Noticias del Norte

Well, I´ve officially been back in Iquique for a week now and I must say, I'm feeling pretty awesome about the decision I've made.  But before I get into that, can we take a moment to appreciate the new blog layout and the little animation thingy that I made?  What do you think?  Would it detract from my blogger street cred if I told you that I made it using paint?  Shit, too late.

Anyways, as I was saying... life in Iquique has been great.  I have been surfing, tanning and spending time with a lot of friends that I hadn't seen in what feels like a really long time.  I'm also meeting a bunch of new people from all over the world, thanks to my new job.  A few days ago, I started working  as a receptionist at the hostel where I'm staying.  The job has been a serious lifesaver since I came back with close to no money and have yet to start any classes.  The kids' course I was promised didn't pan out after all because of low enrollment, but things are rolling right along with the mining job.  On Friday, I spent three hours in the clinic doing a ton of different exams. Now have the official stamp of approval to go up to the mine (from the medical perspective, at least).  The visa situation is another story but that is suppose to be getting sorted out this week.

Today I met up with my co-worker, Maja, who use to work at the same site. She gave me the low-down on the students and a few extra tricks of the trade.  Looks like I'm in for a cold "Bolivian Winter", which might actually be nice after so many weeks of face-melting heat.  My projected start date is next Monday but it still feels like there is a lot to do and I'm a bit dubious.  Meanwhile, I'm digging the job at the hostel and taking things one day at a time.

I'm not really sure what to expect at the mine site.  To be honest, I've heard some slightly scary things about the working conditions but I'm actually looking forward to getting an insider's view of something so essential to Chile's entire economy.  I'm also stoked for the improvement in my own economical status that this job will make.

Overall, I imagine it to be pretty much exactly like this, only with copper instead of diamonds...and in Spanish of course.

She Left as She Came; in the Rain and with Too Much Luggage

Sunset south of Iquique (taken from the window of my bus)

After innumerable warnings about the quantity of rain in the south (supposedly regardless of season), I experienced exactly two days of it.  First there was the beautiful misty morning that greeted me upon my arrival to Puerto Varas.  Then, after almost a month of uncharacteristically high temperatures, the south of Chile granted me one more beautiful day of rain in Temuco before I set off on a 25-hour bus ride northward through the driest desert on earth. 

My decision to leave Pucón was a combination of push and pull factors.  For now, I´ll keep it classy and leave the details of those push factors off of the internet.  In all honestly, I really would have loved to spend more time in the south but, to put it nicely, the stars just weren't alined this time.  I will say that met some genuinely amazing people during my trip and I have no doubt that I'll be back to visit them before my time in Chile is up.  However, for the time-being, my place is in the North.

It seems strange to call a place home when, a year ago, I barely knew it existed.  However, upon my return to Iquique, there was no denying it; I was home.  I've done my fair share of running around since I left Iquique in late December and, after six weeks of being away (and 95 hours on a bus), it feels sweet to be back.  For all the things I love about traveling and being in new and exciting places, there's something undeniably comfortable about familiar places and faces.  After running into several friends on the street this evening and popping in to visit a few more, my decision to return to Iquique was reaffirmed.  It feels good to be with my peeps.  Some reassuring news from work also helped sweeten the deal.

For now, it looks like my near future will involve a little waiting and thus require a bit of patience but I've become pretty accustomed to that.  Unfortunately February is vacation season in Chile which means everything runs just slightly worse than usual.  Luckily, I have surf, sun and good people to keep me distracted while things get organized.  The picture is a little foggy but it looks like my career in mining will be taking off after-all. I, as usual, will keep ya posted.