Two nights ago, I watched my last sunset over the ocean in
South America and saw the Southern Cross in the sky for the last time while on
a bus from Antofagasta in Chile’s desert North to metropolitan and mediterranean
Santiago. That afternoon, following a long and bizarre metro ride where a cravat-wearing Santiago native with elite
connections and fascist leanings pontificated to me about Zionist conspiracy
theories, I drank my last Chilean wine in Chile at the Concha y Toro winery in
the beautiful (especially at harvest time) Valle de Maipú. Later that night, I
drank my last Chilean beer, the only beer in the world made with Patagonia’s
Calafate berry while eating my last South American ceviche and having a crazy
conversation about science and stromatolites with a stranger I had just met.
I am going to miss this place.
South America was crazy. It was beautiful. It was wild. I adored
its pristine wildernesses and survived its filthy cities. I met the nicest
people in the world. And creeps, assholes, and violent thugs. But mostly the
nicest people in the world.
I am returning home with a significantly lighter backpack
than when I arrived, but with a fuller heart, a stronger self, a richer life
story, and a lot of new friends.
What an adventure!
I am sad to leave, sad to close this chapter of my life. I
am going to miss this place, and miss the people, miss their warmth and vivacity
and passion and kindness, going to miss the conversations with people with
perspectives often so different from my own. I'm going to miss the music and
the dancing. I'm going to miss the wine. I'm going to miss the mountains.
But with every closed chapter comes bright and shiny new
pages in the book of life. I don’t know yet what is next for me. For the
immediate future, there will be lots of science, spending time with some of my
favorite people in the world, and traveling around the West Coast in my beloved
Tomatomobile while living out of my car, which isn't too different from what I've
been doing around Chile, Argentina, and Peru this year. But after that?
One thing is certain: the adventure doesn't end with this
flight I’m taking home.
Thank you all for joining me on this trip, it's been
incredible.
See you around!
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| I loved South America Thiiiiiiiis Much! |
