Goodbyes, Teachers and Grattitude...Days 88-91

Lets get this out of the way - I messed up my counting somewhere along the line.  And there is no way I'm going back to figure it out.  There should have only been 91 days in total, since I counted day 1 as a travel day on my way here and I'm here for exactly 90 days.  And yet, today is the day before I leave, so there will be 92 days in my posts.  Oppps.  I'm pretty sure no one cares about this but me, but it kind of bugs me, so I'm mentioning it.

Anyway!  My last couple days here.  I think bittersweet is the best way to describe it.  I am really really really going to miss it here.  And I am really excited to go home.  It is both a very strange, and very wonderful place to be.

My Spanish teacher and I had our final class at my favorite restaurant in BA - Cumana.  If you ever come here, you must try it.  It's cheap and good. And they have menus in English if you can't decipher the Spanish ones.  It was a perfect place for our last class.  I ate my favorite meal at this particular place which is basically chicken milenesa with mozzerela and tomatoes - it's delicious, and massive - I've only actually ever successfully eaten the entire thing once (which isn't something I'm sure I should be proud of!)

I loved my Spanish teacher.  She was not only a fantastic teacher, but became a friend of mine during our time together here.  I'm still kind of in awe that we spent about 40 hours together talking almost 100% in Spanish.  I'm not sure how she did it, but she taught me Spanish, and that is no small feat.  So thank you Judith, for everything. (I think I look slightly crazy in this photo, but I'm posting it because it's the only photo of the two of us that I have!)



And for the memory - the outside of my favorite restaurant in BA - Cumana, you will be missed!

After saying my goodbyes to Judith on Monday, I actually went back to Cumana on Tuesday and said my goodbyes (for now) to friends of mine who actually live in Jersey City.  They'll be heading back to the States right around the time I leave for Paris, but maybe someday we'll be back in Jersey City again together at the same time!

I have many more goodbyes to say in the next days.  Many people I will miss dearly from here.  People I am so grateful for.  People who taught me so much, who took the time to make me feel comfortable in a foreign country, who dealt with my broken Spanish, who taught me about business in South America.  For all of them, and for this experience I am so very thankful.  I'm not sure how I, a girl from a small town in Indiana, ended up living in working in South America.  But I did.  And I can already tell it has changed me. And for that I am grateful.

From my table my last night at Cumana...

I do.  I really really do.  Thank you BA, por la todo.

Supper Club, the Stomach Flu and Acupuncture...Days 82-87

Might as well start out with the negative here just to get it out of the way.  My last week here and I get the stomach flu.  All in all I ended up being sick for about 5 days and spent most of that time in bed.  During this time I learned a very important lesson - when living in a foreign country, do not leave anything to your last weekend.  If you do, you might end up sick and unable to do whatever it is you planned to do.  In my case this was heading to the San Telmo market to pick up a painting.  So now I am painting-less and heading home tomorrow.  Lesson learned!

Ok ok, on to happier things.  My last week and a half in Buenos Aires have been amazing.  These 6 days in particular were filled with work (the thing that allows me to be here), yoga, spanish classes, and time with new friends.  (I'm going to leave the time spent in bed due to the stomach flu out of that list!)  Oh, and acupuncture, something I wish I'd started doing here the moment I arrived.  But alas, I didn't find my acupuncturist until well into my 3rd month, which means we've gotten in far fewer sessions than I would have liked.  But I will say this, I am a convert - if you have ever considered trying acupuncture for well, anything really, don't hesistate.  It's amazing.

The most memorable thing over these six days was a Supper Club event hosted by my lovely yoga teacher Carolyn.  She was gracious enough to invite me to her event and I got to spend an evening with some of the most fantastic ladies I've ever met.  We started out the night by standing around the table and talking about what we are thankful for.  Now this might sound hokey (and maybe it is), but to me, right now, it was very fitting and I loved hearing what the other girls had to say.

