SUCCESS!!!!!!!

RAN UP SAN CRISTOBAL TODAY!!!!!!!! Now I can go home happy. There was a minor set-back when an overhanging tree took a bite out of my ear and I started bleeding, but I controlled the wound with my shirt and continued on up. It is so beautiful out today so when I got to the top I sunbathed for about half an hour (it's still winter, in case you were wondering). AND I ran into Jenners from Camp Hand in Hand up there! How nuts is that? Just bumping into friends in a city of 7 million.

I ended up staying in Santiago for the holiday weekend. The news reported that 1 million people left. I believe it, the city feels really empty. Wednesday I took a nice long walk to see Pablo Neruda's Santiago house. It was the only one of his three houses in Chile I hadn't seen yet. I would be extraordinarily happy living in any of them. This one is in Bellavista, the hip night-life neighborhood, at the base of Cerro San Cristobal. It used to have a river running right outside its window, but now the river goes under the property. He had really cool, interesting taste.

There are some North Americans visiting Santiago from Buenos Aires this weekend. We took them to La Piojera last night. It was more packed than I've ever seen it. We sat with a group of super nice Chilenas and two Chilenos. There were fútbol chants being chanted and everyone sang the national anthem at one point. One guy I was talking to wanted me to sing the USA's anthem but I declined. Hahahaha. Life is good!