Buyers Remorse in Chile

My last trip of the month was a rocket/bullet to Chile (they are called this because like all South American layovers, we fly 10 hours south all night, have a 10-12 hour layover to sleep during the day, and then fly 10 hours north all night home). I would give my back teeth to have longer layovers, but they are popular because it is a fast way to get your hours. We are only paid for time inflight, so these trips give you 20 plus hours of pay and you are only away from home for like 30 something hours. But I digress.....

After my power nap in Santiago, I went downstairs to work out. On my way back I stopped at the gift shop to buy some postcards (I always send my friends Bruce, Leslie, and Frankie a postcard). The lovely sales woman starts telling me about lapis lazuli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapis_lazuli) this semi-precious blue stone that is only found in Chile and Afghanistan. So I try not to be rude, and I spot this tiny little lapis lazuli figurine of a moai, which are the big stone heads found on Easter Island, the Chilean territory 3000 miles west of the mainland in Polynesia where I vacationed in 2004. I figure, how great! It's something that is meaningful to me, since I have vacationed there, yadda yadda yadda. The price was in Chilean pesos, and being ignorant to the currency rate, I did not realize until I got back to my room, that I ended up paying like $40 for this little guy. And just to give you an idea of how little my little moai figure is....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer%27s_remorse

I'm now calling it an early birthday present to myself. My friend Tricia tried to console my spirits by telling me that it would be a lot more expensive if I had bought it here, but I think she was just trying to be nice.

Mo Jr., the moai, is now prominently displayed on my mantle along with my three other moai figurines I have collected over the years.

Now that the month is over, I am also done with the FAA Fatigue Study so I can finally take the darned sleep band off my left hand. Wearing that nonstop for the last 28 days drove me nuts.