Since my last blog entry, I have traveled over 2,000 miles (3218.88 kilometres) up and down the cost of Chile, exploring the northern parts of the country and searching for a place to call home.
The Thursday after our IDELT program was finished, three friends and I began the trip that I have talked about in so many blog posts before (yes, the one that seemingly changed routes pretty much every day). Our plan at the time of departure was to hit up La Serena for a few days, spend some time in Viña/Valpo and then come back to Santiago to grab our stuff and move back to one of those two spots. We took an overnight bus to La Serena (which is about a six hour trip) and got there on Friday. We arrived pretty early in the morning and wandered around the dirty streets near the bus station, in the fog, trying to find our hostel (not the best first impression but what can you do?) The place we ended up staying was called Aji Verde Hostel and we absolutely loved it; awesome staff, buena onda and a bedroom named "Puta Madre". What more could you ask for in a hostel?
As we explored La Serena more, we found that there was a lot to love there (neat architecture, pretty beaches, big central market and a cool little surf school where I had my first surf lesson). However, there were also things that we didn't care for. Overall, it was hard for me to put a finger on what it was, but something was definitely amiss. Though I could imagine myself living there, I hadn't fallen in love with it in quite the same way that I had imagined/hoped that I would. Ruby and Kate were seemingly even more disenchanted with the place than I was so we reverted back to one of our earlier plans (God knows which version at this point) and bought a last minute ticket to Arica. We parted ways with Alex on Monday and started off on the next leg of our trip.
After over twenty hours in a bus, we finally reached Arica. Maybe it had to the do with the fact that we were greeted with sunshine instead of fog, or that we had the good sense to hop into a taxi instead of ambling aimlessly around the streets for so long, but our first impression of Arica was significantly better than La Serena. We spent the day exploring and we really liked what we found. The hostel we stayed in was great and we actually started talking to them about a possible work/stay exchange in the event that we did end up moving to Arica. We swam in the ocean both days and on the second day, we climbed the morro and got a good view of the city. After our two nights there, we decided that we could be happy living there but we still kept our minds open to Iquique which we had also bought a ticket for.
We got to Iquique (five hours south of Arica) on Thursday afternoon and left Friday morning for Santiago. Although we spent such a short time there, it was just enough for us to fall head over heals in love. As we were planning our fact-finding mission to the North, the three of us had a number of discussions about what we needed in a place where we were going to live. There were lots of ideas thrown out: a good intermediate wave to surf, cultural activities to attend, people our age, proximity to other countries for easy traveling etc etc.
It's easy to generate these kinds of lists and I'm not trying to say that they aren't a useful and important part of the process. However, at the end of the day, I knew that the determining factor in whether or not I would be drawn to a specific locale, wouldn't be any kind of hard statistic with regard to the percentage of my list's criteria that it met. I knew, that at the core of my decision, would be a feeling; the "this is it" feeling. I wish there was a more logical, or even poetic way to describe it but what I've found seems to the be the most succinct. The last time I had this feeling I was seventeen and very confused about my search for the perfect college. I had all the facts in front of me but there didn't seem to be a overwhelming pull to one place or another. When I got to Chico, I just knew. That was it.
That instinct brought me to the place that I called home for the next five and a half years. It brought me to life-changing opportunities, beautiful friends and amazing memories. Once again, this feeling has pulled me north, this time to Iquique. Who am I to question it?
