Thursday, May 29

The rest of this week we have off school, so I got to sleep in this morning. After I woke up, I realized that I basically had nothing to do until tonight. It was unsettling to think that one of my last days in Chile would be spent doing nothing at all productive, so I decided to take a collectivo into the center to eat lunch and chill alone. It was honestly one of the best days of this whole year. I walked through the center like 70 times while listening to music and looking at the people passing. I brought my Rotary blazer with me and walked to this random sketchy street where I met this nice tailor woman who sewed on the patches for me while talking to me about how great the exchange system is and how happy she was that I had gotten to see Chile. Then I went into a random store where the workers were clustered in the cash register speaking in some Asian language. I love talking to random people, and this was no exception. I went up to them and asked, in Spanish, where they were from. Only one of them seemed to understand, and she said they were from China. I got excited and said the only phrase I know in Chinese, which means “I can teach you Chinese”. They all laughed a lot when I said it and then burst out in applause for my effort. They all asked how I had learned Chinese (it’s not every day you find someone in Chile who speaks even a word of a language other than Spanish or English) and we had a little conversation even though I don’t speak Chinese and they didn’t speak English of Spanish. Those are the types of encounters that only happen to you when you are alone and when you have no fear of talking to new people, and they are the type of encounters that I live for. They are the type of encounters that remind me how much I love humanity and how awesome all of those random people that we pass on the street without even making eye contact can be.

Also finally tried Nuts4Nuts, which is apparently this worldwide chain started by a Chilean... My advice: the smell is a lot better than the taste... I actually ended up giving the bag to a homeless woman on the street who asked me for money

Anyway, I returned home after about 3 hours, talked to Manuel for a while, and then went upstairs to do nothing for a while. I was supposed to get to Vicente’s house around 8, but since he lives in Machali, and I had to go in micro, I got scared that the micro would stop its route after a certain time, and it was getting dark, so I left my house around 6:30 with my backpack packed for the whole weekend. I waited a while out on the street in the dark for the micro to pass, and once it did, it was so crowded I literally couldn’t even get up the steps to give the driver my money because there were so many people standing in the aisle. After a while it cleared out and I got a seat, and about 45 minutes later, I arrived at Vicente’s condominium. He came out to get me and show me where he lives. We sat outside and talked and he started the bonfire. Around 8, Pablo, Dani, Nico, and Fernanda arrived. We sat around the bonfire and talked for a while.

Then I brought out the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers that I had brought and we made s’mores. It was cute to watch them eat their first s’mores, and they all really liked them. We joked around (mostly they just make fun of my accent and my double chin but it’s okay because I know it is with love) and took ugly pictures of each other on Vicente’s mom’s camera. Around 11, I decided I should probably leave to go walk over to Katie W’s house, where I was spending the night. Pablo walked with me so I wouldn’t have to go alone. Katie let me in and she was already in her pajamas and ready to go to sleep. I changed clothes (my hair smelled gross from the bonfire but I was way too lazy to go shower), and we lay in her bed and talked for a while before going to sleep.