Watch the seam rip

santiago, 15th &16 th

It was a long haul from Vancouver to Santiago. We left the house at 4:30 am to catch our 5 oclock shuttle to Seattle. Our 1:30 flight to Dallas was about a half an hour behind schedule, but our pilot made it up in the sky, no problem. I`ve never flown american airlines before, and I`ve got to admit, Ì was prepared for disaster, but was plesantly surprised. Besides the fact that the planes were clearly not as shiny and new as the Westjet planes I`m used to, nor are the flight attendants nearly as cheerful, they were still very professional, competant, and beyond the unreal amount of turbulence on they way into Dallas, the flight was outstanding. The same could be said of the flight into Santiago, although next time I think we are coughing up for the upgrade to first class...it`s simply not possible to get a decent sleep in coach. Getting through customs was also very interesting. I was unaware of the $132USD fee to get into the country, because of my canadian citizenship. Ouch!! Once that was out of the way, along with getting my passport stamped and clearing my luggage, i was greeted by my long lost uncles, Tio Johnny & Tio Marcelo. It`s funny, I haven`t seen them in nearly twenty years, and even though I can see how theyve aged, they look exactly the same to me :) We swung by Tio Johnny`s place for a little breakfast, and I got to meet his wife Jasna, his son Tomas who just turned 17 (so handsome!!) on the 14th and his two daughters Cecilia & Antonio (dead ringers for Yvonne. They are just like what I image she and I were like at that age). The beginning of family that Ive never met!! Tio Johnny got married after I visited last, so although Ì am facebook friends with my cousins, this is the first time I`ve met them.

We headed further into town, to the apartment of my Abuelita. I must admit to getting a little teary eyed at seeing her, it has been so long, but she is still so beautiful. I really wish that I had taken a spanish course before I left, so I can talk to her some more, but I can already feel it coming back, so hopefully I`ll be in better shape by the end of the trip :) Its very interesting to watch my Tio Marcelo with her. He is the last single uncle, and he still lives with her, taking care of her. I hope that myy children take as good a care of me when I`m her age!!

I must admit I didn`t last long, I was totally exhausted, took an enormous afternoon nap, woke up in time for tea, and went right back to bed. Tio Marcelo was kind enough to give me his bed for this trip, and I slept like a corpse.

I woke this morning to the sound of breakfast. mmmm, fresh bread and manjar...if I`m not careful, I`m going to be as big as a house when I leave. We left the house for groceries, which was SO much fun...I wish i could have wandered around a little more looking at what they have. So much is marketed in English, it was really interesting to see. there is very little that is fresh, most things are canned or powdered. I can`t help but wonder if this is because of the heat- fresh things would go bad so much more quickly, and air conditioning is not the norm here.

We are just about the have lunch, so I`ll sign off for now. More to come later, with lots of pictures!

posted by This love gets easier the more it's sung to @ 8:43 AM