And the food?  Well the food was fantastic.  And mostly gluten free!  My contribution?  A bottle of wine.  I'm not the greatest cook in the world to begin with, and add that with my extremely limited "kitchen" and well, the meal was better off with my contribution being of the non food variety.

It was really a fantastic evening.  And really solidified even more to me that I've finally found my "groove" here in Buenos Aires.  It took me a good two and a half months, but it happened.  And I'm grateful for that.  Sadly of course, it happened right in time for me to leave.  But I'm not complaining.  I'm pretty lucky to have had such an amazing experience that I'm both sad to leave and happy to go home - it's a very good place to be.

100 Things I've Learned While Living in Argentina...Days 68-81

This list is in no particular order and includes things I've learned about Buenos Aires, myself and everything else in between.


1. Learning another language is HARD. Yes, I knew this before, but now, I truly understand it!

2. In Buenos Aires, traffic laws are completely optional. Except stopping at red lights. That is the one law everyone seems to follow.

3. Living alone in a foreign country where you don't speak the language means you will be forced out of your comfort zone every single day. This is both extremely challenging and wonderful at the same time.

4. There are tons of beautiful parks in Buenos Aires, everywhere you turn there is another park. And the people here truly take advantage of them. They are full of people walking, running, working out, just lounging around, etc.

5. Chile is one of the most beautiful countries in the entire world.

6. Customer service in Buenos Aires and customer service in the United States are not the same thing.

7. Time will pass faster than you ever imagined possible while living abroad.

8. When living alone in a foreign country, visitors are the best thing ever. Ever.

9. Learning a new language might be hard, but it is also worth it.

10. Ice cream in Argentina absolutely phenomenal.

11. In Argentina, 99% of the time, sushi has cream cheese in it. While this is something I have learned, it is not something I understand.

12. Skype is only as good as your Internet connection.

13. Three months is exactly the right amount of time to finally start feeling comfortable living in a different country, right as its time to leave again.

14. Three months is two months and three weeks too long to live in a hotel.

15. Toddlers speaking Spanish is the cutest thing ever.

16. Saying “I’m an American” while located anywhere other than the United States makes you sound like an arrogant asshole. Everyone else in Latin and South America is an American too.

17. Having a private yoga instructor is the greatest thing ever. I’m still trying to figure out a way I can afford this in the states.

18. Black beans and corn tortillas are not common foods in Argentina. I do not understand this.

19. Plane travel within South America is SO much easier than in the States. Liquids? No problem! Shoes? No problem! The security lines move fast because of this. It is lovely.

20. The lines most other places do not move fast. It’s not uncommon to wait for an hour to purchase your groceries.

21. It is also not uncommon that while you are waiting for an hour to purchase your groceries the cashiers working will be chatting to one another without a care in the world. No one cares if you have to wait.

22. Further to point 6 above – if you happen to find a live cockroach in your dinner – no one will care. There will be no bringing out of a new plate of food. Or an apology. And there will certainly not be an offer of a refund.

23. It’s important not to walk around while fooling with your cell phone. It will be stolen. And it will happen so fast you’ll have no idea how it happened.

24. While eating at a restaurant, you are welcome to stay and talk with your companions for as long as you want. No matter how many other people are waiting to sit down. Your waiter will never ever rush you. It’s fantastic. Unless of course you are the person waiting for a table.

25. In Argentina dinner doesn’t start till well past 9pm. Ever.

26. 99.9% of the cars are manual. If you plan to rent a car in South America, you had better know how to drive stick.

27. BAdelivery.com is the best thing ever. You can order online and have food come directly to you. No Spanish necessary!

