The 11th Hour

Late snowfall last week. Unpredictable weather may create problems...no bueno.

Well, tomorrow is the big day! I have been waiting for this day since September. It is only now that it has become safe to explore the option of studying coruros in the Andes. There are still so many unanswered questions I have, but tomorrow is the first step. Alternatively, Plan B would send me to Los Molles, near the coast 2 hours from Santiago. There is a field station being used by the Catolica team studying a unique rodent found there. They have invited me to join them, as there are coruros abundant there. It has the potential to be just as successful. So, no worries..right? Plan A or Plan B. We shall see.

It is hard to imagine that I will have just barely five weeks, though. I don't feel it is enough time, but I am also anxious to complete this study and return home. I've made my dollars stretch...along with my nerves. Living alone now in Santiago, and not having fully mastered Spanish, I find some days harder to get through than others. I have really enjoyed the company of the people in the lab, as they are patient with my broken Spanglish. But interacting with people in the stores and on the street is still sometimes wearing.

Hostel living is exciting and a little wearing, itself, as well. I have met so many interesting people! But that also is the problem. There are always so many strangers around you every day. And some snore pretty loudly at night. I certainly did not pack to be as a backpacker either, and so moving about is quite challenging. Soon, this will be just another few weeks to reflect on. It will certainly not be the last time I find myself touring the hostels of a country.

Ironically, the more time I have spent away from home, the more news savvy I have become. I listen to NPR and the BBC every day. It helps me to not feel so isolated if I hear English every day. I took some Spanish classes during the last few months, when not traveling about, and feel far more confident than I arrived in June, but there is still much I need to work on. Pronunciation being one of them.

Consuelo was the best profesora ever! (I was sick that day..:( ..)

I hope that this experience will make me a capable and independent biologist and researcher. I know that I have grown as a person in these last months. I have seen so many things and learned about different ways of living that I could not imagine without making this journey. I will take these memories away with and cherish them for the rest of my life, no matter what the future holds.

Santiago living..