Headed home

Wow. It's actually here. For 2 months I've had the date of April 3rd in my mind as the end of my trip but it always seemed soooo far off. And now it's here. And I have to go home. And I don't want to. It may sound strange, or even perhaps a bit cold, but I don't get homesick... ever. That doesn't mean that I don't miss PEOPLE but that, during my two months here, I can honestly say that not once did I wish I wasn't here or wish to be back home instead. I don't know if that's normal or not, but that's how I am. BUT, now that the moment is actually becoming a reality, that it's nearly tangible that I'll be back in my own cushy bed at this time tomorrow (and that I'll get to have a HOT shower!) and since I've been in contact with my friends/family about making plans for this weekend and the coming week (it still seems totally surreal to me that THIS weekend I'll be hanging out with people in PA), I am getting really excited to see everyone! Especially the kiddos. I had a conversation with my sweet niece Alison via IM last nigth and it made me REALLY miss her... and all the kids. They're good stuff, I say!

As for my last day in Bogota, I spent it dreading the trip home, organizing my stuff and buying coffee. Lord only knows how I will manage to carry what feels like 150 pounds of coffee beans but no doubt I'll find a way and it will ALL be worth it once I'm home and drinking a fabulous cup of cafe with the official seal of Juan Valdez on it.

This evening Lina had a meeting to attend so one of her friends that I had met previously, Cristian, took me out. We went to a cute little outdoor place in a historic section of town that I hadn't seen before. And I had a brownie! It's been a mighty loooong time since I've had a brownie and it was goooood. I also had a glass of hot, steaming wine. Mmmmm.

I've made a few observations since I've been here. Of course, I have forgotten half of them (why, WHY don't I write things down?!) but here are the ones that come to mind at this point:

1. Here they have a soup man. Think of the ice cream truck but instead of a truck with ice cream and tinny piped-out music, it involves a guy on a bike riding around town tooting a bicycle horn vending piping-hot, homemade soup. Not sure why, but it cracked me up.

2. Because cell phones are very expensive here and most people can't afford them, some very ingenious people have come up with the idea of "selling" their cell phone use on the streets. Everywhere you go, you see people just hanging around, with a sign advertising the price they will charge you to use their personal cell phone per minute. The first time Lina used one, I wasn't really paying attention and all of a sudden I see her walk up to a stranger and he just hands her his cell phone and she starts chatting away. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why a complete stranger would just hand over his cell phone and I just stood there, incredulous at the kindness of the Colombian people. And then I saw money being exchanged.

3. From Lina's own lips, if you are told something will take one month (for example, if you place an order from a store or for a service to be done), it will take at least three. Time seems fairly irrelevant here, as it was in Chile. It seems the same rules apply here in that if you invite someone to your home for dinner at 8, you would be shocked if they showed up before 8:30... and you sure wouldn't have anything prepared until then. Yeah, I can dig the way time works down here.

4. I've already mentioned the 'pico y placa' thing (the driving restrictions) and the system of paying all of your bills in person at each office. But they merit mentioning again since I can't get over either of them (and because Betty spent a couple hours this afternoon going around to the various places to pay her bills so it made me think of it again)!

Also, the random picture of the food is of the breakfast I had most mornings here: FRESH squeezed orange juice, eggs, FRESH bread from the neighborhood bakery, arepas (a traditional item here made of cornmeal: oh so good), caldo soup and coffee. Sho' beats Corn Flakes!

I dig Colombia. And, mostly, its people. Lina and Betty couldn't have been nicer or more welcoming and hospitable to me. They went out of their way to accomodate me and offer me a great experience while I was here. They provided me a place to stay, cooked for me, drove me around, took me to their country house, showed me how to make the Colombian hot chocolate and arepas (oh so good) and they gave generously of their time to spend it with me and include me in their lives. It just seems innate to them to be hospitable and to make guests feel both completely honored AND like a part of the family, all at the same time. It's a great quality to have. I will certainly miss them... but I will just as certainly be back to visit them! For now, back to Lancaster....

A trip to the country...

Beatriz (Lina's aunt) has a fabulous house in Villa de Leyva, a super-quaint, cobblestone-streeted little colonial town about 4 hours outside of Bogota. The plan was to leave Sunday morning at 9 am, sharp. We left at 1 pm sharp. I, still apparently being in somewhat of American mode, was ready at 9 am sharp. Will I never learn? Because of COURSE if the plan is to leave at 9, you don't even think of leaving the house unti nearly 11. And then you have to stop to drop something off "on the way" at a friend's house and hang around and talk for a half hour. And then you have to "pop in" to visit someone at the hospital. So we were on our way only four hours later than planned... made me laugh.

