Backstage

There is always a backstage. Ciervo made this observation while watching his daughters set up for their daily dance performance. They seem to spend more of their time “backstage” practicing, preparing, and primping than putting on the show. Clearly the details behind the scenes are just as fun and important as the experience of the event itself.

I spent this week trying to organize our pictures so that we remember the details of our experience here. A daunting task, indeed, but I discovered that while we took a lot of trips and saw a lot of different things, it’s the daily life that I don’t want to forget. So I ventured out on foot, camera in hand, ready to snap stillframes of the backdrop that has made our time here so special.

It was a beautiful day, and I tried to take a picture of the excitement I felt being here but couldn’t get the right angle. So I snapped one of my worn shoes, but it didn’t capture the feeling of walking on the cobblestone sidewalk. I tried to take a photo of the smell of fresh baked bread from the Castaño up the street, and the hum of the Metro but they came out blurry. So, I snapped off few digitals of a Lucuma, but they just don’t capture the flavor of this sweet South America fruit.

How do you document Mario’s friendliness, the twinkle in Luis’s eye when he sees Sarafina, or the way Alfredo says my name in his Dracula-like way? Along with Juan Carlos and Elvis, these are our conserjes (doormen), and have been an important behind-the-scenes detail of our time here. They greet us each day with a warm “Buenos días!”, always hold the door open, and wish us “Le vaya bien!”. They are happy whether it is hot, cold, or rainy, and on weekends, holidays, and in the middle of the night. They are always excited to see us, and are simply dying to hear where we’re been and where we’re going next. They help with the groceries, directions, and keep the building pristine. They warn us of upcoming Chilean holidays and downtown protests, help us get into our apartment when I forget my keys, and loan us poetry books that they think we’ll enjoy. They slip our bills under our door, but hand-deliver anything from the U.S. so they can join in our excitement. They were as excited as we were when Sarafina lost her tooth and that Margarita wanted to run with me this morning.

I’ve always wanted to go backstage at a concert to see what happens. I know that often it is the effort of people who work without recognition that make the show fantastic. I hope I can find a way to say “gracias” to our backstage crew, our conserjes, that captures the support they have been to us. Maybe I’ll invite them to one of our daily dance shows.

Sisma