Preface
I was walking by Temuco’s downtown with my mom and younger brother when I spotted a llama on the corner of a square. It was very pretty, serene and adorned with the typical altiplano colors, those that can permeate your closed eyelids. I was thrilled so I ran to it as a disheveled grizzly I was. The llama was joined by a man who from afar resembled Freddie Mercury but up close he was like those poorly made bodysuits on children’s birthdays, like Santa Claus with little dedication, dressed in a shirt and pants that were too big for him. Certainly, he was the one taking a snapshot with the llama at a thousand Chilean pesos.
I could have begged my mother for money but the llama was surrounded by children. I crossed the street without looking, spilling the most of my embarrassment, so a little of it remained when I managed to ask the man what was the name of the star. He misunderstood me, said his name and I don’t remember it, but the llama’s name was: “Cosita”.
Cosita allowed me to stroke its white ears and raised its head like a diva. Then I said goodbye to the man and went back to my mother who calmed down because despite she is usually embarrassed by some of the childhood reactions I have, she is very fond of me. My brother laughed because being older than him I have done more stupid things than him.
So I have decided that when I grow up ... I mean, in about three to four more years I am going to have a llama as a pet. The problem would be keeping it, giving it some space, cleaning the excrement. Maybe it’s better to do it when I grow up.
I left Cosita with a soft white feeling on my chest like its fur, feeling happy for the moment I could catch. However, fate wanted us to meet again or maybe my steps to the same place are to blame. A girl who looked a little younger than me sat on the shaggy back of Cosita. That gave me undeserved but irrepressible courage and my mom confronted my pitiful stray-dog-staring-at-a-sopaipilla face.
Looking at the photo, I could add that the garbage dump and the facade of the Chinese restaurant ‘Tien Xian’ gives an urban background to a cutout of a peasant over a llama because I was given a sombrero and an altiplano blanket for the scene. Anyway, the pose of Cosita gives all the meaning that the miserable photo lacks. Since mental misery has been something very inspiring for me; I have brought the story of the Strobe Llama.
