The Beginning of the End

The last Tufts group trip was last weekend to La Serena (beach town in the north) and Elqui Valley. We spent most of Friday and Sunday on a bus and Saturday doing random sightseeing, which included a tiny village with the oldest cemetery in Chile, an old church, Gabriela Mistral's tomb (these three are essential on every Tufts trip), a tapestry artists workshop, a dam, and the Mistral Pisco factory, which we got lost on the way to but it was worth it for a hilarious movie from the point of view of a grape as it become pisco. We got to spend a couple of evening hours on the beach but the water was too cold for all but a few brave ones in the group. The coolest part of the trip for me was the Mamalluca Observatory with some very powerful telescopes and knowledgeable guides who told us about all kinds of constellations and astronomical phenomenon and we got to see Jupiter. TheElqui Valley has a lot of observatories that are used for scientific research because it is believed to have the clearest skies in the world. Many hours of bus time meant many Tuftsesque conversations about the our education system and society, ambitions and past world-saving endeavors, etc. Sometimes these make me feel lucky and inspired and sometimes they just wear me out and frustrate me. I think it's a little bit of my cynicism mixed with a little bit of the hypocrisy of such conversations.

Last Tuesday after dance class Alli, Jenny (a girl from the class) and I went to La Chascona, Pablo Neruda's third house, which we hadn't seen yet although it is right here in the city, in the Bellavista neighborhood. As our time here comes to an end we are trying to make a list of things we have to do.

When my sister Andrea got back from a trip to Mexico and we had story and picture time with the family I was happy at the thought that in the future I can travel not only to Cancun but to remote Mexican villages and find my way around. Now all I need is the momentum to plan such trips.

I registered for classes for next semester: two for comp sci, two for the cognitive and brain science major and a Spanish class.

Another highly educational history class was spent making lists of foods to cook next semester when we all live off campus and then Tilly made a wonderful drawing of all of them - just one class left since we're all skipping the last one to travel.

Thursday night Rita Reznikova, who I met at Tufts through Russian Circle when she was a senior my freshman year, called me because she was in Santiago and I went out to dinner with her and her cousin who has an internship in Santiago. It was interesting to have three Russians from different cities in the US having dinner together in Santiago in a Middle Eastern restaurant owned by a Palestinian woman who was born in Jerusalem but has been living here since she was 2. What a world.

Friday was an epic (day) - we may start using epic as a noun instead of an adjective. Meera, Becca, Alli and I agreed to meet up at Starbucks at noon to figure out travel plans. I started out stressed and nervous because everyone had their shit together and I was clueless, but as we sat there until 9 pm things miraculously came together into a pretty great arrangement. Originally the three of them were going to do Patagonia and then go to Buenos Aires, which would mean that both parts would be rushed. In the end they decided it was best for people to do the trip their ideal way, so Becca and Meera will be spending the whole time in Argentina, and Alli will be spending more time in the south and will meet up with them in BA later. Now that you know about my friends' plans, where do I come in? I will be with Alli from Nov 24th until Dec 5th for an epic 11-day trip which will include Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia with a 4 day hike, El Calafate in Argentina to see an enormous glacier, and Pucon in the lakes region of Chile to climb a volcano and go rafting. Again I was very lucky as a great trip more or less fell into my lap. We spent all day thinking up different itinerary options, looking up flights and buses and hostels and all that. If I survive, this will be one of the most amazing things I have ever done, I am sure of it. I will have a few days alone in Santiago to recuperate before coming back to the US, so you all will not have to defrost me :).

This weekend I had a quiet Saturday during which I did odd things around the house, did a bit of non-priority homework (instead of a paper), did some more trip planning and at night Alli and I rented a Chilean movie from Blockbuster and bought a liter of ice cream. Funny thing was that the main character was played by a friend of mine from high school when he was a kid. Although it wasn't the most thrilling of days it was a nice reminder of reality and of the fact that life in Santiago is not a magical nonstop adventure. I am slowly getting more ready to go home and I am definitely missing home food. On Sunday Alli and I checked another thing off the list of things to do and went to the beach in Viña, or more specifically in Reñaca, a 2 hour bus ride away. Although we pigged out on what we once thought was gross Chilean fast food, the water was too cold to swim, and we got sunburned, it was the perfect day for the beach.