January Mindlessness

Meaghan told me to update my blog. So I am. I love her. 

I don’t have much to tell. I say that now and then 2,000 words later I might change my mind. The last time I wrote to you, friend, was just after Christmas. Things have changed since then. Lots of things have changed significantly.

Maybe I’ll work in reverse order to tell you about my life right now. Today, I just bought my tickets to travel south to the Añihue Reserve in six days. I wasn’t really excited yesterday but today, when I think about my time there, I’m so juiced on it. Find a video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uTCmQB-bKE.

So basically it’s an overnight bus to Puerto Montt, a six-hour bus to Quellon on the southern tip of Chiloé, and then a 12-to-24-hour bus to Puerto Raul Marin Balmaceda. From there I get picked up and taken to the Reserve. It’s a confusing process, and I’m just hoping I don’t get lost and that I can make all the connections. If I do, I’m about 94% positive that I’m going to experience things that very few of us get to… and I mean that not in a geographical sense but in the fact that for a month I will be living on a 10,000 hectare (almost 37 square miles) nature reserve on the coast of Chile and also on the side of the Palena River. The point of going is to volunteer my time (about 6 hours a day) of work on their organic farm in exchange for housing and meals. Of course, that is all bundled in the “experience” of learning about their sustainable operations that stretch extensively into research projects on things from species population studies and climate change. That, and I get to play on the beach and in the river and in the forest and go exploring. But what exactly, will I be doing? I have no idea. Their Web site says that a lot of it is working in the garden- weeding, planting, picking fruits and vegetables. It’s also collecting algae for compost, collecting firewood, and tending to their farm animals. It all sounds way too good to be true.

So that’s my February. Lately I’ve been trying to run more, but had a hiccup after New Year’s. I don’t know what happened, and I say that not because of the alcohol, because I remember everything, but because literally all I did was dance and then I came home and the next day my leg was messed up. Anyways, I had to take last weekend off. I plan on heading out tonight to see what’s up, fingers are crossed that it just needed a rest.

Oooh, another nice story is the party I had at my house last weekend. It was for two reasons that I had the party- one was because I have no roommates right now and I’m bored out of my mind, and reason two is that on that night (last Saturday), all the clubs and liquor stores were closed because of the elections the next day (Piñera Presidente). So, the entire world came to my house. Not really, but I would say there were about 30 people in my apartment… give or take. It was a really good time. I made the most ballin’ playlist of my life and there were cool people and new people and good drinks and my apartment is the bomb so basically it was the place to be that night. The only bad thing was…. And this was a really bad thing… someone stole my friend’s wallet. It was in her bag on a chair and somehow it ended up missing. No one knows who took it or if she lost it or what happened. We had to put two guys at the door to frisk everyone leaving since a lot of people who came were friends of friends. It was a downer for sure and everyone at the party kind of knew it. So by the end of things, everyone had left by 5 a.m. or so… not exactly the rager I was hoping for, but it will suffice for party #1 of the 50 parties I plan to throw before I go home. Haha, not really, but I do hope to have people back sometime during the semester… minus the guy who stole the wallet. It also didn’t help that six 30-year-olds rolled up to my door at 4 in the morning wanting to come into the party. Nope.

This last week hasn’t been kind to me. No, that’s a lie. It’s either been extraordinarily kind to me, or it has been downright mean to me, I can’t decide. In the past 9 days I’ve gone out six of those nights… a mistake… but it has also been really fun because I got introduced to a new group of friends who are actually in Santiago right now which has been one of my most basic needs for the past several weeks… people to socialize with who are actually in town for an amount of time. So it has been fun hanging out with them and what not, but I also averaged a 4 a.m. bedtime last week, which, for those of you who know me, know that that is horrible for me. This week is going to be tame like a kitten I’m hoping.

I just realized that this whole post has been uncharacteristically informative. I feel like I normally ramble for a while about something that I, personally, would consider profound. I guess today can be no different, because I have come to realize a truth about my world after a few noteworthy experiences.

First, I was reading Miracle In The Andes by Nando Parrado about the Uruguayan rugby team that crashed in the Andes and spent 72 days in the snow before being rescued. It’s a really good, quick read, but there were a few parts of it that stood out, principally the one that made me cry. Yes, it made me cry. I haven’t cried reading a book since Dumbledore died in The Half-Blood Prince. It was the part when the narrator Nando reunited with his dog. And after having spent a few days last week playing in backyards with dogs, I came to realize why I had such a strong reaction to this part of the novel and why I have an attachment to animals…

It is because dogs, or animals in general, don’t hide their emotions. If an animal likes you, it’s obvious, the animal makes it known. When Hadley nestles in my lap and rests his head on my leg or when he lays upside down waiting for his belly to be rubbed, it’s not because he dislikes me. Yeah, he wants attention, but he wants attention from me, or from you, or from my family, or from my friends… people he likes. It is this raw emotion that makes it easy for sympathetic humans to bond with animals. Because humans, as it turns out, are horrible at showing their feelings. I could spend the next two pages of this post writing about why that is or could be, but I won’t, just take it as it is. Know that we play games with emotions… our own and those of others… but with animals… they feel what they feel and they show that they feel and they don’t understand when they’re not allowed to do so. I honestly don’t know how I expect any of this to make sense, but the point is that I rediscovered my deep attachment to animals and I acknowledge it and hope that it is something which doesn’t go away, because with them, I can be honest and I can trust in the fact that they will be honest with me.

Thus concludes the most mindless blog update thus far in Chile… but it was kind of time I post one. The next time I update I will either be down South at the reserve, or it might have to wait until, I get back. Either way, expect exciting things.