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I have about 1,000 pictures from this trip and Mom has just as many, so I tried to choose the best pictures as well as the best stories I could recall. Some of this still won't serve the experiences justice but I hope you can get a good idea! Here it goes….
Monday December 8th-Friday December 12th
Started packing.. one huge backpack full of all types of clothing to travel with Mommy! Patagonia (4 seasons in one day weather that ended up leaving Mom and I with the same layering outfit on every day down there), Buenos Aires city clothes and island clothes. Then packed two suitcases full of my clothes and such for the summer in Santiago that my angel of a family in Valdivia brought up to Santiago for me when they took my host sister to the airport to go to the United States. How strange for her to be in my country while I'm in hers! But so much fun at the same time, can't wait to catch up with her when she gets back.
Last couple days of school. Turned in my collage literature project that my host sister loved so much she asked me if she could keep it. I was one point away from the grade I wanted in my composition and conversation class so I took the optional test.. it ended up being a one on one tape-recorded conversation with my professor in his office. He was the professor that first interviewed me when I arrived to Chile when I could barely express myself.. and sitting in his office talking tons about the next adventures I was about to embark upon was remarkable. He played our conversation back to me, talked to me about my progress and commended me on being able to notice where I needed to improve and catching my mistakes myself. I got the grade I wanted ☺
I had my last dinner with Casey and Kenz at our favorite Japanese restaurant "Gohan." We then met the firemen at the local bar "Bunker" and had a toast with them for the departures of several of the "gringas."
My host dad Miguel, host brother Gustavo and I got in the car on Wednesday mid-day to pick up my Mom from the airport! I honestly was in complete shock.. I had been counting down for months but at the same time had gotten so used to being so far from home that getting a kiss from North America was hard to comprehend! Another highlight in the dream I'm living. We were a few minutes late, Miguel asked me in the car if my Mom had heard about "tiempo chileno" - Chilean time- because Chileans are notorious for being anywhere from 1-2 hours late. Mom was waiting with her bags out front of the airport, "Buenos Tardes" - good afternoon- Mom greeted the family, this was about the extent of her Spanish beyond food ordering. But it was commendable that she made efforts. We took a long nap after lunch with my host family. Then we went out for dinner to a restaurant called, "Cava de Bujo".. it feels like you are eating inside a tree trunk. Mom had her first traditional empanada and pisco sour! Thursday my host mom Sibyl, host sister Sibyl and host brother Gustavo took Mom to the local fish market down by the bridge I cross every morning to go to the island for school. Mom and I video chatted with Dad for a bit, he just wanted to see Mom and I on the same side of the chat window- it was really funny. He asked if my host parents knew who the boss was when it was time to go eat lunch and my host mom replied to this that as long as I'm under her roof she is the boss. I hope Dad will have the open window to come meet them. I took Mom to see the beach about 20 minutes outside of Valdivia and afterwards we walked around my campus. We ate dinner at a restaurant on the river and the same waiter that nearly burned all the flowers on the table the weekend prior, almost burned the carpet this time! This waiter might want to reconsider his décor for food. I took Mom to a local "club" after dinner to meet a few of my friends. Friday we had to finish the packing but afterwards I took her to my favorite icecream place, "Entre Lagos." We ordered something along the lines of the cup of icecream of the King.. it was delicious! We then finished up some travel plans for the following day and gathered the troops for the final dinner in Valdivia for a while at the Kunstmann Brewery. My host sister, host mom, host dad, Mckenzie, Casey, Casey's sister visiting from the US, mom and I all went out to dinner. We got the beer columns, empanadas, meat platters- I tried my first raw meat! It was overall a really fun and good dinner. My host sister was getting nervous leaving for her trip to the US so I had a long talk with her about that, being 16 and going to a new country is not easy but I told her how easy she had it in comparison to my trip to Honduras where I didn't know anyone where I would be living. She was going to a family she knows (staying with a past student who lived with her) and I knew just as little Spanish and she knows English before I went to Honduras, but what I learned there is continuing to help me live in Chile for an entire year now. I think it helped her. After dinner Kenz, Casey and I had our goodbye.. I went out for a last night dancing in Valdivia for awhile with my host sister, her friends and Mckenzie. We all took the cab back home together but dropped Kenz off on the way.. hard goodbye, now my journey would be that much more alone and away from the United States familiar.