I normally hate car trips but this one was fabulous. Through lots of little villages and up winding mountain roads with unbelievable scenery. I didn't take my eyes away for even a minute, literally. There were a thousand things I wanted to take pictures of but it's kind of hard to do when you're careening around a switchback on a mountain at what feels like 70 miles an hour! And, also, the vast majority of the pictures I wanted to take were simply of the people we passed along the way. It was everything that you would think of when picturing tiny little towns in Colombia: people dressed in the old traditional garb (people not wearing it for fashion but for real practicality... these are people that can pull off cowboy hats without even a hint of looking like they don't TOTALLY belong in it); there were cows and horses and goats and sheep grazing randomly all along the edges of the highway, groups of little old men leaning against buildings, wearing their ponchos and hats and shooting the breeze, little boys leading donkeys down paths, farmers hoeing their fields by hand, sweet-faced little kids running around in their mini-ponchos, run-down little towns full of people hanging around at the outdoor tables at the town restaurant, little old ladies carrying buckets of water up hills, dogs sleeping in the middle of the streets (you just swerve around), herds of cows crossing the roads... amazing. But there is somehow always an odd feeling of being rude when wanting to take a picture of a person and so, being hesitant, I missed a thousand pictures that would have fit right into National Geographic... and I will always regret it!

Once in Villa de Leyva, Lina and I went out late that night to have some hot chocolate at one of the little outdoor places that surrounds the main plaza. Totally charming. While we're there chatting, all of the lights go out in the whole town, every single one, and no one made even a slightly surprised sound or a comment, no "What's going on?", not even a slight breath of a pause in the conversations. Everyone just kept on talking as if nothing at all had happened, as if we weren't all suddenly sitting there in complete and pitch blackness. And eventually the lights just came back on, and no one even blinked. Pretty funny.

Monday morning I woke up to the sounds of Kenny Rogers BLARING from the stereo. Yes, that Kenny Rogers. Somehow I never expected to be woken up by "The Gambler" while in Colombia. Turns out Betty is a big fan. Who knew Kenny Rogers still had any fans?

Then we took another road trip, about two hours to another little town named Nobsu. Equally amazing drive and equally quaint town. But of course, because it's my personal curse, we started having car problems as we were nearing it. We stopped into a mechanic's and, also of course, when he got in to drive it around it didn't show any signs of the problem. He couldn't find anything wrong with it. Some things are the same worldwide, eh? So he poked around, fiddled with a few things and then sent us on our way with his phone number in case we had any more problems that day... all for free. On the way back through, Betty stopped and bought him a little gift as a means of thanks. I thought that was cool... and classy.

That night back in Villa de Leyva we had dinner at "Don Jorge's" little restaurant. It's Betty's favorite restaurant there and she and Don Jorge have known each other for about 15 years. It's the type of place where you walk in and say (or, rather, yell out through the little window into the kitchen) "Do you have dinner tonight?" and he says either yes or no and, if it's yes, you ask what he has. And that's what you have. It's kind of like going over to your grandparent's for dinner, because they're only making one thing and you have to eat it and everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is homemade. No lie, I ordered a glass of fruit juice (maracuya, mmm) and it took him like 10 minutes to get it, which I couldn't understand. Until I looked back in the kitchen and could actually see him making it... not mixing up a powder or opening a bottle, but squeezing the fruit. Whoa, to die for. And Don Jorge not only makes the juice, but he waits on all of the tables and takes the money (for which there is no bill and no receipt, he just comes back to your table at the end, glances over what you had and adds stuff up in his head) and helps with the cooking. We had 3 amazing, homemade dinners of chicken, fish and beef as well as salad, potatoes, plantains, rice and fresh-squeezed fruit juice for what worked out to be just under $11. Total. We went back for every subsequent meal.

And then we went home and listened to Kenny Rogers together. It's worth mentioning that we're not talking about Kenny Rogers CDs or even tapes here, but actual records... Betty's a serious, long-term fan! Funny that she has loved him for all of these years without being able to understand even one of the words. So we listened and I translated and now she loves him even more ("Lady" is her new favorite, now that she knows what it says).

