Moving to South America sounds rather exotic, and I am truly excited about the upcoming adventure but I was reminded the other day when I open the curtains at home in Mangawhai and was greeted by the above scene, that in fact that we also live somwhere rather exotic. I am so blessed to know that I will be returning after this adventure is over.
I have finally received reliable comfirmation that my passport, visa and tickets have arrived in Auckland which I will pick up tomorrow on the way to airport. My destination is approximately 10,000 km beyond the Hen and Chicks. Leaving from Auckland, after an 11 hour flight I will arrive on the other side of the Pacific Ocean!
I will spend the night in the capital Santiago before heading to the most northern town, Arica, which is just 18km from the Peruvian border. Thanks the students who did some fact finding on my behalf, I know that my new hometown has a population of approximately 185,000, it is an arid region near to the Atacama Desert and receves less than 2mm of rain per year! It is on the west coast, so rather that watching the sun rise over the Pacfic like we do in Mangawhai, I will be watching it set over the same ocean. It is also the home of great surf and hosted the Rip Curl World Champs in 2007, and the final resting place of 5,000 year old Chinchurro mummies!
Clearly, there is alot more to explore, and I have several challenges to meet. Many thanks for your best wishes and fond farewells. Some of you are setting me up for great experiences- I will of course do my best to hunt down decent chocolate and coffee, I think surely there will motorcross in the desert and Mr Graham I will be on the lookout for those Guinea Pig. I will do my best and keep you posted. Adios for now.
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With only a couple of weeks before I set off on a flight to Santiago de Chile, I would rather like to have more details about the final destination, but seeing that I don't have any, speculation and possibilities abound!
Considering that the country is bordered by the amazing Andean mountains on one side and the Pacific ocean on the other, with a sand and salt dessert in the north, glaciers in the the south and a world renowned wine region in the middle - I'm not too bothered where I get off the plane - just as long as I get on!
Where ever I end up I realise that I will need to seriously upgrade my level of Spanish (which currently stands at an emergency travel standard), so I have started running a Spanish CD in my car, it is giving me useful phrses like "May I see your passport please?" and "Where is the elevator? According the Lonely Planet: Chilean language fell off the wagon and pepperd with expressions unintelligable to the rest of the Spanish speaking world! Now that sounds rather like my personal version of Spanish, so may be I will be ok after all!
Nevermind the language - this comment from a traveller who recently spent some time in Chile has got me more concerned: Coffee addicts are in serious troube outside of Santiago or destinations not frequented by foreign tourists.
The supportive and understanding students in my class last year can testify that I actually weened myself off coffee last year and while I would no longer fall into the category of "addict" - I would still claim to be a passionate caffeine enthusiast so this comment does rather concern me!
However - remaining mindful of the goal - becoming immersed in the language and culture of a Spanish a speaking country, in order to enrich the understanding of my students language and culture on my return- dreadful coffee is a small price to pay!
There will be many more tales to tell on this journey; funny and infuriating, adventurous and ridiculous, risky and rewarding.
I look forward to journeying with you. Thank you for staying in touch, I appreciate your comments and feedback, please post here or on my facebook which is linked to this site.
Muchas Gracias
Senorita Fulton :)
