The Blog Liveth

Hey there folks,

I haven't touched this thing in so long that I think it's going to be more of a recap than anything. I could dig up revelations about places past visited, but something would be lost with my energy in discussing them. I've had new experiences and revelations which occupy me more now.

After I got things straightened out in Bolivia for me to leave, I decided to stay. I wanted to be somewhere special for Christmas, and still had some friends that I'd met traveling in Bolivia. I'd stay in La Paz for a couple days, and then head off to the town of Potosi to visit some mines. These were basically surprising for the outright terrible working conditions that people put up with; conditions that had them on average not living past the age of 40. Suddenly no job that I've done seems all that bad. After this, I made my way to Sucre where I'd meet up with a couple of Canadians that I'd become good traveling companions with, as well as some new Australian friends that they'd met. There we would bunker down for Christmas, and try to make the best of our first away from home.

The town was a warm, festive little place - perfect for the occasion. Christmas dinner wasn't the same. Neither was visiting with my family through a webcam. But really for what it was, it was quite nice. I appreciated the time I spent with my friends there. On the afternoon of the next day, I'd set off towards Chile with the rushed plan of making it to the famed New Years celebration in Valparaiso, just outside of Santiago.

I spent a few days in San Pedro de Atacama Chile, and did a few tours of the local sights while I was there; hooking up with a really great Brazilian crowd from Sao Paulo who I'll no doubt meet up with again when I get to Brazil. The place was neat. I was getting a bit tired of deserts and high altitudes by this point (The 'vamos a la playa?' or 'are we going to the beach now?' joke never got old), but the Valley of the Moon was one of the coolest places that I've seen. As such, it's impossible to describe, and the one picture I got with my mostly broken camera is entirely insufficient. Anyways, after a couple days I got on what would be the longest bus ride I've had so far - 23 hours and 30 minutes to Santiago. I'd skip over the whole of Northern Chile, and be thrown from a small tourist town into the bustling city.

That said, it wasn't really so bad. I loved getting onto the subway near the bus station, and getting zipped along to right up near my hostel. Before I did I picked up some bus tickets that would take me to Valparaiso the next day, and then bring be back the following morning.

Ever since then, I've had almost no kind of normal with regards to eating and sleeping schedules; among other things.

The evening of the 31st I'd arrive in Valparaiso alone for the celebrations. This would turn out not to be much of a problem at all, as I was quickly adopted by a group of young and exuberant Chileans who were more than anxious to share their drinks and shishkabobs with me. This is one of the things that I love about Latin America. In a very short time you can become part of a family. And while that happened, the crowds just poured in all around us. As it got closer and closer to 2009 the energy of the place picked up more and more. One person would start singing a song in Chilean and the crowd around them would all loudly join in. It didn't matter that they had come as part of different groups. For this party, everyone was together.

A countdown started up at one point, and the place just erupted once it ran out. Shortly afterwards, an absolutely massive fireworks show took place, which was undoubtedly the best one that I've ever seen or may see for a while. Afterwards the place was just crazy. The people in my group all walked around trying to find each other, and it was practically impossible. This small little town whose streets had looked nice and clean when I had arrived, now looked like a battle had taken place. And there were people, lot's of people. I'd leave the craziness behind at some point, and get on a bus back to Santiago, since there hadn't been any place for me to stay in Valparaiso that night. Arriving at 7:00 in the morning, I'd find that the subway which had been so useful for getting me to my hostel last time to be closed, and I´d walk. Once I finally got there, I was utterly exhausted, and slept through the middle part of the day.

I spent those next couple days just hanging around in the hostel and that part of town. It was a nice cozy little hostel with a couch, a tv, a balcony, a stereo, what would turn into a dance floor. I made a group of friends here, and we would stay up exceptionally late also; to match New Years. By the third day, I was exhausted, and part of me was relieved that this group started breaking up as it would give me a chance to recuperate from now 3 days of staying up into the late morning, and maybe about 1 proper night's sleep between them. It's easy to adopt an attitude that spending time with people is better than maintaining a healthy routine, but it had caught up with me. It was nice to sleep in the next day, and then just go on a leisurely walk around the city. It doesn't do all my friends justice that I don't talk about all of them individually here, but so it goes.

I've since decided that I agree with everyone who says that Santiago is quite like any US city. Lima had it's frantic drivers and colorful bohemian markets, La Paz had it's unnatural placement and sometimes bizarre happenings. Santiago has modern buildings, and people jogging through the parks with their ipods. For me still, though, the city--any city--is more about the people you meet and the time you spend with them than it is about the city itself and what's there.

For the moment, I'm still waiting on some credit cards, and pondering a trip over to Mendoza, Argentina. I reckon I'll be quite ready afterwards to set off into the desolate and breathtaking south; the land of mountains, and maybe some solitude.

Don't give up on my blog writing folks, it still lives! Just had a bit of an absent stretch there. And I still love and miss all of my friends back home.

Sincerely,
Stephen