[ open ] Valparaíso, Jewel of the Pacific

[supportadmin]

Characters: OPEN to all!
Location: The city of Valparaíso, Chile.
Date/Time: The first weekend of March (1st & 2nd).
Summary: The first group of Cadets are finally released on the city of Valparaíso. With a curious city wanting to meet them, both Cadets and Staff of the Shatterdome itself will find plenty of people willing and curious to hear what it is they're up to - not to mention complain about the unapologetic ugliness of the Shatterdome.
Additional Notes: Cadets are expected to be in uniform and represent the PPDC at it's best. For more information and any questions, please refer to this post in the OOC community.

Valparaíso is a city with an old reputation, struck hard by the Panama Canal back at its completion, and struggling and rising to a place of cultural prominence since. Nowadays it remains an important sea port along the Chilean coast, though not as busy as San Antonio, and has helped foster artistic communities and a wealth of Chilean culture well worth recognition and appreciation on its own.

For such a beautiful city, the Shatterdome is both an honor and an eyesore. The Cadets from the new program are a subject of gossip and fascination, novelty selling them in the short term in ways that weren't sustainable over time.

For those who hadn't been able to spend time outside looking over the city, Valparaíso provided all kinds of sights and hidden gems, from murals on stairs to a hundred plus year old tram that runs the hillsides, museums paying homage to the 16th Century roots of the city, to statues and architectural structures and beaches galore. Free from the industrial efficiency of the Shatterdome for a short time, where will the Cadets and Staff find themselves today? The possibilities might not be endless in actuality, but they were a far cry more varied than the last two weeks had been!

Comments

Shatterdome + city

[charliehotel]

Shatterdome

Catherine's ready for the freedom. Having been forced from her work by helpful assistants, she finds that she's actually eager to be out and about in fresh air, with a bit of time to think and mull over all her recent research. She also wants time to see the sights, which she's avoided until now, and to perhaps even spy on the worse virtues of both cadets and Rangers.

"At least it's a lovely day."

Standing on what serves as the threshold to the Shatterdome, she adjusts her wide-brimmed hat and checks that she has her purse before heading out.


City

Refraining from enjoying herself too much, Catherine wanders the city more intent on taking in the cultural sights than on causing any trouble. Chilled coffee in hand, she examines the murals, converses fluently in Spanish with the locals, making odd jokes here and there, and setting them at ease about the Shatterdome when applicable. She's charming, some have said, but only when she needs to be. And now, she needs to be. They have a reputation to build and then uphold, and she's accepted her part in that.

If you're a cadet, you might spy her here or there, possibly eavesdropping on your conversation.

Chuck - Open

[suicidemission]

Finally - finally they're allowed a little bit of freedom. Chuck immediately grabs his dog and crams a beach bag full of supplies and books it outta the Shatterdome and heads straight to the shores.

He rents an umbrella for Max and jams it into the ground to secure it, looping Max's leash around it so he can't escape while Chuck's otherwise occupied. He flops under it, digs around in his bag for a bowl and bottle of water and sets it in front of his dog. Then and only then does Chuck strip out of his shirt down to his board shorts, complete with Striker's new logo, and head to take a quick dip to cool off.

Maybe if he's lucky, he can find somewhere to get a surfboard, and he can take Max surfing some time.

Open!

[keyes]

Freedom is always a good thing, and frankly Jacob is a little eager to get out and about in the city to what it's all like. Because it's Jacob however it also means he's a little over dressed for the weather, and he has his leather jacket on, more out of habit than actually needing it with nice, well pressed pants, and a pair of sunglasses on. It's habit, and Jacob screams military even without the patches on his jacket, but he tries not to act like one of them.

Mostly by going out of his way to buy some sampling of local food at quite a few different places around the city, and that's probably what you'll find him doing, ordering or eating local food, with the occasional stop into a shop to see what's in it.

Naval Museum + City Streets

[idealord]

Naval Museum

While Hilbert doesn't know much about Chile - and has basics down in Spanish, as rusty as they are - he's actually getting pretty pumped about being out and about on Saturday.

Why?

Well, while he's an avid nerd fan of Jaegers, the Naval Museum has caught his interest too. Though only the exhibits which feature the ships themselves. The rest he's not too interested in, though he takes time off to sit in the inner garden area to rest and entertain locals with his attempts at Spanish conversation. Not doing the most stand up job by far in terms of showing the PPDC at its best.

City

On Sunday, he is still making a fool out of himself - but in an entirely different way. Hilbert's playing with kids! Some of them are younger, which makes this more embarrassing, but there are ones around his age of sixteen and even some a little older. The name of the game is El Emboque. What he gathered was that is was like the cup-and-ball game back home, so with an American's confidence he decided to try it.

And miss every time.

Hilbert was never good at the cup-and-ball game either.

Historic District Tourist Traps

[paperbacks]

Any debate about the Shatterdome's effect on Valparaíso's aesthetic integrity was completely lost on Tenpou. It wasn't that the scientist was ignorant when it came to topics of art and culture - quite the contrary, actually. The problem was that he had terrible, terrible taste. Tenpou was an inveterate hoarder, and his "art collection" consisted of cheap, touristy knickknacks crammed into every available corner of his filthy apartment. He'd once seen an exhibit of modern art made from recycled garbage, so in his mind that was reason to hold onto years' worth of old newspapers and snack wrappers.

So that was how Tenpou had managed to acquire an "Authentic Product of Chile" Easter Island moai statue that was nearly as tall as he was. The massive faux stone head was made out of some sort of foam material so it wasn't particularly heavy, but it was bulky and unwieldy as he attempted to make his way through the narrow, graffiti-covered streets of the bustling historic market. Around him, vendors hawked brightly colored produce while sunburned vacationers sipped overpriced cocktails outside tourist trap cafes.

