We pulled up chairs and circled around the deputy editor’s desk, discussing events happening all over Latin America over the coming weekend that might deserve some news coverage.
“First, how did we miss a chunk of the Perito Moreno glacier falling off last weekend?” the deputy editor asked. “We had great video but didn’t write anything.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I saw the video and didn’t think it was that big a deal.”
“It was like a whole building fell into the water,” said a video producer, as the others nodded in agreement.
“Have you seen that thing?” I asked him, knowing he was Chilean and likely had crossed over to Argentina to visit the enormous glacier.
To my surprise, he shook his head.
“That thing goes forever,” I said. “I’ve been there, and this kind of thing happens all the time. It happened when I was there, not quite so big a piece but pretty big.”
That statement hung in the air.
“Well, I thought the footage was pretty cool,” the deputy editor finished.
We moved on to naked Peruvian bicyclists.
“They’re going to ride through the middle of Lima,” a photo editor said.
“We’re still a little gun shy since we got burned by the naked Jamaican wedding,” I said.
“Which wedding?” the deputy editor asked.
“You know, we thought it was going to be a big Moonie-style wedding but naked, but it was just like five couples,” I answered.
“Right,” the deputy editor said. “Well, this could still be cool: naked bicyclists. I don’t know…”
Again, this thought hung among us all.
Finally, the video editor described a bid by some Puerto Ricans to break the world record for the most people drinking sangria at the same time.
“What do you think?” the deputy editor asked me.
“They’re always trying to break world records around here,” I said, prompting a nod from the video editor. Of agreement, or acknowledging I had just said something, I don’t know. “You know, making the biggest enchilada.”
I won this one. We would skip the mass drinking of sangria.