Saturday, January 19, 2008

amigos y rocas

Well, here we are.

Last evening we arrived in Santiago around 5 pm local time, having spent the morning in the seaside town of Valpariso. The night before we'd camped at RN Campana and had a chicken asado, as Jon has mentioned. The whole group ate, drank, toasted, danced and shared stories long into the night. It was a beautiful last chance to reminisce while still in the field. We enjoyed the night air of of the Chilean countryside and the quiet peace of sleeping sans rainfly under the stars. The morning dawned cool and foggy, balm to our dry eyes and tired bodies. It was a lovely contrast to the many hot and dusty days we remembered so well from other campsites. Though we had eaten more bread-and-jam breakfasts than we could care to count, everyone still smiled sleepily around the table as we buttered up and raised a last glass of Nescafe to each other. As the reality of the impending journey's end sank in, even the familiar felt poignant.

Last night the group went for a late dinner and drinks at a cuban salsa club not far from our hostel. Sitting at the corner of the long L-shape of the pushed-together tables, I couldn't help but smile. The Americans mingled with the Chileans and our friends from new year's eve showed up to dance a few dances with us. Nearly everyone took a spin on the dance floor, even people who three weeks ago I didn't know enough about to judge whether they liked to dance at all. In the whirl of drinks and music I found myself full of a wash of emotion, impossible to pick apart to analyze.

Looking around last night I saw a group of people who have become a team. Starting out at the airport three weeks ago today, we were a loose group of geology students, alumni, and curious souls. We knew each other a little or not at all, and most of us had never embarked on trip such as this. Over the last three weeks we have spent nearly every waking (and sleeping!) hour within a few feet of each other, and it has changed us all. Through long days on the bus, cranky spats after too many hours without food, and endless strange and displacing landscape, we all stuck it out. Sometimes you had to walk away for a moment, sometimes you had to just let it go. And as I sat there last night, salsa music ringing in my ears, I felt surrounded by friends, by partners in crime, and knew that I would return to this country, but I could never return to the once-in-a-lifetime experience this trip has been.

Thanks everyone. Thanks Miro and Roberto for driving our bus, even when they didn't know where we were going or why we wanted to navigate another dusty dirt road. Thanks to Quilo for feeding us, with hot water on cold mornings and hearty dinners after long hikes. Thanks to the Chilenas for joining us, and sharing their geology knowledge and practicing english and spanish with us. Thanks to Karen for organizing this trip, and Jay and Mary for coming along and contributing their knowledge. Thanks to Jon and John for the wonderful blog posts and photos.

But most of all, thanks to my fellow travelers on this journey across the Andes and back again. I have learned something from each and every one of you all, and find myself more than a little bittersweet on this last warm Santiago morning. As I said in my final toast - here's to old friends and new, old rocks and new. Amigos y rocas, now and always.

Thanks, everyone.

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