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Today I am off to Rancagua with my friend Loreto to spend Christmas with her and her family. My host here in Valparaiso had to leave at 10am so I got up to say goodbye to her before organizing my things. At 12 I have a Group Skype meeting to discuss the upcoming Summer camps in more detail and find out exactly what I have got myself into. The meeting went smoothly and after getting a broad overview I am quite excited about it. After a quick lunch I grabbed my things and headed down the hill from where I caught a mini bus over to the next city: Vina del Mar. I had about an hour before I would meet Loreto so I wandered asking about possible buses to the South of Chile. It came time for our bus and Loreto still had not arrived - at this point I did start to get a bit nervous as I didn't have the ticket and I still needed to try book my onwards bus ticket for after Christmas. At 3:40pm - 5 minutes before our bus departure Loreto arrived and we boarded the bus - far too close to missing the bus. The bus left and about 3 minutes down the road a guy came and said we were sitting in his seats? At close examination of our tickets we had actually boarded the wrong bus; telling the driver his solution was to kick is off the bus, so there we were on side of highway running back to the station in the hope we would see our correct bus and manage to stop it. Running back we did cross our bus and luckily it stopped for us and everything was ok - wow what an adventure this is already starting out to be. The bus trip to Santiago went quickly and when we arrived at the station we had just enough time to buy my onwards bus ticket to PTO Montt before boarding our next bus to Rancagua. The trip to Rancagua was only an hour and a half and when we arrived Loretos Dad was there waiting to pick us up. First impressions of Rancagua a really good; very warm, suburbanized, beautiful homes and not too many people. Arriving at Loretos family home was a really treat: a beautiful new home in a modern suburban area with a very homely feel, lots of Christmas decorations and wonderful people. Loretos Mum is lovely and welcomed me with a huge hug and kiss, I then met Loretos sister who lives with Loreto in Valparaiso and is studying Engineering. They don't usually eat dinner hear in Chile but Loretos Mum had made Loreto and I a delicious tuna and avocado salad and a fresh fruit salad for dessert. As the weather was so nice we all sat outside in their little patio; talking, eating and enjoying one another's company. I am really happy I will be spending Christmas with this family as I already feel so welcome and they are all really interested in me my culture and my travels. I got the run down on what happens in Chile for Christmas; the celebration for Christmas is actually on the 24th of December where all families have their Christmas dinner, go to a Christmas service at the church, open their presents at midnight and then go visiting family after midnight. Some of the typical things they have on Christmas are Christmas cake (fruit cake), a milk, spices and alcohol drink and a few other bits and pieces I am sure I will find out about tommorow. Later in the evening Loretos older brother came around and I found out I would be staying at his new apartment just down the road where I would have my own room. After some more talking, some Christmas biscuits and a few cups of herbal tea myself, Loreto and her brother headed off to the apartment. The apartment was brand new and Loreto ever so kindly set the bed up for me and got me everything I needed before saying goodbye and organizing a time in the morning to come and pick me up.
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