Saturday December 13th- Tuesday December 16th EL PATAGONIA - Chilean Side
My host parents took Mom and I to the bus station early in the morning. My host siblings wished us off at the front door. Too many goodbyes, I'm lucky enough to be returning to this family in Valdivia again though.
The traveling adventure with Mom begins! Our bus ride to Puerto Montt was three hours. During the bus ride a cute little girl kept coming up to Mom's aisle seat trying to speak Spanish to her and then after learning Mom didn't speak she would throw out all the random English words she knew like "my name is.." - it was pretty adorable. When we arrived in Puerto Montt we had to rush into a cab from the bus station to the airport to fly to Punta Arenas- Patagonia. For the first time in my life I was "that person" with my last name on a paper that people were waiting for us with outside of bag claim pressed against a window. Checked into a gorgeous hotel "Cabo de Hornos." Stone dining room, view overlooking the plaza with blooming trees. We walked around the street market, went to lunch where Mom experienced her first of ordering something you think you know but it delivers differently. Our dinner was fantastic through… crab!
After the following morning breakfast, we had a transfer bus to go through Puerto Natales and end at Torres del Paine. Our bus was with a Brazilian couple and three women from England. After 2.5 hours we stopped at a ranch.. lamb lunch, saw sheep sheering for wool but seeing the skins above definitely ended any desire I would have had in the future to eat lamb again. We got back into the van for 3 hours or so. Stopped in Puerto Natales - saw a lost penguin from Antarctica! We stayed at the only resort within the Torres del Paine national park, "Hosteria Torres del Paine." The van had to cross the bridge that was originally made only for lambs and cows and such so it was very narrow and all of our passengers had to walk across the bridge behind our driver because otherwise the weight on the bridge is too great! The guanaco (cross between a lama and a deer) was eating grass right next to us crossing the bridge and the sky was unbelievably picturesque. That evening we went to the information meeting in our resort to book our excursions and when I saw how dreamy the guides were.. Mom said she'd let me ride my horse ahead while she hid away in her handkerchief from the wind dust. Haha. Our resort had a restaurant attached to it and a gift shop, but beyond that.. we were out in the wild! Absolutely fabulous. No TV, internet, nothing in the room.. immersed! Lots of book and rest time. It was funny to know the wine list more then Mom when we went out to dinner from having lived down here and visited vineyards. Spa was included in our package at this resort so we did Jacuzzi our first night.
Our first full day in Torres del Paine we spent half the day horseback riding. The national park has 140 horses or so, several days in a row about 70 get worked and then rest in the gorgeous Torres del Paine park while the other 70 get worked. We got to gallop around the relaxing horses. Our gaucho was wild stirring up the horses energy by bucking his horse and yelling. He was great, told me he'd been riding since he was 4 years old, from the island of Chiloe I visited and knows every horse's name in the park. Sweet lifestyle if you ask me. We rode by a beautiful lake, civilization deserted climates, perfect weather. The only lame part was that I wore capriis and ended up with a scar that seriously looked like south America on the back of my calf from rubbing against the saddle- ouch! Later in the day we went with a guide on a private walk through nature. There were stones aged back from the ocean, hundreds of guanacos- saw them mating and their babies, walked to the petroglyphs that showed possibly that man eats guanaco to survive. We walked by lakes that were crystal clear blue. Unfortunately walked through the "guanaco graveyard" where the pumas had killed some guanacos. We learned that guanacos have to raise their babies close to the road to keep them from puma danger. On our ride back to the hosteria we saw flamingos and condor birds! That night we went for a Jacuzzi at the spa that was always just Mom and I.. and got mud facials. We had dinner then had a long nights sleep in anticipation of the following day's 8 hour adventure.
