Ohm.

There are 29 churches from the Colonial period in the centre of La Serena. I know because I read it on the back of a shopping docket. Personally, I think they should have put in a bit more effort and made it 30 - but perhaps they were afraid of inspiring a mid life crisis amongst all the town planners in the region.

Whatever the reason, in honour of this fact I have decided (in as much as one can decide something like to have red hair or a superfluous nipple...) to have a religously themed day. Not only did I visit a good number of the aforementioned churches, but I also managed to have extended conversations with two Mormons and a Hari Khrisna. Talk about living in the fast lane!

Now, the chat with the Mormans mainly consisted of me making fun of them for having special underwear and not having the creativity to come up with a better name for a city than one based on the dominant geographical feature of the region. Thus it is quite stupid and does not bear repeating.

The pow wow with the Hari Khrisna man was a bit more fun and went a bit like this:

(in Spanish of course... how clever am I?)

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HK: The nature of the soul is scientifically understandable.

ME: Right - how do you mean scientifically?

HK: Well it cannot be the same as matter, it has to be something else, something special. Otherwise when someone dies, you would be able to give them a special injection to make them come alive again.

ME: Ah... you mean ´scientific´ in the same way that Mama´s Kitchen makes ´pasta´

HK: Can I give you this book?

ME: No.

HK: Please?

ME: Ok, but only to help my Spanish. Oh and tell me where you supply cheap vegetarian food.

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I feel more enlightened already. Try to imagine a bit of a Gregorian chant in the background when I say to you...

Rock and Roll.

Paddy.