28. Living without a cell phone is both annoying and kind of awesome.

29. I miss my dog more than I thought possible.

30. There is a lot to be said for an office full of music and laughter.

31. In South America you will get kissed a lot. A lot. Every day. Even in the office.

32. People here are extremely friendly.

33. It is not a myth that Argentines are good looking. They really really are.

34. People here love to run. I see hundreds of runners on my way to work every single day. Rain or shine.

35. The tap water here is perfectly safe to drink.

36. Leashes for dogs are optional. And people rarely use them.

37. The dogs here are extremely well behaved without said leashes.

38. It is not common practice to tip taxi drivers. They will be very excited if you give them a tip.

39. The first two weeks in a new country at a new job WILL BE HARD. And you will wonder if you made a mistake. You didn’t. You just need time to adjust. You will feel guilty that it’s so hard for you. You shouldn’t. You just need time to adjust.

40. You might think that living in a country gives you a chance to be a different (better) version of yourself. This is true. But what is also true is that you are still you, flaws and all, no matter where you live.

41. A well timed email or thoughtful note can cure an awful lot of loneliness.

42. It’s important to make sure that Skype works on your computer BEFORE you head to a foreign country.

43. It is much easier to pay with cash in Buenos Aires than to try and decipher whether or not you get a discount or a surcharge for using credit cards.

44. However, if you use cash in Buenos Aires be prepared for a nasty look any time you try to pay with a large bill for something small. Change is a bit scarce here.

45. It is possible that Argentines love sweets even more than those of us from the States do.

46. Peanut butter is a completely foreign concept in Argentina. They don’t eat it and they don’t understand why I eat it.

47. Metro workers strike in Buenos Aires a lot. An awful lot.

48. A kind encouraging word said when you are practicing your new language means an awful lot, and encourages you to keep trying.

49. It’s 100% normal to feel like a 5 year old when speaking in a foreign language.

50. I have a lot to be grateful for as a US Citizen.

51. I have a lot to learn.

52. There is excellent free undergraduate and graduate college education available to anyone in Argentina. I think this is incredible. If I lived here, I would totally go to school just to study things I want to learn. How amazing that would be!

53. In Buenos Aires it is extremely common to work in a normal entry level office type job while going for an undergraduate degree. Many of the people in my office work during the day and attend class at night.

54. People in Argentina are very proud to be from Argentina.

55. There are a lot of random holidays in Argentina.

56. There are some words that I just like better in Spanish. “Rapido!” “Siesta” “Por que?”

57. “Muy expensivo” is not actually a phrase in Spanish.

58. Working in a different country is totally challenging and awesome.

59. I learned more at NYU than I thought I did.

60. You have to ask for the check if you want to pay at a restaurant. They will not bring you the check unless you ask. Took me one very awkwardly long sitting by myself session at a small café to figure that one out.

61. Singing and dancing to the Backstreet boys in the office with your 22 year old co-workers is good for the soul.

62. While hotel living has its downfalls, having someone make your bed and clean your room every day is pretty nice.

63. I do not like cow stomach.

64. Tango is a beautiful and very sexy dance.

65. Empanadas are a perfect snack.

66. There are approximately twelve verb tenses in the Spanish language!

67. If you are bad at grammar in English, you will probably be bad at grammar in Spanish.

68. It is much easier to spell words in Spanish than in English - words are spelled exactly as they sound, every single time.

69. The traffic lights here, when you are stopped at a red one, go from Red to Yellow to Green - this leads to a very race car like feeling every time you are stopped at a light.

70. Dulce de Leche is a main staple "food" here.

71. People in Argentina hate spicy food.

72. Mate is a kind of loose leaf tea here that people drink constantly. It is a community affair. Everyone shares the same cup and straw and just passes it around.

73. You can buy anything here on a payment plan, and everyone does. Clothes, concert tickets, ipods, you name it, there is a "cuota" plan for it.

74. It is almost impossible to get a loan here which can make buying a home difficult for people.

75. The pizza here has about 5 times the amount of cheese that pizza has on it anywhere else in the world that I've visited. When it's done properly, it's delicious.