The next day we experienced four seasons of weather in just one day. We did 2 hours of the ride up to the towers on horse and the last two hours on foot and the same for the way down. I was terrified when we rode our horses along a one way narrow and steep cliff.. very high elevation, windy, looking down at a rushing river. A hiker had fallen on the path so my horse rode up off the path and around the hiker which was scary on the steep slant of the mountain too. Our guide was in such great shape running practically up the mountain then backtracking at times to check on other group members. When we had the last stretch it was actually full of boulders we had to climb over for an hour or so. Exhausting! But at the base of the towers there was a gorgeous blue lagoon and the granite towers made all the climbing worth it. Crouched under a boulder to eat lunch in attempts of the wind seemed to be the common theme when we reached the top of our hikes throughout our travels. Overall amazingly beautiful day and one of the best. & it was followed by a 90 minute massage in the spa…
Wednesday December 17th- Friday December 26th: ARGENTINA
Early morning time to head to El Calafate, Argentina.. (one of the SEVEN wonders of the world!) the Argentine side of the Patagonia region. When we were leaving the national park, our driver threw rocks around where he knew a grey fox lived with her babies, so adorable when they came out of their den! We then saw more guanacos, flamingos and condors. The route took about four hours, our driver was really amazing- took our passports for us, got us ahead in the border crossing line, etc etc made the travel day really easy basically. The berrin Santa Cruz Ruta 40 was unlike any highway I have ever been through. We saw an ostrich with its babies. We arrived early afternoon- met our tour guide and got the schedule for the next couple days, so amazing arriving places and not needing to run around figuring out what the plan was. We did some shopping and got some beer and pizza downtown. (Mom, I think I know where we gained those extra pounds.. the "quick stops" haha). We went out later for a good Italian dinner.
The next day was one of my favorites. National park of glaciers! We woke up early and waited for our transfer to the park.. little did we know it was going to be a giant tour bus that picked us up to go to the Perito Moreno glacier. We first took a boat to the glacier. The ability to hear the roar of the glacier crashing into the lake.. Breathtaking. This glacier is one of the few in the world not being horribly affected by global warming even though it's under a gap in the ozone layer. Ice consistently gets added to the back of the glacier so the glacier moves forward and breaks off into the lake making the roars! Got the shoe blade/clamps attached to our sneakers and did about a two hour trek on the glacier! I had no idea so much was going on within a glacier! Waterfalls, holes filled with several hundred meters of ice water. Special feet positions to trek up the glacier and down the glacier. One of the coolest things I have ever done. In the middle of the excursion we were surprised with a table set up with real glass cups, whiskey and chocolate. Cheers Argentina. Apparently there are about 300 other glaciers within the park but Perito Moreno is the most condensed. After the trek we ate lunch next to the sounds of the glacier roar. Heard lots of French all day which was pretty random but fun! We then took the tour bus to see the glacier from the typical tourist view-point.
When we got back to the Inn, I unfortunately read an email telling me my apartment in Santiago got cancelled because my original roommate is not returning to Santiago for the summer. Had to apartment hunt during vacations but it got settled in about a week. Had a great dinner that night less then a block from where we stayed, loved it so much we returned the next night. Ravioli, steak, mmm…
The next day we went on a ferry to see glaciers uninformed that the boat ride was eight hours long and we weren't getting off.. not one of the highlights but it was a cool perspective to see all of the iceburgs. The Dramamine I took in the case of seasickness made me super drowsy so I slept a lot and Mom would have to shake me for the glaciers haha. Such a lame sensitivity! After I asked the workers on the boat when we were getting off they wouldn't stop joking that we were on the boat through the whole night.
The next day we took the public bus (what I'm used to..) to El Chalten- "hiking capital of the world." We arrived in this small town quickly learning there was no ATM, no TV, etc.. once again completely disconnected and back into the wild. Our shuttle from the "bus depot" to our Inn was not even a block haha. Such a small town. After we put our bags away we went on a walk to a waterfall. We then explored the small town and met a couple from Maryland and a couple from the Netherlands. We went out to dinner (to a place that accepted credit card… and for that reason they had our service about three more times), Mom ordered fish and there it was.. head and all!
