Last couple nights of Santiago

Thursday was an interesting lecture on a nonprofit organization that helped fund local businesses in the area, as well as other countries in Latin America and Europe. It was interesting, but I couldnt focus again, with my impending graduation in about 24 hours. That day, I ran a couple more errands and took care of a couple things, but unfortunately missed the highlight of the day, an optional business meeting. It was a shame, it seemed really interesting, it was a guy that went to Harvard, started a couple businesses, worked with Microsoft, moved back to Chile, and is now basically working on the cure for cancer. Again, another really interesting moment that I missed due to personal laziness. Cest lavie...

That evening, we had to go out, of course, and ended up back at Subterraneo, since it was such a good time the first round. I wasnt feeling it though, all the dancing and grinding made me miss my girlfriend this time, and I ended up putting myself into a bad mood and leaving kind of early. I managed to get in touch with my girlfriend that night, and to make things worse we had a slight disagreement, so I went to bed even unhappier.

The next day was my last day of college as an undergraduate! I left class slightly early, just to celebrate, and things seemed to be improving. I talked to my girl, straightened things out, and treated myself to a fantastic meal - walked downtown 15 minutes or so to an Indian restaraunt, it was fantastic, I ordered spicy shrimp red curry, with jasmine rice, aloo paratha (potato bread with spices), and an order of samosas. It was a bit pricy, totalling over 30 dollars for my single meal, but well worth the money and effort. I fell into a bit of a food coma afterwards, but definitely in a good way.

That evening, we were scheduled to meet at 7 at Valentinas house, our tour guide for the month. It was a great, intimate party, much more special then if we had rented out a club or restaraunt, and much more fun. Anny was pleased with the drawing I had spent a long time preparing for her, which made me happy. I brought over a limited edition bottle of Pisco for the evening, at a whopping ten bucks! haha, which dissapeared rapidly along with most of the other drinks. Annys family came, I got a chance to play guitar and piano for her mom, as well as comp on the acoustic for some singalongs with the whole group. I even spun fire for the group in Valentinas backyard, which the group seemed to be impressed by. The Chilean people couldnt stop telling me what an artist I was, between my fire poi, music, and art. Hard life, being complimented so much, they were extremely gracious gente. The night closed with some traditional Chilean folk tunes, as well as Latin classics like Guantanamera, etc...A fun, awesome evening, great way to close the trip. A couple people were thinking about going out later, but by the time we got back to the hotel it was 3 AM and everyone was pretty drunk already.

The next day was my last with the group, which I had mixed feelings about, but I was ready to get off and do my own thing. We packed, I hit the gym one last time, and got ready for their 430 shuttle. Seeing them off, I felt a bit of a weight lifted off my shoulders, as it would no longer take 2 hours to do anything! I was finally free to wander where I wanted and do what I wanted, unrestrained by the context of traveling in a group. I hung around the hotel for a couple more hours, since Danny had gotten a room for the night, we split a pizza and watched some TV, then I said goodbye to him to. I was off for the bus terminal, to catch my 12 hour bus to Puerto Montt. Goodbye Santiago!