Alex

This is Alex. I met him in Valparaiso, Chile in February of this year at a small school where we were both studying Spanish. Alex was just starting a 6 month tour of South America on a Kawasaki KLR 650 - an off road/on road touring/adventure motorcycle. We hung out a few times before he had to continue on. He even let me ride his KLR through the steep and winding dog populated streets of Valparaiso. Having owned a KLR 650 about 20 years ago, I loved every minute of it.

9"x12" Sharpie and watercolor.

Valparaiso Street Corner

The last day in Valparaiso I walked from Neruda's house down into the city and found a shady plaza to sit and draw. The electrical lines in Valparaiso are crazy. I don't know how they keep track of everything. I imagine they can't. They just add more wires. So in this scene there is all of the chaos of the city. I ignored the cars, motorcycles and ancient trolley buses but they were constantly moving through the intersection. In the background there was a musician playing pan pipes of popular songs. The Chilean flag is in the upper right corner of this sketch. And there at the bottom, a beautiful gem of a telephone booth so beautifully proportioned. A piece of zen in the middle of it all.