76. Mayonnaise is the most common condiment here. People put it on everything.

77. It is not abnormal to come strolling into work at 10am, sometimes even 10:30am.

78. In Spanish, if your parents are divorced and remarried, you call your parents spouse - "el esposo de me mama" or "la esposa de me papa" - you only use the term "Stepmom" or "Stepdad" to describe a step-parent if your natural parent is deceased. I found this to be a very interesting cultural difference.

79. On any given block you can find at least 2 and usually many more than 2 fruit and vegetable stores. They are awesome.

80. Here they eat every part of the cow. See my reference to cow stomach in #63 above.

81. When the temperature is around 60F people here bust out their winter coats.

82. Argentine Spanish is much different than other forms of Spanish. They have a very distinct accent here.

83. It is much more common here to take a 20+ hour bus ride to your destination than to take a plane

84. Cooking in a hotel room where all you have is a microwave, a single electric burner and a very old beat up pot is a challenge.

85. There is something to be said for eating food in its natural state, without all of the spices and sauces we like to put on everything in the US.

86. That said, there is also something to be said for spices and sauces.

87. Good are MUCH more expensive in Argentina than I imagined.

88. Services however are quite cheap. I cannot afford to buy clothes here, but I can afford a private yoga teacher.

89. McDonalds is extremely expensive here - $8 for a 10pc chicken nuggets anyone? (Yes, I've eaten at McDonalds a few times, and yes, it's embarrassing to admit that.)

90. The government here restricts peoples access to US Dollars. At first I didn't understand why this was such a big problem, I mean, I don't hold any other currencies myself. But when you live in a country where your currency (the peso) isn't convertible to many other currencies - this becomes a huge problem if you want to travel. For example - my Spanish teacher wants to go to Peru, but she only has Pesos, and in Peru, they won't exchange Pesos for their currency but they will exchange it for USD. So unless people here can get their hands on USD or EUR, their travel options are very limited (among other things.)

91. If you push yourself, you can surprise yourself.

92. Yoga is good for the body and the soul.

93. You will be surprised at the things that you miss (and don't miss) when living abroad.

94. Cafe con crema is delicious.

95. There is a tremendous amount of value in the laid back attitude of this country. It makes you really think about what is and what is not important.

96. Ceviche is yummy.

97. I know I already mentioned it once, but the ice cream? I mean wow. It deserves at least two mentions. If you come here, try it, from several different places. You will not be disappointed.

98. Argentina, while close to the ocean, has extremely limited seafood. Chile on the other hand is the land of fantastic seafood.

99. If you let them, people will surprise you.

100. Last but not least - living abroad is worth every single headache, inconvenience and challenge. Trust me on this one.

Recoleta Cemetary, Live Music and Ceviche...Days 66 and 67

This weekend was a lot of fun.  I did all the normal stuff like walk around and explore the city, attend my Spanish class and practice yoga and I also did a lot of fun things like go to the Recoleta Cemetary, listen to outdoor music in Palermo and eat ceviche for the first time.  And the weather was perfect for all of it!  A beautiful fall weekend in Buenos Aires.

All of the fun things were done with a co-worker who was here from the States for two weeks.  It was so nice just to have someone to explore with.  Sure, exploring by yourself can be fun, but exploring with someone else is better!

The first place we went to (and the only place I have pictures of) was the Cemetary in Recoleta.  People had told me I needed to go there, but I was skeptical - I mean it's a cemetary, what's to see?  And honestly, I'm not sure I'd have ever made it there if it weren't for my co-worker being in town and wanting to see some of Buenos Aires on Sunday.  It gave me the motivation I needed to come up with a day full of "must sees" and the cemetary was on it.  We weren't disapointed!

I decided the above photo is how I'd like to be remembered when I die.  Just me and Petey.  Chillin. 

