AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!! This fight becomes ever more complex and daunting!! There is just no end to the madness!!
Today, Day 4 – I thought that after “putting him in his place” with the rock moving slavery, I had shown The Botanist that I was in charge and he had no hope of continuing on his felonious ways. How wrong I was – now I realise that each step of this tortuous path is manipulated, guided, by my foe. I feel at loss, realizing that despite my efforts I am still the puppet being so easy manipulated on his evil strings.
On Day 1 he launched the NP inspired attack on my beach. On Day 2 he created mayhem in the defenseless flora of my quiet town, Day 3 he cunningly led me to believe that I had regained the upper-hand in what I mistaking took for subservience. But I now realize with true horror that at each and every step I have been behind the eightball.
Day 4 seemed to start innocently, a fresh chapter where he had accepted defeat so we could pretend to do some simple sightseeing. And he is so good in his wicked art that starting the day I was comfortable. But this was yet another ruse to make me drop my guard.
As per his photos, it was a simple time of seeing the local sights, towns, beach etc.
And yet again, he pounced!
We were strolling through La Serena, apparently at ease, when he asked me what I personally loved most about the place. Amongst other things, in my foolish relaxed state, I showed him my Tree. The great Bouganvillea. I truly love this ancient bush. We duly admired it, then moved on. As I walked along the street I gave him a running commentary about other things, but suddenly realized he was no longer at my side…….
You will have seen his innocent photos of the La Serena township, even including the photo above of me with my Tree. But his description of this was totally false, he has brazenly posted untruths which I now must attempt to correct. He painted that apparently happy tourist shot with an expressed admiration of the Tree. But this is the real story:
When I realized he had disappeared from my side I searched the streets in vain, knowing that such a quick disappearance act boded ill. I pondered what might be, and it dawned on me with chilling pain that I had inadvertently opened my soul to him about the Bouganvillea, and how much that tree meant to me. I raced back, and surely enough, there he was, hacking at the poor thing with a crude handsaw.
I charged him, tackled him. He fought back with amazing strength. There were punches, eye gouging, kicks, desperate handfuls of dirt and cig butts thrown into eyes. It was an almighty battle. I was losing this epic struggle, but in the midst of my defeat, I suddenly produced from my pocket my bottle of Coca Cola. I simply had no weapons left! But this one worked. Despite his evil bent, The Botanist is a fitness fanatic, and such an item as Coca Cola was as repellent, obscene, and fear-inspiring as a hand grenade would be to mortal souls. He backed off...
So the true situation of this photo is that it is in the aftermath. I am exhausted, propping myself on my Tree, Coca Cola weapon still at the ready. You can clearly see the cut he inflicted on my poor plant friend – between my magnificent chest and my trim waist.
The photo is taken from the angle of the loser of the battle, just out of reach of the dreaded Coca Cola. How he twisted this to a “nice” post on a travel forum just shows how extreme his skills are, not just in devastation, but now also manipulation of public opinion, of such travel forums!
After this confrontation things became different, yet again. We reached an uneasy, exhausted truce. But one of those spy-versus-spy ones.
I took him to the most ”renowned” of hotdog places, not because the food was good, but the opposite. I desperately desired for him to either asphyxiate on the dry bun, suffer an A to Z experience with Cholera to Typhoid if he dared ingest the hotdog itself, or even better, if he tried the mustard I knew I would enjoy the spectacle of watching him in convulsions in a gutter as he choked on his own vomit. (despite being a super-hero I have an evil streak too
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But yet again, he showed he is a master at this game. We exchanged pleasantries, even took some photos of these morsels, then each casually threw the food over their shoulder when we thought the other was not watching. Damn! Foiled again!
Yet more false pleasantries as we returned to my house, but then dinner time arose. I cooked him some really “special” pork on the barbeque, he produced from somewhere some equally “special” red wine. Each of us smilingly served their offering, and yet each of us was in no hurry to try any of the other’s.
Again, both skilled in these arts, the wine level dropped, and the food disappeared, but never into a mouth.
So now I ponder, and with learning, am I winning? Or with dread I think that he is still just toying with me. Tomorrow we head up into the mountains. Elqui Valley. More “home ground” for me. Am I leading him into downfall, or is he using me to access inner sanctums? I will sleep uneasy tonight…..
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