Today we took it easy and hung out in the town this morning, having breakfast at Don Jorge's and doing a little shopping. And then another amazing scenic drive home. Remember that thing I mentioned the other day about how certain people aren't allowed to drive at certain hours on certain days? And how I thought it was a great idea? Right about 5 pm tonight as we were coming back into Bogota and Betty remembered that today she's "pico y placa" (on driving restriction) and we then had to kill 2 hours sitting outside the city limits until she could drive again legally in the city, I started to rethink my position on the whole thing.

So we found a little chicken restaurant in which to kill time and Betty ordered the bowl of soup at right. What you're seeing is a bowl full of chicken broth... and chicken hearts and livers and necks and... ready?... chicken feet. See those two little pointy things sticking up towards the back of the bowl? Those are little chicken claws! Yeah, I've been pretty adventurous with my eating here but not THAT adventurous. It was about all I could do to take the picture!

And more waiting.....

Yesterday was an interesting lesson about life in Colombia. Lina had some errands to do and, since the full extent of my motivations while here in Bogota is to just "hang out", I went with her. First we went to the bank... and waited in line. But at least here they use the take-a-number system so we were able to sit down and hang out in some chairs while waiting. Then we had to go to the office where health insurance is handled. It turns out that here you don't pay ANYTHING by mail, for fear that the postal service will either lose or rip off whatever it is you're sending. So every month you go down to the office in person, where you take another number, sit in another chair and wait to be given your monthly statement of balance due. But you can't pay it there... no, no, that would be far too easy. So then you take your statement, go back to the bank, take another number and sit in another chair. And wait. And then you make an electronic transfer of funds from your account to the insurance company's account. And then you come back next month and do the whole thing again. And you also do it for every other bill you pay: electric, gas, phone, cable, water, etc.... EVERY month. In person. To each company.

And then we had to go to one of the offices that she has done some work for to find out about when she'll be paid. The payment schedule seems to be sketchy so you have to stay on top of it yourself. And, again, you have to go in person to pick it up because noone would ever send a paycheck in the mail.

I have to say I found the whole thing very interesting to observe. But, then again, I probably found it interesting because *I* don't have to do it every month. If I did, I'm quite sure I would have another word for it.

And then Lina had an appointment at 5. I tagged along and asked the lady how long it would take; she said just about an hour and a half. Great, I say, I'll just go for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. Needless to say, more than three hours later I had walked the entire neighborhood, had my eyebrows waxed and read every single magazine the place had to offer. And that seems to be life in Colombia. Nobody really hurries to do anything and everyone is cool with it, just hanging out and enjoying the time chatting. So I'M cool with it, just chillin'.

Then we met up with a couple of her friends, Cristian and MaLu (Maria Luisa), for a fabulous Japanese dinner... in a Japanese restaurant where they played rockin' Latin music. Kind of killed the mood but at least the food was great. We then went to a club where they were having a traditional eastern Colombian music group playing, along with dancers. I'm tellin' ya, the Colombians know how to get down! I'm pretty sure it's just embedded in their DNA at birth.

Today is grey and rainy and stormy. Lina and Betty are in the process of moving so, since we can't be outside doing anything, it seemed like a pretty good day to make some headway with the packing process. Moving is an overwhelming prospect... and it's not even MY stuff!

This is a picture of the 'caldo' soup we had yesterday. It's a broth soup with potatoes and big hunks of some kind of red meat (note the wishbone). And we had it for.... breakfast. Ah, the breakfast of champions: eggs, orange juice, bread and... meat soup!

Bogotá, baby!

Well, the official countdown begins. I am in my last week in South America, which I will be spending in Colombia. My hopes of going to Machu Picchu were brutally dashed when I went to buy the tickets from Santiago to Peru and then on to Bogota. I don't know what the difference is because flying to and within Chile/Argentina was relatively inexpensive but the flights to Peru and Colombia were EXORBITANT. Like, 5 times the price exorbitant. It was a maaaaaajor disappointment and took me a few days to stop being bitter about but let's just say that, for a girl with no current job to speak of, it would have been a pretty foolish decision to spend the money. It was a tough one to make as that was one of my big things I was planning but, at some point, reality has to come into play. It became a matter of either going to Machu Picchu for 3 days or eating for the first 3 months after getting home. So here I am in Bogota. Machu Picchu will have to wait til the next time.