The cemetary was HUGE.  You could easily get lost in it.  We kept looking around for a map to tell us where Evita's grave was, but there were no maps to be found.  We also tried just looking for graves where there were a lot of people looking at it to see if it was here grave, but every time we found a crowd they were in front of another famous Argentinian grave.  Turns out, between Leontin (my coworker) and I - we only knew one famous Argentinian - Evita.

Luckily, we were able to use my super amazing Spanish skills (ha) and follow a group of adorable older ladies to the grave.  It was completely hidden down one of the long rows.  We never would have found it on our own:

After seeing Evita's grave, we decided to leave the cemetary and head over to Palermo Soho which is one of my favorite parts of Buenos Aires.  It's really colorful and full of life.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture.  I was having too much fun playing tour guide to be bothered by such things as a camera.

We walked around a bit and then sat down at an outdoor cafe to enjoy some live music and some beverages.  There were people standing in the middle of the street playing music.  The crowd was really lovely and the whole scene was just great.

Once it became a reasonable time (to us) to eat dinner (8pm) we headed to "Ceviche" at the suggestion of a friend.  Of course, at 8pm we were the very first people there, but as I've learned, just because a restaurant is empty at 8pm doesn't mean it's not good, it means you are eating 2 hours earlier than anyone who actually lives here eats.

The food was amazing.  I don't think I've ever actually had ceviche before, and it was excellent.  I wasn't sure about it when we ordered it, I mean, it's raw fish, without all the trimmings of sushi.  But turns out, it's wonderful.  The lime juice kind of cooks it and the flavor and texture is amazing.  I'm a big fan of lime and that probably was a big part of why I loved it so much. 

The rest of the food was really good too, but it was the ceviche that stood out.  The dinner was the perfect way to wrap up a beautiful day touring the city.  And it was all completely worth being totally exhausted on Monday for :-)

Coffee, Lomo and Yoga...Days 61-65

Days 61-65 were the Monday through Friday of what felt like a really long week.  It wasn't a bad week, but a long one!  Work was actually a bit slow, which probably contributed to the "longness" of the week.  I find that when work is crazy busy time seems to fly, and when it's a bit slow time can drag on a bit.  I think that's a pretty common thing though.

We had visitors in town from the states, one of whom was my old boss, so I was lucky enough to get to accompony here and a few other visitors to dinner one night.  We ate in Puerto Madero, where they were staying, and the food was fantastic.  I had the lomo con gorgonzola and it was just what I wanted.  Steak with a flavorful sauce.  Flavor can be a bit hard to come by here, so it was a welcome surprise when the sauce had a quite strong taste to it.

There are a lot of ships in Puerto Madero, and below is a poor quality phone photo of one of the ships.  I thought they were really neat!

One of the things I love here the most is the coffee, or more particularly the presentation of the coffee.  I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but on any given weekend you can find me ordering a "cafe con crema" and sipping it while reading a book or doing my spanish homework.

Below are some examples of the coffee I've drank since I've been here.  Maybe you'll think it's boring, but I think it's pretty cool!

Cafe con crema - probably my favorite, a tiny coffee with real whipped cream, it's amazing:

Cappucino - very common in Chile:

Butter Toffee Coffee - or really, any fancy coffee:

Every time you order coffee or tea they always always bring you a tiny cookie or brownie or some other treat to go along.  I think it's the cutest thing ever.  Love it.

In other news, I'm really enjoying my yoga studies here in BA.  I am so spoiled and love having a teacher come to my house.  It's basically awesome.  And I'm even practicing on my own!  It's slow going, but I think I'm actually making some progress.  Slowly but surely is the name of the game for me.

A big milestone and a tiny funk...days 57-60

So, 2+ years ago, this blog actually started out as a weight loss blog.  I had reached an all time high weight that no one my height should really ever reach and I was finally ready to do something about it.  And for the last two years, six months and six days I have been doing something about it.  Writing down what I eat every single day (with a few notable exceptions for vacations and holidays of course.)  Doing any number of different diets (you name it, I've tried it.)  Doing any number of exercise regimes, from absolutely nothing to marathon training and everything in between.

