Post-Chile

So I've been back from Chile for almost a week now, back to the grind. The trip was amazing, nine days of one surprise after the next. The only disappointment was that it was cloudy most of the time, so I never really got to see the southern stars. But it was neat to see the sun and moon cross the sky along a northerly route rather than a southerly one. And it was by far the farthest south I've ever been, reaching far enough (in the Villarrica area) to be farther south than the Australian mainland, roughly even with Tasmania. Oh yeah, I tested the water drain thing...it drained counterclockwise in my sink in Santiago, just as it does in my sink here in Mobile...so no Coriolis effect. As for weather, it was really chilly, being in late fall/early winter. And the leaves had turned! Used to be, when I thought of Latin American flora, I thought dense and green. But central Chile is at such a latitude that there are seasons like in the US, so there was a lot of colorful fall foliage, reminding me of New England at times. Some leafy parts of Santiago even looked like Brooklyn or the Upper West Side or something.

All in all, it was an incredible trip, with so many great sights and activities and people, especially considering that two days before the trip I didn't even know I was going there. This week I've been trying to edit the roughly 950 photos down to a manageable number to post online. They should be on Flickr soon. In the meantime, here's a shot of Julie and I in Pucón, on the shores of Lake Villarrica.