Enroute to Chile

Here I sit in the Atlanta airport, on a four hour layover before I get on the redeye flight to Santiago. I arrive around 8:30am. From there I’ve arranged to be transported to an area about 1.5 hours southeast of Santiago. It’s a nature reserve area called Cascadas de las Animas where I’m hoping to white water raft, ride horses, kayak and hike. Temps should be around 80 to 90 degrees. Rain shouldn’t be an issue because they don’t seem to get any in January on the mainland. Easter Island could be different, but that’s not for a few more days.

You’d think with all the travel that I’ve done, I’d have the packing down to a science, but no. I’m still doing things at the last minute, and just don’t quite get it all done before I leave. I now know that the new washer takes about an hour a load. That’s twice as long as my old washer. Ooops. At least the clothes will be clean. Wrinkled but clean. I also think the vacuum never made it back to its home. Oh well. I think maybe my housesitter will take care of that.

This trip is a bit different than the one I’d originally planned. In fact, it’s gone through several evolutions. The primary purpose was to go to Antarctica. I then built other things around that. I was originally going to go to Uruguay in November and work my way down to Ushuaia, Argentina to catch a boat to the frigid southern tundra. A friend from Minnesota goes down every year or so to visit the family she stayed with during a high school exchange program. I ended up backing out of that trip because Karly’s doctor, her feline vet, thought she might only have a few months to live. Not wanting to end her life early, I stayed in the Twin Cities, only to learn the boat I was scheduled to sail to Antarctica sunk the day after Thanksgiving. So much for a relaxing morning once I’d heard that news. It wasn’t until the end of the day that the news reported the “fist size hole from hitting ice underwater” sunk the ship in 3300 feet of water. It took several weeks before I first read about anticipatory environmental concerns of the oil and gas in these pristine waters.

Since one thing was based on another (alternating more rustic travel with indulgence), re-planning was in order. When was I going to go, what territory did I now want to cover? The focus changed from seeing penguins much of the first half of the trip, to the 6-week volunteer stint in Cordoba, Argentina. I’d always been excited about writing the marketing plan for a non-profit organization that works with children who have disabilities. I was sad to think this would no longer follow seeing whales and penguins, but I wasn’t going to back out of this. I never considered doing that. I’d made that commitment, and the sinking of my ship wouldn’t make me break this commitment.

Well, things are starting to come alive at gate E15. People are milling around, taking pictures of their little babies before they board the plane, the TVs are reporting the results of the New Hampshire primary. Hillary is marginally outperforming Obama (40% to 36%). McCain has just been touted as the “big” winner on the Republican side. Can’t say I’ll miss the campaigning, though it will be weird to go from this to the selected candidates when I get back in March.

This is the first time I’m taking my computer with me on vacation. That means I’ll have more on my blog, and maybe even more pictures. But I’ll end for now in order to get some exercise before getting on this redeye flight.

Hasta luego.