Live and Learn

Hey all... It's been a really long time since I've posted anything!! A lot has happened since I last wrote! Well to give you a general idea of what happened it went a long with the theme of living and learning. Jeannie and I really wanted to make a trip to a German influenced town close to the south of Chile named Valdivia. It's suppose to be beautiful with a lake running through the center, a brewery for German beer to visit, and lots of hikes to do since it's in the lake region. We left Wednesday night for an 11 hour bus ride over night. We were getting excited in the bus just talking about how excited we were doing this trip just the two of us, what we were going to do etc. We ended up sitting next to a Grandma and her grandson who had what I'm thinking down syndrome.... it was an interesting ride sleeping next to a child with down syndrome. There was constant little screams all night long.

Anyway we got to Valdivia at about nine or so to pouring rain. I had looked at the weather before we left and knew it wasn't going to be awesome weather so I packed accordingly knowing we were going to be outside doing a lot of stuff. We figured out where our hostel was, checked in, and slept for two and half hours because we didn't sleep well on the bus. I drug myself out of bed and woke up Jeannie. I knew we should try and make the day worth it otherwise we would have slept all day! However we looked outside and it was still pouring rain and to add to that the wind was crazy! We bundled up and headed outside to look for the movie theater since we couldn't think of anything to do in that crazy rain!

We hadn't been outside for more than two minutes and our jeans were drenched and the wind was blowing us backward! I saw a cafe and we headed there instead. We ordered hot chocolate and empanadas, while we tried to dry out our jackets and jeans. A lady next to us stuck up a conversation with us in English asking us if we were visiting Valdivia, making small talk. After a short time it had become clear this lady knew a lot of English because she looked like she could be from Chile. We talked with her for a long time and in the process found out that she's a professor at Yale University for Spanish and Latin American Literature! She was on sabbatical for the year translating books and living in Valdivia! She was an amazing woman to talk to and Jeannie and I got a lot of good advice about life from her that we'll never forget, such as just living life and not worrying about what we're going to do after college!

Jeannie and I left the cafe and went to the mall (yes I know gross we went to a mall in Chile) to watch a Chilean movie called Todo Incluyido or All Inclusive. It was a good movie and I'm glad we watched a Chilean movie not some English movie with subtitles. After the movie, Jeannie and I sat down to talk about what we were going to do next. I could tell Jeannie wasn't having a good time and I wasn't either because of the weather. Originally were were going to spend four days down in the lake district, but after seeing all the rain, we were toying with the idea of going back to Vina the next day since we had already paid for the night at our hostel and we had just gotten there. I had told Jeannie before we left what the weather was going to be like, but she wasn't prepared for rain that we encountered.

We decided to walk to the bus station to buy our tickets to go back the next day. We walked along the river, which was huge for one, it was like walking next to the Mississippi river that's how wide across it was. It's really lush down there because they get so much rain, so there were lots of trees next to the river to enjoy. I was trying to cheer up Jeannie by singing songs and getting her to think of other things rather than how much water was sloshing in our shoes and how wet our jeans were.

When we got to the bus station, the look on Jeannie's face told me everything. She wanted to go back that night. I was a little bummed, but I couldn't complain much either because I was really wet too. So we bought our tickets home and went back to the hostel to get our things. Our bus left in two hours so we decided to have a nice dinner close to the terminal, sushi, and drink the famous beer we were suppose to try the next day. It was really good beer and I'm bummed we didn't get the tour, but at least I got to try it while I was down there.

So in total we were in Valdivia for 12 hours and on the bus for 22 hours. That trip taught me a lot of things. 1. Sometimes you need to sacrifice some things for a friend, 2. Always be prepared for the worst in the South of Chile (very important for my big backpacking adventure in Patagonia coming up) 3. If things don't go as they were planned, don't let it annoy you and just plan something else instead.

We ended up having a really nice weekend in Vina and it was probably a good idea to come home because I was feeling sick before we left and it could have turned into something a lot worse than it was. I did end up getting something along the lines of a sinus infection and didn't go to the doctor here because it's a pain in the butt to go. Needless to say I nursed myself back to health and I'm a lot better, but still sick. The weather has been amazing, the other day was 86 degrees, a heat I'm not use to.

Day after tomorrow is November already which means I'm hitting my last month in Vina and Valpo today! Next weekend we're going to a tiny town called Pucon to go hike a volcano, go to hot springs, and go rafting! It's going to be a blast and I'm really looking forward to it. After that I have two full weeks left in Vina, getting ready for our trip to Patagonia and finishing up school. Before I know it I'll be on a plane to Punta Arenas and then back to the states! Time is moving soooooo fast now! Well I hope you guys are enjoying the snow in Colorado, have a snowball fight or make some turns for me!!