasdor to Chile threw out the first pitch and we were off and running.
It was apparent from the word “go” that this was nothing more than a handshake event. And rightly so. Our guys were in no position to really go at it. They had to fly airplanes and couldn’t afford to be injured. So, we took our cuts, handed out some swag donated by, among others, the Colorado Rockies, and when the sunset, hopped back on the bus and returned home. Best moment of the day: one of the Chilean pitchers grooving a fastball and our guy sending it out of the yard. The Band improvising baseball-ish organ tunes from the stands did well, too.
Day 9 was mostly a day off. I had to process the video I’d gathered. I made one TV report. However, the two Stars and Stripes guys and I walked around Santiago, found a place to eat and enjoyed the scenary for a bit, too. And that’s where the two strongest margaritas I’ve ever had came in. I came back, made a TV video story (it’s below) and then we had the second-worst meal of the time here. And here’s the blog for tonight.
Day 10 means more flying, in an HC-130 this time. I have no idea what I’ll be getting or reporting yet. However, every day has been a challenge from a reporting point of view. The matrix of complications isn’t worth exploring in this particular post, however, it is worth nothing that if you check Air Force Link, nothing’s appearing. :)
The flight home leaves Thursday.
