Lately the days here have been more akin to late-september in the northern hemisphere than what comes to mind when you think of sunny, warm south america. More often, sea-fog envelopes the cities for days at a time and it's been increasingly damp and chilly. Leaves are starting to fall and people are breaking out their boots and sweaters. It's strange, these past two semesters have both been fall semesters! Luckily the good days are worth all the bad ones, and today was one of those. After class, I took advantage of the clear, cool air and walked from the metro to the beach for a little while. It's amazing how much quieter Vina is now. Two months ago this beach would've been almost unrecognizably filled with tourists and vendors and all sorts of activity. Today, the only thing to be heard was the soft crashing of the surf and the strumming of a spanish guitar nearby. It seems now that the seasons have shifted, all that's left are the Vina and Valpo residents. Happily, I realized that means me too now.
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| Quiet afternoon on the beach |
Other than a quick day trip to the sleepy surf town of Maitencillo this past weekend, my friends and I have pretty much parked ourselves in Vina and Valpo for the time being. It's easy to get swept up in the adventures of weekend travel; it becomes a sort of addiction. It always seems like there are places to go. Ever since I came back from Punta Arenas I've had a hard time shaking the nagging feeling of itchy feet and the need to be moving all the time. I guess that's why virtually every weekend I've been here I've spent traveling. Of course, that's normal when you're in a foreign country but I've always come to realize the importance of taking in what Vina and Valparaiso have to offer. Even if it means just sitting on the beach after class or taking a different route home, little discoveries are what really add up in the end.
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| Tide pools in Maitencillo |
That's definitely something I've come to realize about study abroad. It's not constant tourism or travel, even though you might end up doing a lot of that too. It's actually living somewhere else. That means sometimes you're going to be stuck in class or watching TV or just sitting around plain bored because the weather sucks. But on the other hand, coming home today, there was a guy was singing some lively spanish songs on the metro with his guitar, the walk from my school was filled with bright, colorful Valpo graffiti and a few aromatic Vina flowers were still clinging to their stems by the beach. After two months, it easy to almost stop seeing these things at all, but appreciating them is just as necessary to enjoying this time abroad as those grander weekend trips. It's not always glamorous or exciting but, really, it's all a small part of the bigger adventure.
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| Little surprises around Valpo...the city is basically an open-air art gallery |
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