Feliz Año! (Santiago, Chile)

Well now, don´t I have a lot to catch up with. I find myself in the bus station of Santiago, with several hours to kill, waiting to hop on a bus to magical Argentina (Mendoza).... So what have I done in the past week?

Well I´m so glad you asked. Since fleeing the heat of the Atacama Desert I´ve found myself diving into the industrialized, modernized, Europeanized, world that is Santiago Chile. The streets are big and clean, the metro works better than New York, and everyone is decked out in super trendy clothes and ´trendy´ european mullets. The best I can describe it is like an odd cross between Los Angeles and Spain.

And what have I done here? Why, I´ve had the wonderful opportunity to visit friends from my I-House years. I arrived into Santiago after a 23 hour, yes as in 23, bus ride from San Pedro de Atacama, good thing the Chilean buses are some of the best I´ve ever been on, sorry US, even Peru´s got you beat. So, I stumble out of the bus, culture shocked and what not, and meander my way to the suburban outskirts of Estoril, Las Condes, where I am graciously greeted by Nicolas (Nico) Brenner, a friend from IHouse who I haven´t seen in 3 years. But no matter, he sets about making me feel the most at home I´ve felt on this trip. THANK YOU NICO!

The next 3 days, I literally just wandered around Santiago. I found my way to the Palacio de Moneda museum, and Plaza de Armas, but mostly just spent my time getting lost on the Micros (Buses) and enjoying watching everyday Santiago life. What a contrast! All the pros and cons of modern society were shoved up in my face and left me in a very conflicted mood. I was lucky enough to meet up with Diego for a night on the town where he introduced me to one of the two reasons ´Chileans are Alcoholics´ Piscolal, Pisco mixed with Coca-Cola. (The other being cheap good wine). THANK YOU DIEGO!

I also met up with Johanna from all my Jungle adventures and Rahel from Uyuni. We took a night, cooked some pasta, went out for a bit and enjoyed eachother´s company. Its strange how often I see the same people when travelling but I guess that´s the point of the whole ´steam´ of tourists thing (Ask Jerome Engel if you need further explanation). Rahel also was leaving to New Zealand on Dec. 31 so she GAVE me her Lonely Planet South America to replace the one I lost in Arequipa. THANK YOU RAHEL!

But what was I going to do for New Years? Enter Juan Eduardo Justiniano and his gracious family. I hopped a 2 hour bus to the coast, skipping the beach institutions of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, and heading to the small elite hamlet of Zapallar. Juan´s family really took me in and embraced me as one of their clan, and when I say clan, I mean clan! In addition to immeadiate family, there were cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and all of their friends. I never got an official headcount, but I think we came in at around 12 or 15. Juan had a very nice house positioned a skip and a toss from the beach and everyone piled in to make for a very wonderful atmosphere.

Not content to just let me sit on the beach, Juan got me up real early (10:30) to go mountain biking in the hills, which for all in the know, look EXACTLY like the hills of Marin! I was in a wierd time-space warp, where I had travelled thousands of miles to come..... well.... home. In a combination of a poorly set up bike and me being a bad mountain biker, I proceded to, over the next 4 hours, almost kill myself several times while Juan Eduardo hardly broke a sweat. Alright for Jesse being out of shape!

I barely made it back to the house, surviving the good intentioned chiding for all at how long it took me, to find myself presented with one of the best lunches I´ve had on my trip. The family Justinano really knows how to eat! I relaxed on the beach, was suprised to meet Diego again on a chance encounter, learned the mysteries of paddle ball, took another nap, and woke up fcr the beautiful display of fireworks (LOW DOWN!) that I´ll never forget. Forget partying, I was exhausted, so I went to sleep at a tidy 1am, to wake up to a New Year. THANK YOU JUAN EDUARDO AND FAMILIA JUSTINANO!

And that brings us to now... where.... I don´t really know what I´m doing. I´m going to Mendoza, and from there south, back on the road. I could have stayed much longer in Zapallar, and the family Justinano were more than gracious enough to let me stay (I payed my rent with guitar music), but I felt almost TOO comfortable there, if that made any sense. A cross between Marin and Monterey, it was beautiful, wonderful, and relaxing, but well, like being home. Which makes me realize what a great place I live, and I have all that to look forward to when I return.