la ciudad de colores brillantes, poesía y cerros

I am in Valparaíso, Chile. Its a two hour ride from Santiago towards the coast. The only thing that is keeping me sane from the tearful parting from Osorno, is the fact that I am completely in love with Valparaíso.

To go back a little, my last three days in Osorno were lovely. The last day was pretty epic. I stopped by the office to drop of a sleeping back I has borrowed and have lunch with my friend Ximena. I planned on saying one last goodbye and then running back home to enjoy my last few hours at home at Los Copihues 1810 before my goodbye bash (read: a feast of carne). Like the last time, it was harder for me to leave than I thought. After a long lunch with a whole group of officemates and an hour of free internet use, I decided it was time. I did my first round of goodbyes on the second floor to the forestales and the agricolas. Me voy, y este vez no vuelvo, I said. I´m leaving, and this time I won´t return. The goodbyes were nice, and not too dramatic. I didn´t have the energy for tears and too much sentimentality. I went down to the first floor to say good bye to Ximena and she wouldn`t have it. No, why do you stay just a little bit longer. I started to get annoyed and then realized she had something up her sleeve. She dragged me to BIGGER with her to get a "snack." When she started buying enormous quantities of food, I realized that this was not just a snack. Despite the fact that they had already planned me a despedida at the office, Pedro had insisted on another one.

At six o´clock (6 hours after my arrival at the office) my party began. I didn´t beleive it was possible, but it was even cuter than the first goodbye. We all stood around in a circle and made lots of "the silly gringa" jokes all together for about an hour. They gave me a certificate for my work at the office and made Renato present it to me, all while they took billions of pictures and chanted KISS HER! KISS HER! Unfortunately all I got was a kiss on the cheek. Embarassing. Eventually I told them I had to go home at catch my bus in a few hours, and I said my final goodbyes to everyone. I promised I would come back and Pedro talked again vaguely about offering me a job. Only if you pay me this time, I insisted.

Then I ran home to find the mesa set one final time for my last meal at home. The in-laws and their son were there and there was a tremendous hunk of meat cooking in the oven. The meal was lovely and we recapped all of the good times together as they appreciated the picture album I made as a going away gift. I ate ravenously, remembering I would never be forced to eat pancitos and carne ever again in my beloved house. We all shipped off in two collectivos to the bus station and my two friends from the office met us there. Talk about dramatic. Imagine me, my huge backpack and ten people all standing around anxiously as we wait for my bus. I almost missed the bus because I had to individually say: te quiero, goodbye and I promise I´ll come back, to everyone. The guy next to me seemed a bit confused as to why I came on to the bus teary-eyed. I slept almost the whole 12 hour bus ride up to the capital and spent the rest of the time looking nostalgically at my hundreds of pictures of my friends and family in Osorno.

Anyway like I said, Valparaíso has enchanted me. It is full of hills, bright colors, cute cafes, great artesanía and poetry. Plus, Pablo Neruda lived here. If you know anything about me, its not suprising why I love it here. I´ve already made plenty of phone calls and sent plenty of cariño in facebook messages back to Osorno, but the enchantment of Valparaíso is pretty good at distracting me from all the wonderful friends and memories I left behind in the south. Plus, there are friends waiting for me here. I met up with Andres and Fabian, the boys I met in Valdivia at the beginning of my trip. They showed me around today in Valpo and tomorrow I´m going to meet them in Viña. Julie is waiting for me in Santiago and up north the Atacama desert is also waiting for me. But even so, I miss Osorno....