The following day was the big hike to Mount Fitz Roy. Mom, a man from Austria and I set out for the hike early morning. This was our first day with great box lunches- the sandwich actually had peppers and ingredients besides meat thrown on bread! Miracle! It was pretty overcast and we didn't get to see the tallest peak that day but we did see it. It was a quiet, peaceful hike.. our guide had a much more paced, slower speed then the one at Torres del Paine which was much better to store our energy. We saw an amazing glacier during the hike, a river ran along side us throughout, huge open valleys, forest, mom lake next to daughter lake: mama lago con hija lago. There wasn't wildlife like there was at Torres del Paine but great sights and trails. The narrow route toward the end of the trek was not as climbing oriented as the one in Torres del Paine. The wind made it hard though. Once to the top, desperate to rest, we saw a beautiful blue lagoon but our guide kept us trekking up and over the rocky hill nearby so we could eat at his favorite lunch spot that had another clear blue lagoon with the spearheaded towers. If you are thinking the lagoon looks nice for a swim.. yes, we reached the top on the day of the summer solstice but it snowed throughout our rest! That's what you get for spending the first day of summer in Patagonia! The hike back down was scary because of how windy it was, the dirt was flying in my eyes, I honestly feared the wind would sweep me right into the lagoon far below. It was time for all that serious outdoor gear that so commonly people own unnecessarily. Mom used a "ski pole" walking stick from the guide and he had to bungie my wind breaker hood so my eyes and nose barely peaked out. It was time for the gear and Mom and I could have been "a bit" more prepared. Mommy was struggling a bit with the uneven terrain but it never stopped anyone from thinking she was my sister. Mom despised the wind, it just about pushed her out of El Chalten but I loved the remote disconnectedness of it. After trekking down the windswept peak we were graced upon a break at the lake side. Then we saw several red woodpeckers! We averaged the hike was about 10 miles but we still weren't as sore as we were from the half horseback ride half hike in Torres del Paine that included the boulder climbing! During dinner that night we saw a gorgeous rainbow.
The next day was our first day in a long time we got to sleep in and then walked around the town a bit. We thought we were getting picked up an hour early for the block-transfer but it was ½ hour early and we were 20 minutes late from waiting for our credit card accepting restaurant to open for lunch. The transfer man told us he was worried when we showed up.. and we didn't understand why until we just barely made our bus. We played cards at the airport until we boarded for Buenos Aires. It was only about a 2 hour flight but with the time change we arrived after dark. Our transfer was waiting for us and our driver was a handsome guy wearing a tuxedo and had his hair gelled back.. we were definitely not in Patagonia anymore. We put our bags down in our studio apartment we had for the next 4 nights and went out for dinner and enjoyed sangria. I was definitely in culture shock after being in the rustic wild nature for that long, it was hard for me to be immediately immersed around tons of noise and commotion again.
The next day we had a private city tour which was about 4 hours. Saw the best sights of the city and unfortunately the outside of several gardins we didn´t get to return to. We went through ¨La Boca¨ neighborhood which we loved. Live music and dancing outside the outdoor umbrella cafes. Brightly colored buildings with lovely art street markets. We went to a tango show that night. Mom and I got a picture taken with two of the male tango dancers- had to because one of Dad´s rules was not to let Mom tango dance. The show was good, the highlight really were the folklore acts though. One man had two long ropes in either hand with balls tied to the ends and was swinging them in circles on either side of his body, often so close that they were running through his hair! It was crazy!! At the end of the show all the dancers stood in a line at the end and sang, ¨Don´t cry for me Argentina.¨ Well-- we had to hear that song live one time after reminicing about Madonna in the movie Evita, especially after visiting the famous balcony. After the show we took a cab and the soccer team had just won a huge game so there were tonsss of people in the streets, shirtless, screaming, running, smiling. Also, all the cars on every street no matter how far from the stadium were honking. It was great to see such fanatics. The next bar was one of the highlights of the trip for me because they were serving bagels! We even got ours for free because we asked at the end of the night.. Chile doesn´t have bagels and the waitress told us it was rare that their restobar in Argentina had them.. you wouldn´t believe how over four months without a bagel can make one taste. They made for a great side with our sushi we had the following night. Christmas Eve day.. we went shopping then got sushi and champagne and stayed in our cute studio apartment. We watched a live Chilean concert on TV that is one of my favorite bands here. We drank some wine I´d saved from a winery I went to in Mendoza, Argentina. The sushi was delicious. Around midnight the argentine youth ran into the street with firecrackers, we were in a neighborhood outside of downtown but it sure didn´t sound like it. Funny. On Christmas we went to the big cathedral but it was hard for me to understand the Spanish echoing through the walls of the church and Mom obviously didn´t understand any of it so we didn´t stay long. We did a lot of walking (common theme of our trip we always found ourselves on some sort of trek) but all of the classic cafe´s and such we wanted to go to were closed. We went back to the neighborhoods we saw and liked from our city tour. It was fun having more time to sit down, listen to the music and watch the dancing over cheese and crackers. We went to a really nice hotel for lunch, we ate in what was called ¨The Library Lounge¨ and Mom sipped her first tea, Argentine traditional ¨Mate.¨ It was fun looking at pictures of all the famous people who had been or performed there. That evening we talked to the whole family through Skype. We had a champagne toast with Dad, Lukas and Uncle Jack which was great. Great to hear all of your voices. We went to dinner at ¨La Gran Bar.¨ We picked my new apartment in Santiago by literally writing the names of the choices and randomly picking them from over our heads- that´s how much you could tell from the pictures.. but, you know- I knew it would be what it would be. You learn to throw out expectations when you go to a foreign country! The day after Christmas we did some last minute shops and went to the cemetary- saw Eva Peron´s grace. The cemetary was so impressive it was like an art museum. We had a quick lunch, I enjoyed the best steak I´ve ever had in my life! Then we took our transfer to the airport and flew to Santiago. Had dinner, then went to bed early in preparation for our early morning departure to Easter Island or as the locals call it, Rapa Nui!