I am visiting my friend Lina here. She came to the US through AHLI in 2000 to spend 5 months learning English. Since she spoke almost no English back then and I was the only staff member at the time who spoke Spanish, we spent a fair amount of time together and became good friends. We stayed in contact and she has been gracious enough to have me stay with her both when I came here for the first time in December 2006 and again now. So I will spend my last week in South America with her and her aunt, with whom she lives. My last week... yikes!

After getting just 3 hours of sleep the night before, I made it up in time for my flight yesterday morning and got to Bogota in the afternoon. When I stepped off the plane it was grey and there were intermittent raindrops. I almost started to cry. It is going to be one hard adjustment for me to go back to a life that isn't sunny every day. But since I've been here it's been off and on grey and then sunny and then raining for 5 minutes and then sunny again. So maybe this is just the right thing for me... to ease me back in to yukky weather slooowly. I can handle 5 minutes at a time of grey skies!

Anyhow, Lina and her aunt Beatriz (Betty) picked me up at the airport and the first question they asked me was of course if I was hungry. I said I wasn't, just a little thirsty.... so we went immediately for dinner. Because that's what you do here; you feed your guests. And in the end I was cool with it because we went to a yummy crepe place. And then on the way home Betty needed to stop into the salon for "just a minute"... and Lina and I ended up waiting for about an hour, just hanging out. That is also what they do here, lots of waiting (this morning we waited at a doctor's office for Betty for 3 hours!).

For lunch we went to a restaurant that was in a humongous transformed warehouse type of building and which I can only describe as a restaurant full of meat. Lots of meat, big huge helpings of it coming out on steaming metal plates. Mmmmm.

And then we went to the salon because, I'll be honest, after walking around for nearly 2 months in sandals every day, I needed a pedicure. Bad. Lina recommended the place, the really upscale one that she goes to, and the charge for my hour-long pedicure was the equivalent of $7. Seven dollars. So then of course, what the heck, why not throw in the $5 manicure? Which only also inevitably leads to the.... ready?.... $6 haircut!! And keep in mind this was the EXPENSIVE place. She said most places charge around $3 for a pedicure. Do you know how much *I* would charge to touch someone else's feet???

So, yeah, Colombia is unbelievably cheaper than Chile. But of course I would have had to choose the MOST expensive South American country to spend the majority of my time. Not that I have any regrets, mind you, I would just have a lot more money left!

Oh, and one random side note: because there is so much traffic congestion here they have implemented a system whereby each person has certain days a week (2-3 per person, I think) where they can not drive between the hours of 6-9 am and then again from 4-7 pm. So this morning Betty needed to leave for something around 8 am but forgot that it was her day to not drive, so had to wait an hour. Isn't that wild? Although, if you think about it, it's pretty smart as it causes people to carpool, take public transportation or ride bikes. Although, there still seem to be a billion cars on the road!

P.S. This picture is of homemade hot chocolate Lina made tonight. Made from REAL chocolate squares boiled in milk. Oh. My. Gosh. It was to die for but the real reason I took the picture was to point out the other ingredient... see those little yellow squares floating in there? That's cheese! Yep, hot chocolate with cheese thrown in. Which of course gets all melty and gooey. Try it, you might just be surprised!

My LAST day in Santiago (insert sobbing sounds here)

Wow. It has actually arrived. My last day in Santiago. When I left the last time after my classes ended it wasn't so tough since I knew I'd be back. But now I'm leaving and I don't know when I'll be back. And it's sad. I've come to really love this city and its people and I've grown very comfortable here.

But I made the most of my last day! I was able to arrange one final lunch with my super-cool classmates (who are just as super-cool as when I last saw them!) and catch up on what's been going on with them these past few weeks. They have all jumped right into teaching, have found places to live and are beginning to build lives here. In a lot of ways, I'm envious of them. But mostly I am really proud of them. They have all made the big leap and, while there are some struggles, they're doing it! We formed such a perfect little group and I'm so happy for them that they will all have each other to help get through it together.

Then Megan and I went to see the Bodies exhibit I mentioned yesterday. Still just as amazing as the first time. And, as a bonus, I learned a lot of anatomical terms in Spanish! I must say, the human body is truly an intricate, wondrous thing. Again, I would encourage any of you who get the chance to go see it. You will never look at yourself the same way again!

