the best of

No Is For Wimps for this issue:

http://noisforwimps.blogspot.com/

 

 

and an article i wrote in january:

The True Story of How I Met a Guy

How music and the Internet are changing the face of friendship...

by Edith Pollet

For once, I'm going to tell you a personal story, a story that involves music, Internet, friendship and an unforgettable experience.

It was October 2004 and I was surfing on Manu Chao’s website . Another fan was offering to share mp3s of a Manu Chao live concert in Chile. We soon got in contact through the fantastic invention that is MSN messenger.

We talked about Manu Chao and he sent me lots of songs. I told him about Manu Chao in France and Spain. Then we started talking regularly several hours per day, about our favourite bands, our tastes, our countries, our continents. He was 24 years old, from Chile, studying journalism and really aware of the social problems in our world. I was 21 years old, living in Cork, Ireland, studying Irish civilisation and music and eager to discover new cultures.
For over a year we exchanged music, ideas, cultures, dreams and personal stories. We became friends.

And in February 2005, I did what some might consider the unthinkable. I decided to go to Chile to see him. You're right; I didn’t know him, not in person. And I didn’t know the country. Not even the continent. But I booked my flights and decided to go on an adventure.

I stayed in Chile for three weeks. It was an unforgettable experience. Only surrounded by Chileans who didn’t speak a word of English or French, I improved my Spanish. I discovered a culture, an identity, a country, cities, landscapes, realities, myths and friends I will have all my life.

I stayed in Santiago for more than a week, struggling in the summer heat of this big polluted city. We went to restaurants, shops, bars, museums and a really nice wedding.

 I stayed in the little southern island of Chiloe, sleeping in what must be one of the most isolated camp sites in the world. There, I was separated from the little town of Cucao by a gigantic lake and the only way to go to Cucao was to embark on a old small craft to cross that lake. I took long walks in the national park of Chiloe, ate seafood and observed the life of the Mapuche community. 

I stayed in Valparaiso for a few days, a city I fell in love with along with its colored houses, numerous hills, outdoor museum, typical restaurants, and the Pacific Ocean. I lived like a Chilean for three weeks, talking with them, eating like them, sleeping like them, breathing the same air, going on holidays with them, laughing with them, listening to music with them and sharing memories.

 

I will never forget this trip. I will never forget how I got there. It was thanks to music, inspiring people who live thousands of miles away to get together and get to know each other. And it was the Internet, this international network, that made it possible.

*All photos were taken by Edith.