The End.

Well, my escapades in South America have come to an end and I've been home since late Monday afternoon. I've been working on this post for days and have rewritten it several times. I apologize for not getting it done earlier, but finding the right words to summarize the end of my trip has been difficult. I now am able to understand why it takes authors forever to write the last part of a series or even finish writing a book--you fall in love with your plot and characters and have to shine them in the best light possible, even the villains.

Everyone I met on my trip I would consider to be the heroes of my adventure--especially my family. And I found myself trying to figure out who the 'villain' could be for a few days, and the only person I could think of was myself. Now, that sounds really dark and kind of creepy. But I mean it in the sense that I came into their culture blind and close minded with the typical American perspective of the South American culture. In Bolivia, I felt that I was more 'villainized' because we were constantly with American students and hardly spending anytime immersed into the culture. So it was easy to complain about not having our favorite restaurants and foods, their pace of life, etc. After Bolivia, I wasn't really sure what I had expected of myself or what my expectations of the Chilean culture would be. And for the first day or two in Chile I felt myself saying, "Oh, back home we have it like this..." "My parents do it like that...". I told myself I need to stop bringing things up from home because I was there to live and experience their culture--not to bring the US to them. I still shared some customs with them, just not as frequently. Once I was able to 'let go' of the US for a few weeks, I actually began to feel Chilean.

The people I have ran into thus far have all asked me how my trip was and all I can find myself saying is that it was absolutely great and even though I only have around eighty dollars to my name, it was worth every penny. I find myself getting frustrated at the same time, for two reasons. One, it's hard to summarize an entire nine weeks into a ten minute conversation because everything I've experienced deserves to be talked about for hours and days on end, and deserves more than "it was great". I feel as if I'm holding in a juicy secret on the latest gossip and exploding internally with the news. Except my juicy secret it the adventure of a lifetime. And two, both Bolivia and Chile were two totally different experiences and each should be talked about separately. Bolivia was more emotionally challenging while Chile was more personally challenging--if that makes sense. It's not fair to categorize them as one trip.

I'm happy to be home with my family and am thankful for the short time I have with them before heading back to school, but there's a part of my heart that is aching to be back roaming the streets of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. And there's another part that is aching to be with children like Cliffer in the orphanages of Bolivia.

My family called me Monday night to make sure that I was doing alright and it was really wonderful hearing their voices (except I was so tired that I don't think my Spanish made sense). But at the same time, it made me sad not being with them. I know that one day I'll go back and visit, but until then, I'm here, in the States. Sad and dealing with reverse culture shock. But that's okay--because it was all absolutely worth it! If I came back super happy, I think I would be mad at myself for not making the most of my experience. It might take a while to get back to my 100% Altential because a huge part of my identity is in Chile. An identity I didn't even realize I had. I was so worried about culture shock and being unhappy in a foreign country and missing my family back home. Especially because I was really on my own in Chile, whereas in Bolivia, I was constantly surrounded by my friends and speaking English. But my life and experiences in Chile are one of the happiest moments of my life! And of course I missed my family at home, but sometimes I didn't have time to think about missing them because I was given a new family. Parents and grandparents all in one. Sisters. A brother-in-law. A niece and nephew. All of whom I miss like crazy. Among many other things:

• The stray dogs who would roam the streets in search of a good belly rub or in search of a travel companion to the nearest coffee shop.
• The familiar faces of the metro--especially the guy who thought his hair was stylish, but in fact, it was just gross. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of it because it probably made mullets look good. 
• The fresh air and the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks every day.
• Both the American and Chilean friends I made; sharing this adventure with them was the best
• Talking in Spanish on a daily basis and having miscommunication based on vocabulary. Example: pera--pear, perra--female dog (also bitch). Not a good one to mix up...  
• The local street vendors, especially the guy who sold candy in blocks that looked like cow udders... super sketchy.
• The street performers doing crazy tricks (for money of course) or camping out at the corner or metro with their guitars and serenading all of the city.
• My mom mocking me whenever I would say "OK", and eventually it became a part of her vocabulary.
• The fresh bread and what seemed to have been an unlimited supply of avocado. I went to the grocery store at like 10:30 Monday night because I was craving avocado...
• Greeting people with a kiss on the cheek.
• The sound of Emilia's Batman voice and the endless questions about my friends and family back home from her: ¿cómo se llama? ¿quien es? ¿por qué?
• The city life. The city life there was a slower pace than typical city life in the States, but in a sense, that's what I loved most about it. People weren't always rushed to go places and do things, they appreciated every single second, minute, and hour with the people they were with rather than worrying about being late.
• Being called a gringa on a daily basis.
• Hearing the weird variations of my name. Ex: Ah-Lee-Sun
• The IDEA of instant coffee, but not the coffee itself (it was disgusting) and I secretly judged those who brought home cannisters of it for souvenirs...  
• The stories from my dad and staying up with him having tea

Seriously, my list is endless and could eventually get boring for you to read.

And so my readers, thank you so much for following me on my adventures for the past nine weeks or so! But mostly, thank you for those who have supported me both financially and emotionally on my trip--especially the random messages of encouragement I would receive. It means the world to me. I also realize I never posted my pictures, and so you can find my pictures from Bolivia here and my picture from Chile here. This isn't the end of my blog. It's just a pause. When I return to South America, or decide to conquer a different region of the world, I'll be sure to write about it--and I hope that's soon! Until then, my words of advice to you all: if you have the opportunity to immerse yourself into another culture, I strongly recommend it. You'll learn a ton about yourself and gain a brand new perspective of the world. So, go conquer the world and have your own adventures that I can read about!

Love,
Allison