By tomorrow I will have gotten about 12 hours of sleep over 4 days, so I'm going to make this quick and hit the hay. Last week I finished my work at the school in Castro. I got some sweet parting gifts, met my host family's relatives from Argentina, and then I took off on an 18 hour bus ride to Santiago for our Closing Ceremony.
Here's an album of my last days at school. We made squash pie for Thanksgiving.
Leaving the island after 8 months of "work":
I spent all week with good friends that I met a.) when I flew into Chile in March and haven't seen since, b.) when I worked the winter camp session in Santiago in July, many of whom I haven't seen since, or c.) when I arrived in Castro who lived near my region, whom I saw on the regular. So all in all, lots of booze, music, completos (hot dogs), and partying. A crazy week filled with laughs, sun burns, and cook outs.
Check out the album here.
On Friday at 11pm I flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas, which is so far south it may as well not exist on the map. I'm so far south in Chile that I got to see the sun rise over the ocean and set over the Andes, which if you'll look at a map, you'll notice is pretty damn hard to do in a country placed between the Andes to the east and the Pacific to the west. I'm far, far away is what I'm saying. I convinced a friend to fly down with me and I met up with her today. My flight got in at 4 am, I saw the sun rise over the Magellen Straight, and I took a cab to a hostal. I slept for a bit, then met up with my friend and started planning our trip. In a few hours she was convinced to trek across Torres del Paine for 3 days with me, rather than doing just a day trip.
We rented all our gear and got a bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales (check these places out on a map, yo). Beautiful scenery on the ride, and like I said, we are actually east of the Andes and south of Argentina, so the sun setting over the 'cordillera' (mountain range) was beautiful. After some cheap Chilean wine and repacking all our stuff, we're ready to take off at 7:30 tomorrow for three or four days of trekking in what they say is one of South America's most beautiful parks, Torres del Paine.
Random thoughts: We're so close to the south pole in local summer time that nights are super short. Sun sets after 10pm and begins to rise around 4:30am. People in the south are incredibly nice. We rented all our gear from my hostel owner. We got 2 backpacks, 2 sleeping bags, 2 foam mats, a tent, utensils, and a gas stove all on our word that we'll come back. No down payment, no IDs. All he has is my e-mail. It's so great to be around people so trusting and willing to help clueless gringos. But after a friend got his backpack stolen in Santiago, I'm still attempting to keep an eye out. For real though, southern folk are good people.
I'm sun burned, exhausted, excited, and still in awe of just how many kind-hearted and genuinely nice people I have met through this program. That would only sound super tacky if you didn't know these folks; I've definitely made a lot of new, really great friends.
Over the next few weeks I'll be traveling up north through Argentina and Chile, exploring Patagonia. I have a small backpack with a wool hat, Pablo Neruda poetry in Spanish, a journal, an extra pair of underwear, and a Swiss Army knife. And I'm taking on the southernmost part of the globe I have ever seen. It's wonderful.
Now here's a video of my 7th graders answering questions from their pen pals in Seattle, WA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltoCOS8Zkrk
Chao pescao,
Paul