I then did a tiny bit of shopping for some gifts and then headed home for my last evening with Edgar y Maria. We spent is as we most often did: sitting around the kitchen table talking and laughing. Maria talked just as fast as always, Edgar gave me the same funny looks as always and I felt just as genuinely happy with them as always. Man, I am going to miss them. I have an open invitation to return "home" to 1952 Polobanda, Santiago anytime, but that won't make flying out any easier tomorrow.

Clean clothes!

I realize that clean clothes are not all that exciting. Unless, that is, you have been wearing the same 3 pairs of pants for just a day shy of 3 weeks. I realize it's disgusting and not really something I should admit out loud but, there it is. I should clarify that I've tried several times to get my laundry done during that time but, without boring you with all tedious details of my dirty clothes, it never worked out. Until today. I have never been so happy in all my life to sniff my pants! Okay, I know that's gross.

Random picture warning: This is the cup of cappuccino I ordered yesterday; note the little pill-like thing next to it. That is the sweetener they use here. And that teeny-tiny little thing actually sweetens the whole cup. Bizarre, no?

The parents are headed home...

Well, I just left my parents at the aiport. They're on the overnight back to Florida and I am back in my room at Edgar y Maria's. We had to be out of our hotel by noon so we had the whole afternoon to kill before needing to be at the airport. Which mostly translated into us sitting at Starbuck's, then sitting at a nice little outdoor Italian restaurant for lunch, then sitting at the airport restaurant... you get the idea.

I think they enjoyed their time here; no doubt it was sometimes a struggle for them to not be able to speak the language or have any idea what was going on around them but we got to do a lot for the little time we had and I know that Mom was particularly impressed with the kindness of the people here. Even without being able to speak the same language, people constantly showed her kindness in both big and small ways and it made a big impression on her. Dad remains impressed with the huasos (cowboys).

Since our hotel was in such a lovely, tree-lined area of the city (sometimes you totally forgot you were even in a city) which also happened to be just a few blocks away from where I took my classes the first month, we also spent some time walking around there so I could take some pictures. This was the area where I spent every day for a month, where I hung out with my friends and caught my bus and ate lunch and shopped and meandered about, and it made me kind of sad to realize today that this was the last time I would walk through it.

So we chilled today, which was nice. It was beautiful and sunny and warm (low 80s) and it was nice to be able to just walk around and enjoy the day and appreciate being able to sit outside. I'm afraid I've become spoiled by a month and a half of sun EVERY day (I'm not exaggerating) and the constant warm temps. I think that if I have to go back to PA and put on anything other than short sleeves and sandals, it is going to be VERY ugly.

I was thinking that I would also fly out of Santiago tonight or tomorrow to move on to my next adventure but, looooong story short, I'm still in Santiago and will be here until Wednesday morning. The one upside to this is that Edgar y Maria were gracious enough to have me come back to their house so I get two more days with them! It was strange to walk back in here tonight and have it feel just like I still belong. I thanked them for being kind enough to let me come back and I was met with a "Don't thank us. This is YOUR house". And they meant it. Wow.

So two more days here... two days of laundry, going to see the "Bodies" exhibit which happens to be in town (I saw it in Florida but am dying to see it again. FAS-ci-nating. If you get the chance, go see it!) and trying to organize all of my junk and figuring out how on earth I'm going to carry home the humongous clay vase I bought. It practically needs its own seat on the plane.

It was a little sad to see Mom & Dad walk off into immigration tonight, but then I realized that I'll seeing them back in PA in just about another week and a half. Which is it's own kind of sad.

Ride 'em, huaso!

Today was my chance for redemption. Since my sickness last week crushed our rodeo dreams (okay, dad's rodeo dreams), I thought we were out of luck in this regard. But somewhere around the middle of this week I just happened to come across the rodeo website again (who would have ever thought I would just "come across" a website about rodeos?) and found that they had just added some events that were taking place this weekend. A second chance!

So today we went to a Chilean rodeo. With real, live Chilean cowboys (huasos) wearing the traditional dress. Pretty cool stuff, even without being a rodeo fan. Turns out that Chilean rodeos don't consist of different events, it's all just one long event which basically consists of teams of huasos on horses trying to pin a cow up against a wall while yelling crazy things in Spanish. And there's a point system which I have yet to grasp. But I must say there was something oddly cool about seeing these authentic guys with their horses; it all seemed so manly to me!

