Freshly arrived to New Zealand after miraculously sleeping on the 12-hour flight from Santiago. Initial impressions:

• Vast, majestic mountains, lakes and greenery that make one feel one is surrounded by a national park – constantly.
• Everything is pure and pristine, clean and new: the mountains, lakes and air, as well as the buildings, food and the people. Which is surreal…where is the poverty?
• Is everyone really this content and mellow and pleasant all of the time?
• Switzerland — but laid back and adventurous. The sun is SUPER bright (thanks to global warming?).
• My travel mates did the bungee jump from the bridge over a crystal-blue river that was the birthplace of bungee.
• And the most shocking factoid from this culturally…interesting?…place: Kiwi refers more to the furry animal than to the fruit — woo hoo!

Signing off so my travelmates and I can usher in 2006 before you all! 🙂

Or, what Chileans nickname this seaside city of Valparaiso — thanks to the suggestion of Horatio, Alejandra’s step-dad, May and I ventured out on our own and stayed over in this beach town after Andres showed us up and down the coast (all of course after spending a fabulous evening at Casa de Rosarita y Horatio en sleepy, dreamy, heavenly Santo Domingo!).

I am in love with Valpo (as well as with Baltazar, or “Balta” as Andres’ 7.5-month old baby is affectionately called, but that is another story). It cries of integration and contrasts everywhere: of natural with manmade, of residential with commercial (which is not imposing in the least sense), of humans with animals, of colors and grays. Every angle and street and corner you turn provides a new delight to the eye. And despite the fact that it looks run down, it is incredibly safe (and thus freeing to walk about, as with most of Chile that I have experienced, regardless of economic status and quite unlike BA). Any given street will look like it is in tatters and yet boast of a beautiful gate or wrought-iron sculpture or bright-colored flower garden right in its midst.

Stunning… so get there before the current renovations are completed and the authentic feel starts to fade.

I am overflowing in awe of the abundant generosity of my friends Andres y Ale, who have graciously put me and my friend May up for five days, including spending a heart-warming Christmas with their extended families (actually, it was their immediate families…but these are so large that it felt extended :)!

They are simply gold as far as friendship goes…every need is anticipated and catered to and they are just so much fun to boot! I feel like I am in a luxurious spa of emotional nurturing!

Yes God is so good…putting me in a place of restoration from the depleting, materialistic, in-your-face atmosphere of Buenos Aires: the smoky, humid, stressful, congestion, trauma and pretense of that sprawling metropolis-with-an-attitude have been replaced by a vast, restful, loving, peaceful sense of familiarity and warmth and ease. Chileans aren’t trying to prove anything and they don’t need to because they have it all: beauty, family, friends, wealth and infrastructure. It is tempting to pursue Ale’s offer to beseech St. Anthony, the patron saint of “lost causes”, for a chilean man (or even better and perhaps my preference, San Expedito, aptly named for his reputation of answering prayers swiftly :). We even got to see the church in Regnata in the Valparaiso area where Expedito’s supplicants go. After stuffing ourselves with (of course) Chilean seabass for lunch.