Vacciones de Navidad...Vamos a Chile!

So the time has actually come for christmas vacation and I have choosen the option of going to Chile. I am staying with a friend that I have met at the UAP. Her name is Camila, but we all call her Pink. Any who here is the journey so far.

So I left at 4:40 p.m. on thursday from the UAP and was pretty excited. Really who wouldn´t be excited if they were going to Chile (now Uruguay is a different case)? So I left with another ACA student who was by coincidence also going to Chile on the same day. This was really good because my traveling buddy never showed (he was a native of Chile) so at least I wasn´t going to be alone. (at this moment my parents are breathing a sigh of relief)

So I took a bus from the UAP to one of the bigger cities called Parana. Here I was supposed to catch a bus from there to another bigger city just outside of the Chilean border called Mendoza with this guy (his name is David btw). HOwever when we finally looked at our tickets we realized that they were two different bus companies and that we actually wouldn´t be on the same bus (gasp!). I was going to be alone (double gasp). So we said our good-byes and boarded our different buses.

I got in my bus and was so happy to find out that I was in the very front of the very top of the double decker bus. So I had more leg space and a great view of where we were going. A cute old lady sat across the isle from me and we talked for a bit. she thought I was brazilian (most people think I am. this is the 3rd person to say so) but than I set her straight and told her no that I was American (no lying even in other countries). Than I fell asleep (this part of the trip went throught the night so it was sleepy time)

I woke up about an hour and half later because the person who was to sit next to me came. So I moved my stuff let him sit and went back to sleep. A while later the bus attenedant came around and handed out food which was four different types of Ham and Cheese sandwiches. HOoray! SO I turned to him and was like "I´m vegetarian would you like my food?" and he was like "you are from the Villa aren´t you?" (La Villa is the city where the UAP is located) and I was like "yeah I am." and he was like "me too!" SO thus by the grace of God I had an Adventist student sat next to me on my trip, how amazing is that?!? We started talking and I found out that he is actually roomates with the boyfriend of one of the girls I knew at Union (complicated enough?) It is such a small Adventist world isn´t it?

I finally made it to Mendoza and met up with the other ACA guy and two other girls from the UAP and it turned out that we would all be together on this bus. We got on our bus and I was able to sit next to David who is also from Union (Slinga-da-ink!). It was a decent trip until we got to the Chilean border which took 3 hours to get through! My goodness it was long, but seeing the Andes and being able to go through them was soooooooo cool. My travel buddy David Carlson was so excited about it and kept taking pictures of the mountains, the only problem was they looked all the same. He would finish taking a picture and say ´ahh this looks the same as the las the last one, oooo look a mountain!´ and than proceed to take another picture. It was funny.

I made it to Santiago at 8:30 p.m. the next day (friday). Santiago is pretty cool looking very NorteAmericano (american) there are SUVs and PIzzahuts. It is very modern for south america and I love it.

My friend Camila and her dad picked me up from the bus terminal and we made our way to her home. They live in a suburb of Santiago and it is very much like the suburbs of America. NIce quiet and gated communities. We arrived at her house about 9:00 p.m. thus ending my long jouney (about 28 hours).

Her family is super sweet and there is a christmas tree and christmas lights on the house. I am super blessed to be able to spend christmas with a family even if it isn´t my own. I however miss my family very much so ´Yo family! I miss ya have a Merry Christmas!´