Saturday December 27th- Wednesday December 31st: RAPA NUI
Our plane to Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) was so comfortable. We had personal flat screen tv´s that had movie selections, games, tv series, etc etc perfect for the 4-5 hour flight. Mom and I also played cards to pass time. We arrived mid-day because the time change was thankfully earlier there then on the ¨mainland.¨ This island is also known as the navel of the world or as the most isolated island in the world and is located in the south pacific ocean not too far from Tahiti with just 4,000 people.. that´s a little more than one half of Fairfax! Our hotel was called ¨Iorana¨ which we later learned means hello and goodbye in Rapa Nui. Taking on a third language! Haha. Our first adventure when we arrived.. we thought we were walking the 20minute distance to the small beach downtown but go figure.. we were really lost on a trek to hike the whole island! We always ended up like this.. whether it be de to no cash for a cab or just the good ole life of being a foreigner. A cab driver who was later named, ¨Teddy Bear¨ for his stuffed animal he kept on the floor and later (smallest town..) when we rode with him again the teddy bear had been moved up to the dash board - he stopped when he saw Mom and I basically taking the longest route on the island, told us we were lost and took us to another beach, Anakena. We swam, napped, read. Beautiful weather, warm and gorgeous water, white sand, palm trees.. need I say more? Mom told me some of her travel stories when the sun was too intense and we went under the palm trees to sip Corona´s and ate chicken skewers. So relaxing. After returning to the hotel we showered and went to watch the sunset under one of the leafy cabana´s overlooking the South Pacific. This all was a dream come true for Mom, for me too but especially for Mom who had read books and imagined how this island would be since grade school. We went out to eat downtown, delicious fish and vegetables. The food on the island was so fresh! At the end of dinner we heard great music nextdoor- we peeked in and decided to go to the dance show two nights later because we only caught the end of it. The following day we had two half day tours. Began the archeological mystery walks. Each step of the island was practically a national park. So precious, delicate and enchanting. The Moai statues are so ancient and intriguing to learn about, you need to stand right infront of them to feel their energy and have the desire to read more though! Some of the questions that came up throughout the tour.. how were some of these stones moved from the volcanic region? Earthquake? Volcanic eruption? But then still how are they still carved so perfectly? Not all of the pieces ever seemed to fit together, after seeing every site the summary ended with ´and here we are today´ .. tons of questions posed to still get discovered! During our lunch we ordered from a small shaded stand by the ocean and it was some of the best empanadas, ceviche, tuna, fries and fresh juice we´d ever had! It was fun watching the surfers for awhile during Mom´s yoga break. The next tour we saw spectacular petroglyphs amongst much more it would take too long to summarize. We crawled through a giant cave where you always had to have one hand infront along the cave in the pitch dark. After the tour we sat by the pool, read, napped, pisco sours.. so nice! Then we went out to dinner close by our hotel, it was so full of people that after waiting an hour for the desert menu we decided not to stay.. peak travel season! The following day we had another tour. Cave petroglyphs. Moai heads coming straight out of the ground. A site where it was hard to see how many sculptures there were because they were so camoflauged into the ground but then it literally looked like they were buried in a coffin. The culture was almost wiped out so the locals preserve the culture by telling the legends of the sculptures and petroglyphs and thrive from tourists. One woman in our tour had the most strong perfume ever smelt so Mom was riding up front in the guide spot for the majority of the day which was pretty funny- everyone just thought she got car sick. We spent time at the Anakena beach again and swam a lot. Afterwards we did some walking around the island then went out to dinner and enjoyed mojitos. Afterwards we went to the dance show and because we had gone to reserve our tickets early.. our seats were in the front row. We liked this show more than the tango. The Brazilian guy next to me said at the beginning 'I don´t like the front row because they always ask for your audience participation.' &.... I got pulled on stage to dance with one of the dancers alone for a song. The island dancing was soo different then what I´m used to but it was fun. Then Mom and several people got pulled on stage with the dancers. After the show Mom had forgotten her shall so we went back in and one of the dancers talked to us for a bit who I ended up hanging out with later, it was really cool