When I asked someone in the town about the exact location of the rodeo he said that, yes, there was a rodeo today but that it was "chiquitito". Let me say that "chico" means "small", "chiquito" is a diminutive form meaning "very small" and "chiquitito" is even more diminutive meaning "crazy small". He wasn't exaggerating. Tiny, but cool. Because somehow its 'chiquitito' size made it feel even more authentic to me. We were definitely the only gringos there. And we were able to sit right up front in the front row, close enough to have mud flung on us from the horses' hooves. Now that's living, baby!

We're still alive!

Wow, three days without posting. What's happening to me? Must be the bad influence of those Pennsylvanians that are down here distracting me from my faithful blogging. Anyhow, I don't think it's possible to fully recall all of the past 3 days, but here's what comes to mind: (no doubt this will be crazy long so I'll break it down by days, thereby giving you time to pause, catch your breath, get a coffee, stretch, take a nap...)

Tuesday: This day started out pretty rough. My flat tire from the night before came back to haunt us when we went to the rental place, thinking we would just quickly stop in and switch it for another one. Wrong. We're in South America and things just don't work that way here. Long story short, we spent the morning sitting in the office, waiting while calls were made to figure out who had a spare tire and where it was and how we could get it. Two hours and thirty-five thousand pesos later, we were on our way...

... and then we got lost. Again. We were told it was EEEEASY, just go down such and such a highway and get off on Av. Florida and it's right there! But Av. Florida isn't marked; somehow one just has to KNOW that you have to first get off on 'Los Torres' and THEN you will find Av. Florida. They don't feel the need to mark much of anything here, nor to put the street numbers in any sort of sequential order. Dad, the King of Maps, just loves it!

Anyhow, we finally found the town we were looking for and ended up zipping right through it and onto an amazing, winding road that ran through the Andes. We drove for at least an hour without a stop sign or a traffic light, all while seeing amazing scenery and quaint little villages along the roads. Our new destination became El Volcan and, after about two hours of driving, we got to a point where we were just 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) from it and the road turned to unpaved stone and started going uphill. This would be the point where the as-yet-unnamed person in the backseat decided that we simply could not go on. We tried giving her more Xanax but to no avail. We headed home. Grrrr.

Wednesday: This morning we piddled away trying to get an ever-elusive map of Chile and Argentina. No one here has maps so I'm not sure why we even try. But we (correction, the folks) foolishly thought the Chilean Automobile Club (like AAA in the US) would have them. After waiting about half an hour, we found out we were wrong. Again. They don't have maps and they don't route out trips for you. So what does the Chilean Automobile Club do, you ask? I'll let you know when I find out.

Then we decided to head back to El Volcan. "Someone" was feeling better about it today and assured us repeatedly they would be game this time. Fortunately, we knew where we were going this time so it saved us about an hour in aimless driving. We arrived right back at the same spot and, yep, things got shaky. But this time we made it about a half a kilometer up the road before the freaking out kicked in. I don't remember exactly how many times we turned the car around before finally deciding to go with a majority vote (binding and gagging was also discussed) and forge ahead. I'm SO glad we did!

El Volcan is written up as an abandoned mining town where one can "peek into the abandoned mines and houses". It was set down in a low valley and, from the road above while looking down, seemed to be just as billed. Run-down, falling-apart buildings and houses with no signs of life anywhere. Spooky but cool. We made our way down the bumpy dirt road and started poking around... only to see people running around. People were living there! You can't imagine this place, by all appearances a ghost town, yet with little kids running around chasing tires, horses roaming around free, guys hanging out on porches, dogs roaming the streets. There was even a little pub and a teeny tiny little chapel, which I can't believe more than two adults and one very small child could fit into at one time. Impossible to believe that people still live like that. Wow!

On the road back, we stopped in another little town, San Jose de Maipo, that for me embodies a typical little South American town. Cute little center plaza where everyone congregates, just hanging out and chatting leisurely, surrounded by a butcher, bakery, little church, pastry shop, fruit market, tiny mini-market. Darling. And exactly what I love about South America.

Thursday: Today we decided to go to Argentina. How cool to be able to just "go to Argentina" for the day! We heard about a natural reserve there which contains the highest mountain in the Andes and, in fact, in all of the Americas and the western hemisphere. This time we actually found what we wanted without getting lost! It was very exciting. The last half hour of the trip was going up a STEEP mountain full of switchbacks. The backseat passenger loved that!

