I'm 21 now. For my birthday I went out to a karaoke bar AND a salsateca. I was so busy singing karaoke and salsa dancing that I actually forgot to binge drink. So yeah I didn't get drunk on my 21st birthday. Deconstructing social norms y'all.
The next night we began our trip to the south of Chile. Before our trip I was thinking ok after 10 days of traveling I'll be tired and homesick and ready to leave Chile. NOPE. Literally the opposite happened. Turns out it was possible for me to fall more in love with that country and the people in it.
We started our trip with a 13 hour overnight bus and landed in Puerto Varas, a small German town in the Lake District. We showed up at our hostel and an hour later we were accidentally riding bikes 36 kilometers to the neighboring town. The next day Pierre, our hostel owner, took us kayaking. So I don't repeat the phrase "It was really beautiful" too much, I'll just say it now. ALL OF SOUTHERN CHILE IS REALLY BEAUTIFUL. The third day we took a bus to Lago de Todos Los Santos. My chin was on the ground the entire time.
That night we took a plane down to the bottom of the world. But really. Punta Arenas is really really really far south. And cold. Very cold. And it's their summer.
The next morning I set out alone to go find Julia Core and her mom Barbs. I got lost very quick but it turned out great because I ACCIDENTALLY HITCH HIKED WITH AN ANGEL. He was just this jolly old man that was telling me how wonderful the people are in the south WHILE PROVING HIS OWN POINT.
I have no words to describe the Patagonia. We saw glaciers and mountains and lakes and rivers and alpacas having sex and surprise waterfalls and rocks and trees and rainbows and avalanches. It was the dumbest 3 days of my entire life. I've never seen anything more beautiful. THANK GOD IT WAS AWFUL WEATHER. Because if it had been beautiful weather I think I would have died and quit everything and spent the rest of my life walking around mountains in Torres del Paine. It's my new life goal to get back there and spend 4 weeks in the Pat. Other than that all I can say is that everyone has to go. Bye.
On our last night in Torres del Paine we woke up in a lake tent. Literally we woke up at 2am and we were on a water bed. THE ONLY SPOT IN THE ENTIRE CAMPING PLACE WHERE WATER DECIDES TO PUDDLE UP WAS UNDER OUR TENT. Luckily by some strange coincidence or maybe the grace of Jesus Christ the refugio (the on site hostel + restaurant) hadn't made enough bread so they had two people in the kitchen making bread all night for the next day's supply. They said we could come in for the night so we ditched our tent and piled into the dining room and they fed us chocolate and peaches and bread and avocado and tea and coffee and we stayed up chatting with our new friends until the sun rose and they helped us rescue our flooded tent and just like that we were back on the trails. Lol.
We landed back in Punta Arenas that night like what the hell just happened. Still recovering.
I still have dirt collected at the bottom of my water bottle from drinking the fresh river water in Torres del Paine and I'm never washing it out.
The next day we just hung out in Punta Arenas. We always choose where to eat based on which place looks the shittiest. Because in Chile that usually means the best food. We ended up hitting jackpot. Spring even had a strange man spray his cologne on her.
The next morning at 6am we took a flight to Puerto Montt to spend the day there before taking an overnight bus back to Santiago. At this point we were pretty weary and kinda sick and it was raining and we had all our stuff and so we were just thinking let's just get this day over with by sitting in a cafe all day.
TURNED OUT TO BE A MAGICAL PERFECT DAY: We met a woman named Carmen who invited us into her slipper workshop. A SLIPPER WORKSHOP PEOPLE. She then turned out to be the most marvelous and wise and beautiful woman on planet earth and we stood talking to her for 45 minutes before she had to go babysit her grandkids. But not before introducing us to her friends who also had shops in the plaza omg I'm getting teary eyed writing about this day because it was so special and they all warmly welcomed us with big smiles and Carmen introduced one woman as "our other mama chilena" and we told this Argentinian man named Ruben we were studying in Santiago and he just kept saying "excelente" with his bright blue eyes and Argentinian accent. But wait it got better. Then we ate lunch where we paid less than $6 for a gourmet 3 course lunch and he let us stay there for 3 hours using his wifi and avoiding the hail outside. I felt like Lorelai in Luke's diner from Gilmore Girls except this man was much nicer than Luke and I'm Jessica and we were in Chile. Sarah fell down the flight of stairs walking to the bathroom and he gave her a chocolate bar after to make her feel better. A CHOCOLATE BAR. Then we went back to the plaza where Carmen makes her slippers to look around and ended up talking to Ruben more and he told us stories of moving to Puerto Montt with his future wife after knowing her for 3 days whom he did end up marrying and was with for 15 years before she died of cancer this year. Ruben was also a paraplegic at one point in his life after a bad car accident but said it was a miracle and he recovered to be able to walk with just a limp and have one working arm and now he makes salmon leather because he can do it with one hand. Then Carmen came back and invited us into her workshop for tea and so duh we did and she told us more stories and said we are all welcome back anytime. All we need is a backpack and to hitchhike down and we can stay with her. And people ask me why I love Chile LOL.
AND THAT ALL HAPPENED ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE BUS STATION LIKE SERIOUSLY LOL.
My last night in Santiago was the most special. Our pals threw Spring and I a party in one of my favorite places, the 27th floor patio of Briony's apartment building that overlooks the whole city where I got to watch the Santiago sunset one last time. They made chorrillana (my favorite Chilean food ever) and signed cards for us and we laughed and danced and at the end of the night when we were all saying goodbye we all stood in a circle and held each other and we had a bilingual prayer sendoff for Spring and I. I DON'T THINK A SEND OFF HAS EVER BEEN MORE SPECIAL.
The next day my pals Pancho and Bernardo took me to the airport and waited with me in the check-in line for an hour and a half before sending me off with final abrazos and encouraging words to the security line. And just like that I was on my way out of Chile.
The flight was fine. I mostly slept. The only fear I have about flying is that I'm gonna sleep through the free meal that I paid hundreds of dollars for. NOT AN IRRATIONAL FEAR. All was fine and swell until I landed in L.A. and saw the high rise buildings that reminded me too much of Santiago and it hit me that I was not on the South American continent anymore and all the people I love were now very, very far away and who knows the next time I'll be able to see them. That's when the waterworks came. So who do I talk to about getting Chile moved up by California?
Went straight from the airport to get a tattoo. One of my better decisions.
Other than that, things in San Clemente are good. Jansen holiday parties were pretty much the same as they are every year. Thirty minutes in my 87 year old grandmother was feeling up my chest and then lifting up her own shirt for a comparison all while speaking Dutch. So nothing new there.
Tomorrow I make the voyage north back to San Luis Obispo. I'M SO EXCITED I COULD WEEP.
And so ends the blog for purposes of sharing how awful Chile is. Thx 4 listening. I've thoroughly enjoyed using this as a creative outlet. Wait until my high school English teachers find out I like writing now. But like, I tend to get busy. We'll see if I ever touch this blog again.
Happy new year, friends.
