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Today I woke with an incredibly painful stomach and unfortunately the pain stayed with me most of the day - looks like I will have to do some more practice on the wine front. Emerick and Almendra my hosts had to go off to work and study and as it was raining and still early I decided to stay in the house as they only had one set of keys. I did some more planning, sending out couch-requests and spent a few hours on the toilet (sorry for the graphics). At 2pm they both arrived back and after chatting with Emerick I decided to go for a walk to the bus terminal in Vina del Mar. Vina is a very posh place but still has a number of street markets and cheap eats which makes it quite an interesting place to explore. I stumbled across a few very cool street and outdoor markets - picking up some fruits, vegetables and Ofcourse my favorite snacks - palta. At the bus station I was able to get some info on buses to Mendoza and for my return to Vina del Mar on the 26th - unfortunately they don't line up perfectly so I have to think about it a but more before buying.
On the way back to Emericks the temperature dropped and I found myself very thankful for my jumper and jeans. When I arrived back Alamendra was making dinner but as my stomach was still killing me I decided to skip on it and make a salad a bit later on. Tonight there was a party downstairs for Emerick as he was leaving back to France for the summer and his best friend also Emerick - was putting on a leaving party for him. The party was really good and I met some really cool and interesting people from all over the world. I met Emericks old flat mate and after I told her I was looking for a place to stay from Friday on she invited me to stay with her at her luxury apartment down on the waterfront for 1 night before she headed south to spend Christmas with her family. I then met all Emerick's Chilean friends and all of them were blown away with my travels and the invites poured in from invites in the city to other towns in and around over the Christmas holidays - it is really the case that Chilean people are very open and welcoming. I met another girl called Lorena who is also involved in couchsurfing and she offered to host md Saturday and Sunday night in Valparaiso so now I am sorted and have a bunch of new friends. Lorena had two Italian Couchsurfers staying with her; one was a journalist and the other a film maker and after hearing about my travels they insisted I write a book or do something with all the information I have about my travels - also offering support and introductions to publishers. What a night it was turning out to be, I usually avoid parties because I expect people to be getting drunk and having non-intelligible conversation; however tonight has proved me wrong with gaining contacts, new friends, hosts, information about Chile and ideas for writing a book all without needing to have one drink. At around 2am and after saying goodbye to everyone I headed to bed charged with new motivations and thankful for all tonight's blessings.
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