Santiago, Chile
It is a bright, beautiful, sunny day. The smog took the afternoon off and parque forestal is teeming with families and young couples enjoying one another's company. All in all, it looks like a great moment to be a santaguinero.
It was a little more than two weeks ago I first arrived. This morning, I passed the small cafe where I initially stopped after getting off my flight and initial metro ride to order a cappuccino and check the guide book to make sure I was headed in the right direction (I was). Like most businesses on Sunday, that little cafe was closed today. I didn't need a map this morning or afternoon and not only because I am pleasantly killing a nine-hour layover; I also just know my way around.
It is pretty incredible how far one can travel in two weeks' time. Sure, I've notched some kilometers, but that's not what I mean. It is remarkable how the foreign becomes familiar in such a small period of time. There's no amount of reading or research that can simulate this familiarity as the experience of just jumping right in.
I've been thinking about a lot of things of late. One constant of this trip to a place I've never been is its familiarity and the memories it has stirred. Up north, meandering around San Pedro de Atacama, I felt like I was back in Peru from my trip ten years ago. The sights, sounds, smells, all of it conjured a wonderful trip, even if it was with someone with whom I no longer share everything. Or, really, much of anything. I hope and believe time has healed those wounds on both sides and hope she would receive as warmly the reminders this past week has given me.
And I also strongly feel the tug on the heartstrings first pulled by Buenos Aires. These countries are so parallel, literally parallel, it's not even worth diving that granular to find the details for comparison. I could make some commentary, but it's been nine years so my observations may be more rooted in time than space anyway.
And I guess that's where this all leads anyway: time and space. In own appreciation, I believe I've used both well, these past two weeks and in my adult life as well. That is really all that matters: our own honest, heartfelt assessment of how we use our one opportunity at life.
Whatever problems I left at home will be there when I arrive tomorrow morning. Same too for assets and/or the proverbial things going for me. I will have time to take a taxi and a shower before hitting the office tomorrow morning for a full day. I have a full day of meetings on Wednesday and an important meeting to lead on Thursday morning. I've got tickets to a show Friday and some old friends in town next weekend. I will not have much time to process this trip and it'll likely be a quick merge back on to the highway of life.
But I showed myself a few things. I can make the transfer from train to bus in Chillán, even in the cold rain. I can find lodging and book excursions in San Pedro without much guidance. I can push back my plans because of fresh powder and I can do just fine in a Spanish speaking country without a dictionary or translator. I can give myself two weeks away from whatever identity I've built at home and indulge my fancy to wander because I've found that is what I like and do best.
I don't know what legacy this trip will leave; I'm still the same person. I guess that's the overarching takeaway: for however I've felt of late and whatever experiences I've been through the past several years, I'm still me. There are good and bad days ahead and more mundanity to traverse. But if I remember to keep my head and heart open and stay true to who I've been thus far, more adventures await. So I'll keep going. I would anyway, but maybe these next steps will have just a little more pep.
It is a bright, beautiful, sunny day. The smog took the afternoon off and parque forestal is teeming with families and young couples enjoying one another's company. All in all, it looks like a great moment to be a santaguinero.
It was a little more than two weeks ago I first arrived. This morning, I passed the small cafe where I initially stopped after getting off my flight and initial metro ride to order a cappuccino and check the guide book to make sure I was headed in the right direction (I was). Like most businesses on Sunday, that little cafe was closed today. I didn't need a map this morning or afternoon and not only because I am pleasantly killing a nine-hour layover; I also just know my way around.
It is pretty incredible how far one can travel in two weeks' time. Sure, I've notched some kilometers, but that's not what I mean. It is remarkable how the foreign becomes familiar in such a small period of time. There's no amount of reading or research that can simulate this familiarity as the experience of just jumping right in.
I've been thinking about a lot of things of late. One constant of this trip to a place I've never been is its familiarity and the memories it has stirred. Up north, meandering around San Pedro de Atacama, I felt like I was back in Peru from my trip ten years ago. The sights, sounds, smells, all of it conjured a wonderful trip, even if it was with someone with whom I no longer share everything. Or, really, much of anything. I hope and believe time has healed those wounds on both sides and hope she would receive as warmly the reminders this past week has given me.
And I also strongly feel the tug on the heartstrings first pulled by Buenos Aires. These countries are so parallel, literally parallel, it's not even worth diving that granular to find the details for comparison. I could make some commentary, but it's been nine years so my observations may be more rooted in time than space anyway.
And I guess that's where this all leads anyway: time and space. In own appreciation, I believe I've used both well, these past two weeks and in my adult life as well. That is really all that matters: our own honest, heartfelt assessment of how we use our one opportunity at life.
Whatever problems I left at home will be there when I arrive tomorrow morning. Same too for assets and/or the proverbial things going for me. I will have time to take a taxi and a shower before hitting the office tomorrow morning for a full day. I have a full day of meetings on Wednesday and an important meeting to lead on Thursday morning. I've got tickets to a show Friday and some old friends in town next weekend. I will not have much time to process this trip and it'll likely be a quick merge back on to the highway of life.
But I showed myself a few things. I can make the transfer from train to bus in Chillán, even in the cold rain. I can find lodging and book excursions in San Pedro without much guidance. I can push back my plans because of fresh powder and I can do just fine in a Spanish speaking country without a dictionary or translator. I can give myself two weeks away from whatever identity I've built at home and indulge my fancy to wander because I've found that is what I like and do best.
I don't know what legacy this trip will leave; I'm still the same person. I guess that's the overarching takeaway: for however I've felt of late and whatever experiences I've been through the past several years, I'm still me. There are good and bad days ahead and more mundanity to traverse. But if I remember to keep my head and heart open and stay true to who I've been thus far, more adventures await. So I'll keep going. I would anyway, but maybe these next steps will have just a little more pep.
No comments:
Post a Comment