Goodbye Chile!

My last week here was all about saying goodbye. I returned to Valdivia, mainly to pack my winter clothes, but also to say goodbye once again. It all feels very strange. Five months is a long time and I have experienced so much that it feels like five years. It's like a whole different world over here and I have to leave it now. Maybe it's good that I'm not quick to understand and therefore can't get too emotional.

Nothing special happened in my last week, I did some souvenir shopping, had some delicious cake again, visited a park, and had a farewell 'asado'. We grilled at a colleague's place. Many people from the lab, Matias, my tandem partner Christian, and also German exchange students were there. It was a very colorful and fun group. I was impressed and surprised at how easy it was for me to switch between three languages (German, Spanish, and English) fluently. I have learned a lot.

Did I say nothing special happened?! I got to see my beloved alpacas one last time and help shear two of them. One poor thing had a big abscess in the right lymph node that needed to be removed. I got to hold its neck and witnessed an alpaca surgery up close, followed by sewing. It was fascinating to see the necrotic tissue and the infection afterwards.

On Friday, I took the night bus to Santiago to meet my Chilean family. I think I'm becoming an expert at sleeping "everywhere" and in any setting. When I arrived, a surprise awaited me. Aunt Carmen from Valparaiso was visiting. So the house was even more crowded with 6 additional guests, and we went on a trip to "Cajon de Maipo". This canyon is "nearby" (up to 3 hours, depending on which point you want to go to") and we drove up to a high plateau with a lake. However, the lake is drying up more and more, so we had to drive across a sandy path to reach the shore. Aunt Carmen has a 4x4 pickup truck: the problem is, she doesn't know how to activate the four-wheel drive. So we, along with five other cars, got stuck in the sand and couldn't get out. After an hour of trying, a friendly Jeep driver passed by and helped us out of the predicament. My mood was a bit dampened after a sleepless night on the bus, as I had other plans for the evening. But my mood was lifted by a good lunch at a restaurant that looked like the house of Rumpelstiltskin.

In the evening, my family dropped me off at a metro station and I met up with a friend I met on Easter Island. We wanted to visit a Chinese light sculpture exhibition called "Felilux" that was currently in Santiago. We stood in line for tickets for two hours, but it was worth it once again. The sculptures were beautiful, some even placed on a lake so that we could observe their reflection on the water. After that, we went to a bar for my last Pisco Sour.

I spent Sunday relaxing at home in Santiago before heading to the airport...

I have arrived safely in Germany and I'm trying to recover from jet lag.

Frieda (January 28th)