We got into the country with no problem (other than the hour or so it took for us go through customs; we had to drive into a building to go through customs, a first for me) and spent some time first at a little market and checking out the area. Then we got to the reserve and it first struck me that it wasn't at all like the "park" I was expecting. There was no visitors center, no souvenir shop, no bathrooms, no rangers, it was just truly a natural reserve in the middle of nowhere. We walked a trail that took us back into the mountains and overlooked that famous mountain glacier... stunning.

And then we thought we'd head back to Chile... but we were foolish to think it would be that easy. First I drove the wrong way through a tunnel and almost got a ticket (I'm kind of getting used to that by now) and THEN we ended up in a line of traffic that was, I kid you not, at least 2 kilometers long. It wasn't slow, it was stopped. Dead stopped. As in people had their cars shut off and were just hanging out outside their cars. It was traffic for as far as the eye could see, literally. Turns out that during Semana Santa (Holy Week), everyone in South America travels and it seemed like every single one of them was there in line in front of us. It was a drag but what I loved about it was how the people handled it. No one got mad, no one beeped their horn, no one threw a fit, no one ranted or raved. People were just hanging out, hiking up into the mountains, going for walks, taking pictures, talking, laughing. Come on, you have to dig that! And that is what I love about South America in a nutshell.

Four and a half hours later, yes four and a half, after the sun had set and we were prepared to settle in for the night, we saw a light on the horizon. It was like seeing water after days roaming the desert! We didn't realize that our journey had just begun. Yes, indeedy, Chilean customs is a most "interesting" experience. It involved getting out of the car and going into a building and going from one window to another to another and another (about 7 in all), stacks of paperwork, forms, paying an entrance fee (on top of the exit fee we had just paid to Argentina) and, finally, having our car searched by two officers. In the end, we spent more time in customs than in Argentina!

Oh, and of course we got lost on the way home.

Friday: Since we didn't get home til after 2 am last night and because it's Good Friday and nearly everything here is closed, today we decided to chill. And that's what we did, in a big way. Mom made it downstairs for breakfast, I went to the grocery store and we all walked to Starbucks this evening. And those were our major accomplishments for the day. Aaaaaaah.

The Kindness of Strangers

Today was better than yesterday. Sort of. I wasn't vomiting, which was better. The rest was debatable.

Since I was able to be upright again, we decided to go to a beach town which is near-ish to Santiago (about 1 1/2 hours). The lady from the hotel told us to go to Santa Maria Avenue and go west; sounded easy enough. We found the road, no problem, but it only went east. She failed to mention that part. So within 5 minutes of leaving the hotel, we were lost. We finally swallowed our pride to ask for help about 20 minutes after that (granted, Mom was ready to swallow hers about 30 seconds in) when we realized we were heading way north on the wrong highway.

Now, it needs to be said that I barely understand directions when they're given to me in English. It goes far worse in Spanish. So right about the time that my eyes were starting to glaze over as the guy at the convenience store was telling me how to go, a kind soul who happened to overhear us interrupted to tell me he was going the same way and we could just follow him. He instantly became my new best friend! I stayed on his bumper as if I were superglued to it. When we got to the place where we were to part ways, he actually flagged us over on the highway and got out of his truck to come give us some more pointers, tell us about the city where we were going, what to avoid, how to avoid getting a ticket and so on... I could have kissed that man!

So we made it to Valparaíso. We drove around the coastal side and up to a beautiful lookout. Aaah, a day in paradise. And then we got back in our car and... dead. As a doornail. Had Dad not been there, I would have just settled in with my book and waited for the car rental company to come pick me up. But Dad pulled off his old "push it to get it rolling til you can pop it into second gear and get it moving" trick. Woo-hoo! Then, about $20USD later in cell phone calls to the rental company, we figured out it was a minor problem and, once again, thought all was well. But Valparaíso is a city set on a huge hill and every street is STEEP in a way that I can't really explain here and that no picture would do justice to. So we decided to go check it out... except that the mix of an iffy car in a strange (and very crowded and rather dirty) city while going practically straight up hills was freaking out a person in the backseat who shall, yet again, remain nameless. Once again I say, God bless Xanax!

We decided that Valparaíso wasn't our city so we ended up in a nearby beach city, Viña del Mar. It was beautiful and the folks loved it. Dad was good, Mom was calm, all was well. We had a very late lunch and headed home.

