I had this whole plan to post pictures systematically and write correlating journal entries and it would be so very organized and informative. However, I am having too much fun to force myself to sit down to the computer. Right not I am in this dark little Cyber cafe and it is killing me that I ma missing the sunshine and 70 degree weather, but I thought I'd catch up a little bit at least.

The journey over was...interesting. I think it would be best summed up as the following:

1. Mystery traveler? I was selected as a mystery traveler for Greyhound so that my ticket from Philly to NYC was only $6. Que suerte! I thought that was definitely a good sign for my travels. Then I got to the station and missed my bus since it was so crowded - it being New Year's Eve and all. So that sort of cancelled out my luck.

2. Yes this is all I brought: Everyone seemed shcoked that I was only bringing one bag. And to be honest I was a bit nervouse myself. But one has proven to be enough so far. And one is definitely enough in that my bag is heavy HEAVY. My arms were so sore and I could barely stand by the time I got to Viña. And my bag is only 65L!

3. Lunch with Alice and Lauren Diguilio: A lot of fun catching up. We met at Harry's and had coffee and talked. Notable was the hunchbacked guy who yelled at us and sort of served us when we demanded it. Also the woman who sat alone but sat right next to me and continually interje4cted into our conversation. And the tourists in midtown who kept asking police officers to take pictures with them. How I love New York. In China, we weren't allowed to take pictures of officers much less take pictures with them.

lesson: New Year's and midtown make for a terrible mix even at 3:00 pm.

4. Fun in Williamsburg: Kait and I got Starbucks, bought 2007 sunglasses, and chilled in her apartment until I left for the most interesting New Year's party I've ver been to.

5Nick Lawson Returns: We all know of those stories where you run into someone in NYC you never thought youwould run into. But I think I take the cake when I say that I walked into Marc Jaffee's party and was accosted by none other than Nick Lawson. Crazy. The party was a lot of fun with tons of champagne I couldn't drink since I was flying at 5 am. There were so many Vassar people there who I had never met before. Really cool people. At 12 we went to see fireworks in prospect park. Lovely.

6. A flight at 5 am seemed like a good idea at the time... OK so it turns out taking the subway to JFK at 1:30 am actually only takes 25 minutes instead of the hour I was told. Cest la vie. It meant another hour waiting in the airport - whatever. Funny story. I'm sitting on the F with Irena and who waltzes in - Teddy Bergman and Arianna. It was nuts. Hooped out of Jay st - switched to the A - took the Air train for the firt tme ever (nice) and waited for two and a half hours at the terminal while consuming the most disgusting Tuna Sandwich known to man. Why don't airports realize that early morning travelers need food too?

Finally I hopped the most crowded plain ever and and slept until we reached Panama city where I changed to a nicer, roomier plane where I was serendipitously seated beside a woman who is from Viña and told me all about it.

The plane lands. We`re at oh...15 hours of traveling now. I get off, retreive my bag. Everyone is speaking in Spanish. That might sound like a stupid thing to say, but it is strange how English is so pervasive that you don't fully recognize that it will be absent until you are standing there wondering how to get on the bus to Santiago that you need to catch.

I have mm ok Spanish. Ok as in - I'm hungry, nice to meet you, where's the bathroom. All those people who think their high school spanish will take them through - no. I was so flustered and it took about 30 minutes of making a confused face at the nice man at the bus counter before I hopped on a TurBus, hoping it was the correct bus) which took me to the center of Santiago (travel hour number 16) then I had to get on another bus to Viña del Mar. I handled buyng this ticket much better. The bus was, of course, an hour late, and then 2 more hours of riding before I arrived at the terminal where my boss picked me up. The total: some 19 hours of travel. I arrived at my house at 12 am.

But the sunshine the next morning made up for it. Viña is gorgeous and I am a fifteen minute walk from the ocean, making the voyage out worth all the trouble.