It belatedly occurred to Tenpou that he was quite lost, with no idea how to make it back to the bus station. Carrying the oversized statue in his arms like it was a dancing partner, he shuffled through the street, seeking a familiar face. Or at least a face that spoke English, or Chinese...

City

[bushidork]

Sugane has come into possession of a massive plate of chorillana due to not quite mastering the language to the point where he's able to communicate that he just wants a reasonable sized portion of Chilean heart-attack-on-a-plate and is now sitting at his table staring at it in moderate distress. He's sure he can eat at least some of it, but he also knows he can't take the rest of it back with him, so he's stuck with a ton of grease-soaked food he'll never be able to eat on his own. Considering he's wearing his uniform, he's pretty sure the other patrons of the restaurant are laughing at him, especially because he's all by himself. Might as well just eat...

City - open!

[secondtry]

The locals were right. The Shatterdome really was an eyesore compared to the rest of the city, but the city itself... Well, it was a little old for Mike's tastes. Still, it was nice to wander around, look around, exercise his slightly-less-than-conversational Spanish, and smile at the pretty civilians who might smile back. That part, he couldn't help. Flirting was kind of what he did.

But here, more than anything, it seemed what he did was accept snacks in return for photos and conversations - which he stumbled through as respectfully as possible - and a few pictures. People seemed to enjoy the idea of knowing him when, and Mike? He didn't mind having someone perched on his lap for the occasional photo. Or a few addresses tucked in pockets.

He had forgotten the perks of the PPDC. Jaeger flies. What a brilliant concept.

City | Open!

[chosethewar]

Tom's Spanish was a whole lot rusty but he ever since he'd learned he'd been assigned to the Valparaíso Shatterdome, he'd been cramming Spanish like no tomorrow. Growing up on the West Coast, he'd picked it up readily enough in his youth. There had been a lot of Hispanic American kids in his classes and it had been the elective language course he'd taken in high school.

But Tom was quickly coming to realize that the Spanish he'd picked up in high school was a whole other beast from the Spanish spoken down here in Chile. Unsurprising considering Montana hadn't exactly been in touch with Latin American slang words and vernacular. Instead, he'd gotten a decent education in Castillo Spanish which was pretty useless in Latin America.

Still, valiantly, the serious young man tried to converse with the locals and soak up some of the culture. The food in particular was interesting to the cadet though he had to be careful not to let any of the filling from the empanada he was currently scarfing down drip on his uniform.

"Esta es muy deliciosa, gracias." He complimented the woman who'd practically shoved the food in his hands. She clucked over him in that local dialect and Tom did his best to mentally translate what she was saying. Apparently he needed more meat on his bones? Maternal instincts were a strange concept to him after all this time so he just smiled awkwardly and tried to gracefully make his escape.

[protagerrant]

Yuri liked to think he was doing alright being in a huge city like this when he'd only lived ever seen two other places his whole life: his hometown, Telluride, which wasn't exactly bustling despite being on the outskirts of LA, and the Alaska Shatterdome, which definitely hadn't held a candle to this level of activity. He didn't have a clue where he was, but when getting home was as easy as heading towards the ocean, it didn't faze him too much.

The toughest thing was not being able to just chat up anyone on the street. Being able to have a conversation without having a sir or m'am somebody sounded like a pretty good time to him, but he hadn't really studied any Spanish in his month of leave between academies. Hadn't really believed the PPDC wasn't just going to shut the door in his face.

Nobody he could talk to just left people watching, but he couldn't exactly just plop himself down at one of the outdoor cafes without any money to at least buy a drink...

But evidently, one of the waiters had got him staring, waved him over and offered him a glass of water along with a long, incomprehensible stream of Spanish that meant absolutely nothing to Yuri. The hand gesture for Sit down and have a drink he caught, though, and managed a bemused 'Gracias', settling down and stretching his legs out so the dark of his uniform could soak up the sun.

It'd be rude to take up the space for too long, but he was in a perfect position to watch the people go by on the street, He could finish the water, at least, and try to think of where to go next in the mean time.

City | Open

[nisemoron]

Morning with Kou-- open for crashing!
It was nice to have some time away from the Shatterdome, but Yaichirou was not thrilled about this morning's errand. When he'd offered to help Ichijou find a birthday present for his little sister, he just was trying to be polite and maybe diffuse the tension. He didn't expect that they'd actually have to do it. Still, he was a man of his word, so he couldn't back out now.

He surveyed the street with trepidation. There was a distinct difference between knowing what to get a two year old and knowing where to find it.

"How's your Spanish, Ichijou?" He was using English for once. Japanese might be more comfortable between native speakers, but this forced him to slow down and not sound as doubtful as he felt.


Afternoon- Bellavista Hill area
By the afternoon, Yaichirou had had enough of the crowded streets and of people trying to chat him up when he only understood 1 in 10 words they said. All that he wanted was some peace and quiet, but that proved hard to find. Valparaìso was smaller than Kyoto, but Kyoto was his city. He knew where to find all the sleepy cafes and hidden shrines that weren't on the tourist maps. In Valparaìso he was the tourist, and even when he managed to communicate around the language barrier, all anyone wanted to show him was this museum or that funicular. It was maddening.

Eventually he'd found a relatively isolated staircase near Bellavista Hill. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough, and it did give him a good view of the bright buildings that perched on the steep incline, apparently oblivious to the laws of physics. He sat on the top stair and scribbled absently on he back of a brochure from the naval museum. He wasn't much of an artist, but if he couldn't buy his mother a post card yet then this was the next best thing.