Villarrica

Ahora Julie y yo estamos in Villarrica. We took the overnight bus from Santiago last night, and I awoke this morning to the sight of three massive volcanoes just visible at dawn. Today we explored this town and nearby Pucón. We planned to trek up to the crater of Volcán Villarrica tomorrow, but the weather up there is too bad, so we rented a car to explore more of this amazing area.

En Vivo de Santiago

¡Buenas noches!
So the trip has been great so far. On my nearly-free standby flight down here, I wound up in first class! First class for a 10 hour transcontinental flight is fantastic. Even the food was great. And I made a friend...the guy next to me was this nice young chileno named Francisco.
In fact I´ve made so many friends here! The first day, I met Julie from Quebec City and Tina from Germany, who are studying here. They´ve been great to hang out with. That first night they took me to a party and to a salsateca; my first day in Santiago and I was out until 4am. Increible. Friday night we went back to the salsa place and met Sebastian, a young lawyer here. Really nice guy, he invited is to a barbecue today, where I met even more cool locals. It´s great, because when traveling alone you usually meet nice other travelers, or encounter locals in the streets whom sometimes have to be wary of, so it´s great to meet nice, normal, fun locals. Y chicas bonitas y simpaticas. After the barbecue ended tonight, a bunch of us went back to the salsa place for the Sunday night class. Y mas cerveza.
As for sidetrips, on Friday I went to Valparaiso, a great old port city. Yesterday Julie, Tina and I did the wine tour at Concha y Tora. Good stuff. And I was thinking about going to Mendoza, Argentina for a night, which entails a great bus ride through the Andes, but that didn´t quite work out. And I was happy to hang here instead. Tomorrow night Julie and I will take an overnight bus to Pucón, a town well south of here near volcanoes and other natural beauty. Then I´ll be back Thursday for my flight home.
There haven´t been many bumps in the road, mainly just the stress of having to be careful with myself and my bag when walking through the more crowded, crazy areas. But I´m getting more comfortable, and my spanish is coming back nicely. I can converse pretty well now, and the socializing I mentioned is mostly in spanish. It´s challenging and exhilarating, y las chicas piensen que puedo hablar muy bien. Y lo que es la mas importante, no?

So, that´s the report from the southern latitudes. Until next time, soy,
John de Chile

One more thing...vocabulario: un submarino = a delicious hot chocolate consisting of thick bars of chocolate sunk into a cup of steamed milk, to melt at your pleasure. Wonderful.

This Week's Destination

Santiago, Chile!

Today on Fowl River

A rebel shrimpboat pulling a tube:

Local Cheese and Other Developments

Some recent news from the northern Gulf Coast:

Two weekends ago, I found out I passed the bar exam and and bunch of the old gang was in town for Merritt's wedding. That was a good weekend.

Last weekend I was in New Orleans for Jazzfest and other festivities. It was a big time, as usual. Saw many good acts and ate some serious boudin, meat pies, etc. Another highlight was going to Sucre, a great new chocolate shop.

This past weekend was big for Mobile. First, it was announced that we'll be getting a big steel plant, then, the Battle House Hotel and RSA Tower had their gala openings. They both look great. Here's a picture I took a couple nights ago.


Also, Mobile's Market on the Square has opened for the season, every Saturday morning in Cathedral Square. I found out from The Bread Lady (that's her name) there that there is a cheesemaking farm in the area! I had no idea! Sweet Home Farm, down in Baldwin County near Elberta, not far from the beach. Looks like a great place!

Otherwise, I've just been working and catching up on projects and organizing. Exciting times.

French Elections

I was just catching up on some news, reading about the French elections...did you know they had 84% turnout?! Amazing. That's my stat of the week; anytime I hear an American disparaging France, I'm going to mention that and say something about how they participate in their democracy. Of course, the riots at the end of voting day aren't exactly as respectable. Then again, you gotta love the interest & participation & sort of old-fashionedness of it ... when the French don't like something, they take to the streets!

That's even mentioned in this article, which also includes a nice few paragraphs comparing the French socioeconomic system with that of the US/UK; how it is cumbersome and all, but has helped maintain their great way of life.

Also, I enjoy the last sentence of this article, describing the transfer-of-power ceremony: "The Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor will make Mr. Sarkozy Grand Master of the Order."

GRAND MASTER OF THE ODRER!!!

Lastly, here's a photo from a victory celebration in Place de la Concorde. Ah, the Greatness of France...