Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Plus-X
In Santiago de Maria, a.k.a Santiago. This woman cracked me up...I had come to Santiago because I heard there was a food festival, with music and whatnot, but it was unimpressive. There WAS music blasting from the pavilion, but stuff like "Eye of the Tiger," complete with shadow-boxing by the local drunks. And she sat there with a big grin, tapping her toes, commenting how nice it was to sit and hear la musica, like she was at freakin' symphony in the park or something.

Anyway, after gently chiding me for my poor Spanish and saying I needed to practice, she admitted she couldn't read, and that I was lucky to know how. And then rather than just telling me her name, painstakingly wrote it in my notebook. She gave me a gentle, dry kiss on the cheek when she was finished listening to the music. Heartbreaking. MARIA, in a slow, childish scrawl. Maria is wonderful.