About halfway back on the highway, I got waved over by a cop. Not pulled over with a car and a flashing siren, mind you, actually waved over by a cop standing on the side of a major highway. O-kaaaaay. So I pull over and he starts looking all official and asking me for my license, registration, etc... he then realizes I'm a foreigner and starts asking me where I'm from, what type of visa I'm on, how long I'm in the country... and where my passport is. I tell him it's in the hotel and he starts asking me how is he supposed to know if I'm legal or illegal. Again, I tell him I don't have my passport on me. Again, he asks how he's supposed to know if I'm legal or illegal. We're at a standstill. I give him my most honest-looking face and in the end he let me go (I guess it was easier for him than following me back to Santiago). Not that I even know what I was pulled over for in the first place!

So we get back into Santiago without further incident; I was driving and Dad commented on the metal dividers they had running down the middle of the streets in between the lanes and how he couldn't imagine what it would do to a person's car to hit one of those. Not 5 minutes later, we found out. Turns out it will give you a flat tire before you even know what hit you. We pulled over and, really, all you could do was laugh. We started looking around for the stuff to change the tires and before we could even find it, there were 3 people there to help us. It's like here it's just completely second nature, that of course you stop to help someone with a flat tire. One of the guys had been inside a restaurant having dinner with his family and had seen us pull over through the window and came out to help. He ended up changing the tire for us. Wow. I take back everything I ever said about Chileans being standoffish in public! Two different people today proved me very wrong. I'm sure glad I was.

Getting lost, a broken-down car, backseat pillpoppers, being pulled over and scolded by a cop and getting a flat tire. All in a day's work in Chile!

Great Day - Bad Day

All was going so well. Yesterday my folks and I did "Part II" of the Santiago tour, since we had spent so much of the first day at one place and didn't see everything we wanted to. We got to a few more places that I had yet to see, even after my month here, things I'd been wanting to do since arriving. We saw the palace, the main market, the oldest church in Santiago and the main city plaza, filled with outdoor coffe shops, street performers and vendors. I love those!

In the evening we were set to meet up with Edgar y Maria for dinner. I was a little apprehensive about how it would go since the FULL burden of any form of communication between my parents and them would have to go through me. When my mom and I stopped over there the one day to pick some of my things up, Maria, who is an incessant... and super FAST... talker just went on and on, like somehow she couldn't grasp that my mom didn't understand one word she was saying. There were no pauses for me to translate anything! At one point I had left the room and Maria just kept chattering away, while my mom sat with a blank look on her face. So I was hesitant about a whole evening of that. It turns out I had nothing to worry about.

We met at their house and they greeted us with aperitifs, hors d' oeuvres and, incredibly, flowers for my mom and a gift for my dad. Seriously, could they be any nicer? And somehow the conversation just flowed, which sounds odd, I realize. Maria slowed down and allowed me to translate everything and my parents and they were able to have a "conversation". Whew!

We got to the restaurant about 9 (a half hour later than our reservation, still gotta love the whole time system down here) and we were, I kid you not, one of two tables in the whole place. On weekends, no one goes out before 10. We were like those groups of old people who go out for dinner at 4 pm to get the "early bird" specials! Anyhow, it was probably for the best as the restaurant was quiet so it was easier for me to hear so I could do all of the translation. We shared great food, wine, conversation and laughter. And I realized once again just how very much I am going to miss Edgar y Maria. But it was pretty cool to be able to sit at the table with both my parents and my "Chilean grandparents". Great times!

We had plans today to go to a rodeo, complete with traditionally dressed huasos (Chilean cowboys) and everything. My dad LOVES that stuff. He came down here with only two requests: to go up into the Andes mountains and to see some real South American cowboys so I was so excited to have found a rodeo within driving distance during the time they were here!

And then..... I got sick. Really sick. Middle-of-the-night-up-six-times sick. I got up this morning intending to go anyhow but then just couldn't do it. Even a slight movement made me feel nauseous. I couldn't believe it. I have been here for a month and a half and haven't been sick a day, only to get really sick the ONE day that we could arrange the rodeo. I felt soooo bad. I still feel bad. My dad's over it but I'm still feeling serious guilt. What a shame to waste a whole day of their time here! So now the pressure's really on to make the one other of his two requests, the day in the mountains, seriously rock! It will have to be TWICE as good! Will get right on that....