And finally, two years, six months and six days later, I have finally reached a weight that is deemed "healthy" by BMI standards.  Which, after doing the math, means I have lost on average about a pound a MONTH since I started.  I think this might qualify me for the slowest loser of all time award or something.  But I'm trying to focus on the positive here, which is even though it's been ridiculously slow, I haven't given up.  And that I think is the real victory here.

My journey is far from over.  And I don't intend for this blog to serve as a weight loss blog.  I have a lot more fun talking about my traveling adventures!  But for a milestone this big, I felt it worthy of posting.  If for nothing more than nostalgic purposes for me, myself and I.  I still have a ways to go, so it feels good to celebrate the small (or big!) victories along the way.

In other, less exciting news, I've been in a bit of a funk the last few days.  I'm not sure if it's homesickness or post Chilean holiday sadness or loneliness or what, but I've been in less than stellar spirits the last few days.  And on top of that, this weekend I felt pretty bad, some kind of stomach bug or something, and well, I don't have a single interesting thing to blog about!

BUT, I've decided that tonight is the end of said funk.  Tomorrow, I'm going do whatever it takes to get a better attitude and get back to my general feeling of gratitude at getting to live down here for three months.  Granted, that's a lofty goal for a Monday, but I think I'm up to the task!  Tonight I'm free to feel blah about living in a hotel room and miss my dog, but tomorrow it'll be time to focus on all of the wonderful things about living here, and the fact that I'll see Petey in 32 short days.

Better posts to come, I promise!

La Playa, the Andes and Friends....Days 54, 55 and 56

Ok where was I?  Probably professing my undying love for Chile.  Did I mention I love Chile?  Because I do!  I completely fell in love with Chile over the four and a half days I was there.  The people, the food (I am SO mad at myself for not taking photos), the landscape - for a girl who grew up in the midwest, with the mountains and the beach so far away, to be in a city where you are quite literally an hour away from the Andes and an hour away from one of the most stunning beaches I've ever seen, well, it was incredible.

On our third full day, Oscar took me to the coast.  Unfortunately Maria Louisa had to work, so it was just the two of us for the day.  I think we did ok for ourselves though.  The beach is my most favorite place in the world, and I think these photos at least somewhat adequately capture my happiness to be there:

Crappy phone photo, but even in it's crappy-ness, it was too beautiful not to post. I would have stood in this spot all day had Oscar let me (I'm glad he didn't!):

The water was really sparkling as much as this photo shows, it was stunning:

With the beautiful landscape, comes some risks.  Tsunamis being among them.  There were signs like the below everywhere.  Apparently, if there is an earthquake of "size" and you live on the coast, you need to book it inland as quickly as possible.  I say "of size" because apparently earthquakes are quite common, and its only the bigger ones you need to worry about.  Suffice to say, had I felt even the tiniest tremble I probably would have begged Oscar to book it as far away from the beach as possible.  This midwestern girl isn't used to earth quakes or possible Tsunamis.

Below the girls are drinking mate on the beach - a typical Argentinian thing to do.  Mate is a lose leaf kind of tea, that you put directly in your cup and then use a special straw to drink it that has a filter on it that makes sure you don't drink up the leaves.  It's extremely popular here in Buenos Aires.  In fact, every single day at work my coworkers drink mate around 4pm.  The first time I joined them I was a little shocked to learn that not only do we all share the same glass (!) we share the same straw (!!)  In an effort not to be the fuddy-duddy girl from the states, I of course pretended not to be grossed out and joined in.  (for those of you who know me well, you know what a big deal this is!)

Ok, enough about mate.  Back to the beach, which was so beautiful, it literally took my breath away.  The water was so many different shades of blue and green.  And so rough!  It hit the rocks and splashed everywhere.  I was completely mesmerized.