to meet a local and speak spanish with him. The next day Mom and I had free, we had a snorkel boat planned but it got canceled so we still took the snorkel gear for the day to the beach next to Anakena. On our way to that beach we stopped at the ¨navel of the world¨ that has magnetic rocks. When we got to the beach the waves were really rocky so we snorkeled for a bit but not long. We saw some rainbow colored fish and cool reef but Hawaii snorkeling seemed better. Afterwards we went swimming at Anakena and looked at the designs on the backs of the Moai for the last time. That night we walked to dinner.. it was sunset and there were kayackers out, beautiful. We got invited into a house party/bbq where one of the island potential ¨queens¨ was practicing her dance for the contest but we were set on where we were headed already and tried to go on the way back but it was already over. At dinner I got lobster, it was a great last meal on the island. Creme Brulee desert! We had only met one couple from the US our whole trip and during this dinner we sat next to a couple from Northern California, funny. When Mom and I got back to the hotel we saw how beautiful it was out and laid the blankets outside our room on the grass, watching the shooting stars with the only lights outside being from the fishing boats at sea, we ended up sleeping out there. What a great memory! I paid for it later with bug bites, but it was worth it. The next morning, we had our last breakfast at the hotel overlooking the ocean along with our last few random encounters with the staff.. Holland boys doing an internship and a manager that doesn´t know why he moved to the island from Spain.. there were some characters. We were certainly not ready to board the plane.. but we did.. and arrived in Santiago at 8:00pm to celebrate the New Year in the city that is my home until March.
December 31st-January 2nd .. the end of our travels :( we would have loved to continue on to Peru!
For New Years Eve we didn´t have reservations anywhere but still had a spontaneous, fantastic evening. We checked back into the hotel we stayed in the night before we left for Rapa Nui then went to the hotel down the street called Hotel Plaza San Francisco, ofcourse. We had sandwiches and champagne in the bar then decided to walk around the street to see what was happening or available to do. We immediately entered (what the newspaper said later was a million people) dancing to a free six band outdoor concert! At midnight all ages had exploding champagne bottles and tupperware from home filled with confetti that was thrown over our heads. One of the bands I danced to all the time in Valdivia so that was really fun for me. Mom came out of the crowd with a mysterious heart shape on her shoulder and it took a long time for me to scrub the confetti out of my hair. Good times. New Years Day we went out to lunch which was coincidentally where I ate with Mckenzie and Casey the day we stopped through Santiago. We booked a wine tour (couldn´t get enough of those tours yet) and took a cab to my new apartment. We arrived and many places were closed because it was New Years Day so the two garage doors on either side of my front steps that usually have a market and a restaurant were closed shut with graffiti all over them. The neighborhood looked pretty dead and not too fun.. little did I know what I know now. It's tons of fun! We met Lola the owner and one of my two roommates then began unpacking, laundry! My original room was about two of my arm spans so I´ve now switched to another room within the apartment. My original room was too small and another person´s things were still in the room I´m in now so Mom stayed at Lola´s friend´s apartment a couple blocks away for much cheaper then a hotel room that night. We explored some of the neighborhood that was open and ended up going to bed early, first time we´d parted for the evening in over 3 weeks! We could already see the end. The next day we went to the Vineyard in Maipu. There was a unique devil legend in the cellar and after the tour we had wine and crackers. Afterwards Mom and I got lunch at the restaurant called "Patagonia" across the street from my apartment- ofcourse! Then the first on the agenda was to get a fan because I barely slept due to no window in my first room and little space, thus needed more hangers as well. It's around 90 degrees here. I was happy to have my Mom help me run around a bit. Met my second roommate Tiare after errands. Then Mom and I went across the street again for a last Patagonian brewed beer. We had the time of our lives and we were so not ready for it to end, time is a crazy thing when it passes so quickly like that. We quickly packed Mom up and the transfer arrived before we knew it. Several tears during our last hug for awhile... I will keep those travels with me forever. We were so fortunate to share so much time together in such a special way.
Next blog.. my adventures living in Santiago, really on my own now!
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