The last days in Chile

I'm back to summarize the rest of my Chile experience. It's hard to believe that in 24 hours I will be back in Asheville! I'm ready to get home but am certainly emotional about leaving Chile and separating from the team.

So I left off with our arrival in Rancagua, which was our last city before coming back to Santiago. We were picked up at the train station by the Requinoa Rotarians and taken out to the country for yet another cookout. It was a beautiful fall day and we enjoyed each other's company (and the food!) tremedously. After the cookout and visiting the chinchillas that they raise, we got picked up by our host families from Rancagua and taken to our respective houses.

On Saturday, we were up and at 'em pretty early for our trip to El Teniente copper mine, the largest enclosed copper mine in the world! I was really nervous about the trip but am proud to say that I made it through with only minor anxiety. While we were there, we visited the ghost town of Sewell, which was once a fantastic American city where the miners and their families lived. Check this link out to learn more about it http://www.sewell.cl/english/index1.php.

On Sunday we spent the day in Isla Negra and visited Pablo Neruda's home and grave. It was a magical bohemian place! We had a wonderful lunch right by the ocean, a quick tour of Neruda's amazing house and then checked out all the handicrafts in the stores and stalls in the surrounds. Then it was back to Rancagua.

On Monday we visited a hacienda with horses and saw lots of old carriages before having a delicious lunch and being surprised by the entertainment of cueca dancing. After lunch, we visited a small winery called Camino Real.

On Tuesday we went to an alpaca and llama farm, which was amazing and then had another awesome cookout with fabulous people and food. That evening we had what would be our last Rotary presentation, complete with more cueca dancing.

On Wednesday we left Rancagua and headed back to Santiago where we were greeted by our host families! I was soooo happy to see Javier and Jimena and to catch them up on the last 2 weeks. It was a restful and relaxing day. Our team met up at the mall and did some shopping and then Erin and I can back to Javier and Jimena's to have dinner with us. It was a fun night.
Yesterday, after sleeping in a bit, we went to the pueblo los dominicos here in Santiago. What a cool place! It was full of artisan shops and gorgeous handicrafts. I finished up my shopping and then we went to the mall to have lunch. The rest of the afternoon consisted of a siesta and catching up on email.

Last night was a wonderful closing to our trip. The Santiago Rotarians surprised us with dinner and a show at a typical Chilean restaurant. It was awesome! We got to see and hear typical dances and music from all over Chile and even danced ourselves. Usually at places like that the food is not that good, but I think it was one of the best meals I've had here. After enjoying ourselves at dinner, we came back to Javier and Jimena's house and stayed up until 5:30am having what I now refer to as our closing ceremony. We all shared the special places that each one of us has in each other's hearts now and talked about what we learned on this trip. It was truly a beautiful experience.

Now I'm just hanging out til it's time to head to the airport in a few hours. It is my intention to do at least one more entry to reflect on this trip. It has been a life changing experience and I am forever grateful to Rotary International for making this possible! Viva Chile!