A Peso For My Thoughts

Recent weather: low 60s early in the week with light rain, mid 70s later in the week and sunny.
Recent reads: 1 Samuel, "The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain, "Waking Up Married" by Mira Lyn Kelly, "Beyond Anger: How to Hold On to Your Heart and Your Humanity in the Midst of Injustice" a Shambhala Publication.

I started this week in La Serena, one of the big little towns of central Chile. The more time I spend in smaller towns, the more I notice what Chileans mean when they talk about the growing disparity in Chile. While on the surface Chile is one of the more advanced countries in South America, deep down, many Chileans feel like individually their lives aren't getting better. While big cities like Santiago can hide it, La Serena exemplified this contradiction. For every new BMW on the road (and there were many), there is a neighborhood built out of metal sheets. And in some cases the line of demarcation between the upper class and everyone else is actually a deliberate line, with skyscrapers, paved roads and green lawns on one side of the tracks and dilapidated shacks on dirt roads on the other.

My afternoon snack overlooking the fish market.

In this case, the grass really is actually greener on the other side.

After two days in La Serena, I tried to leave but couldn't. Seriously. I checked out of my hostel and waited at the bus stop for over an hour but my bus never came. Turns out it was a holiday of sorts and either my bus wasn't running or ran less frequently. So I retreated back to the hostel for another day. I continued my unofficial beer tasting of Chile by enjoying a delightful local pale ale made in the nearby Valle del Elqui.

An overcast day at the beach.

Anima Pale Ale made in Valle del Elqui

On Friday morning I left early on my 2 hour bus ride through Valle del Elqui to the sleepy town of Pisco Elqui.

Pisco fields

Pisco Elqui is, of course, famous for Pisco so I had to go on a pisco distillery tour. When in Rome!

I continued the pisco tour by indulging in a private tasting with me, myself and I at dinner. Perhaps it's the shorter list of sights to see in my Lonely Planet Guide for these towns and the more free time to just think, but I was slightly more bitter to say, "table for 1 please" than usual. At dinner, where I had a tasty pisco sour and a hearty bowl of bean ceviche, the cutesy couples and happy families dining around me seemed especially nauseating. Don't get me wrong, I have actually really enjoyed traveling alone but this was one of those inevitable moments, days, weeks that I felt like this all would have been a whole lot more fun to share with a PIC... Okay, let's be honest about the real issue here: I was undecided between the bean ceviche and a pizza and it is socially unacceptable to order both but if there were two of us, this wouldn't be a problem. There. I said it.

But if dinner wasn't enough time to wallow in self pity that I am "stuck" traveling South America alone (first world problem?), then the 22 hour bus ride Saturday and Sunday from La Serena all the way up north to Arica, Chile, should really put everything in check.

I don't know if it was epic or if part of my soul died from sheer laziness, but on that bus ride, I watched the sunset and sunrise from the exact same seat.

And now to spend some time in Arica, Chile!