Oscar and I even got a photo together!  I can't say enough good things about him and his wife.  Loved them.  Also, it looks like we dressed purposely to match the water...which I didn't notice until just now. Makes for a nice photo!

You know what else made this beach amazing?  The sea lions!  They were SO close!  We got to watch them climb and then play with one another and then jump off spectacularly back into the water.  It was amazing.  Again, I could have stayed forever and just watched them.

But eventually we did have to leave.  We had dinner plans!  But not without embarrassing myself completely before we left.  As we were leaving, the below girl said "hello" to us, which is code for "Hi! I speak English too!" So we stopped to talk to her while she did all manner of crazy yoga type stretching.  Since I've started doing yoga too, it seemed only fit that I'd pose in a photo with her and show off my new moves.  I obviously have a long long way to go eh?

The drive back to Santiago was beautiful.  Of course, I didn't get any photos.  I really thought I got photos of everything, but when I started writing about this trip, I realized how many things I didn't take photos of.  Trust me, the sunset reflecting on the Andes is something worth seeing!

That night we went to a dinner party.  It was fantastic.  The food, the wine, the company, it was all amazing.  Three of the four guys in the photo knew my dad, which was a big part of the reason we all got together.  I so wished he could have been there!  But we had a lot of fun without him!

See?  Fun...I'm pretty sure that was the look my face most of the night, when I wasn't stuffing my face with shrimp or avocado:

And now onto my last full day in Chile (sniff sniff!)  We drove up into the Andes, to where Oscar and Maria Louisa ski.  Let me tell you, it was quite a drive.  I was mostly terrified.  Oscar is a fantastic driver, but the curves were SO steep, and there were no less 8 million bikers out on the road, which added another dynamic to the whole driving up the side of the mountain thing.  But the view from the top?  Completely worth it!

You will probably notice, that similar to yesterday, I am sporting the biggest, cheesiest grin known to man kind in every single one of those photos.  I really couldn't help myself.  This is what happens when  I am blessed enough to spend time with wonderful people at some of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

We walked around a bit after we reached the top and then stopped for lunch.

We were actually quite lucky to be able to have lunch.  Since it was a national holiday, literally almost everything in Chile was closed.  But the main restaurant at the ski resort was open, which was great, because I was starving!!

It was crazy warm while we were at the restaurant.  The sun was SO hot.  There was snow everywhere, and yet you can see in the photo above the Oscar was in short sleeves and below I was in a sleeveless shirt.  It's crazy how warm the sun can be when you are that high up, notice the snow right next to me:

I think the below is the only photo I have of the three of us!

Oscar and I and the Andes.  The mountains were so dang beautiful.

Maria Louisa received an iPad for her birthday, and spent the greater part of our time in the mountains trying to figure out how to use the camera.  It was pretty darn amusing.

Since it is just newly fall in South America, there was no skiing for me while I was there.  And honestly, it was probably a good thing, because I am a terrible skier, and probably would have broken my neck on those slopes.  I didn't see anything resembling a "bunny hill" while we were there.  So this photo of me in the ski lift is probably about as close as I'm ever going to get to actually skiing in the Andes.

Since its fall, and the ground was really really muddy where the snow had melted, all of the vehicles were covered in mud.  I like to pretend that I am tough and go off-roading in my truck just for fun.  Convincing no?

One last gratuitous shot of the Andes.  I miss them already!

We ended my last night in Santiago with another dinner party.  These lovely folks were also friends of my fathers at one time or another and now live in Costa Rica.  With as many friends as my dad seems to have in Chile, it appears that he's a likable guy or something.  Who knows.

Ok ok, fine, yes, my dad is a likable guy, with really fantastic friends who I had the immense pleasure of spending a few very memorable days with.  Oscar and Maria Louisa, I can't thank you enough for the visit and I hope someday to be able to repay the favor back in New York!

I think the below photo sums up my trip pretty well.  Beautiful landscape.  Lots of laugher and wonderful memories...

I miss you already Chile!