Today is a holiday in Chile. I don't know what kind of Holiday, but I know that I've got the day off. I spent the last three days in Valdivia, Chile. It's a southern town with a strong and very recognizable German heritage. On that note, they have a cervezaria (brewery) there that produces by far the best beer in Chile, called Kunstmann (http://www.cerveza-kunstmann.cl/). Yeah, I know, I really don't drink but I must admit that while I was in Valdivia I did have my fair share of beer. I think this might have had a little to do with the fact that while I was there with two of my friends, we ran into some Brits who happened to be about our age and English teachers at a couple of the Universities in Concepcion. We hit it off almost immediately and soon enough the Brits conceded that it was "beer o'clock" for them and that if we wanted, we could join them at a local pub. We had great conversation over more than a couple pitchers of varying kinds of Kunstmann. We talked a lot about British politics, of which I knew almost nothing about, and the conversation was really interesting, especially when we began talking about the different "peoples" that make up Britain...the English, Scotts, Welsh...and "Irish" and the feuds that exist. We talked about quite a bit of other stuff as well and before we knew it, it was about 11:30 PM. At that point we had two things on our mind, food and the discotheque. We ended up at a place that considered itself a "Mexican" restaurant and that we (the Californians), after having completed our meal, considered a misnomer. The truth is that there is no such thing as Mexican food down here, and if there are restaurants claiming to serve it, they are mediocre imitations at best. Honestly, it was kind of the same way in New York. Makes me miss home. Anyway, that night, after the psuedo-mexican, we ended up at some random discotheque (nightclub), as we do quite often down here, and had a hell of a night, it was a great introduction to what would turn out to be the beautiful city of Valdivia.
The next day we got up late, having gone to bed at 5 AM, and headed for lunch at a great little pub that came highly recommended in our tourist books, Cafe Hausmann. Since we were still in recovery mode, hah, it occurs to me now that we didn’t have a drop of beer there. Anyway, after lunch we toured the city. It is situated at the mouth of two major rivers, the Calle Calle and the Valdivia. On the Rio Valdivia side of the peninsula there is an open air "farmers market" called Feria Fluvial, which specializes in fresh seafood. It was a really cool place, there were fishermen filleting salmon right at the rivers edge on enormous cutting blocks. They would throw all the excess scraps to sea lions. The crazy part was that the sea lions were right at the base of their feet, chomping at the bit so to speak. Even though the sea lions seemed trained at times, all it took was a big piece of salmon to get them all riled up and aggressive toward one another. I really don't know how the fishermen kept their cool, because I imagine that there have been times when they've been afraid of being bit...the sea lions were huge. The funny thing was that the fishermen really played into the fact that they had crowds of tourists, mainly Chilean, watching the feeding frenzy in awe. I think because of this the fishermen puffed themselves up a little, so as to appear more comfortable than they really were. I have pictures which should be posted to the right eventually and I plan on putting up some video as well.
From the Feria, we took a ferry up the Valdivia river and (in what is becoming the rule and not the exception with the countryside of Chile) could not believe how beautiful it was. The river snaked quite a bit through marshes and trees and grasslands, all amidst a beautiful costal mountain range. While we were enjoying the view, my friend Robert mentioned how this trip, and the fact that we are down in Chile studying in general, is the kind of thing you can't "do any better"...it's the kind of thing, the kind of goal you might have for your entire life and never see come to fruition, but we have, and at that moment we both realized even more just how lucky we are to be here. The fact is, each one of us on this program is living out a dream, a life's goal and it will change our perspectives forever. It already has really.
After the boat ride and a quick trip to an indigenous local village, where Robert rode a horse…haha, I wish you had seen it…we went to the Kunstmann Cervezaria to sample beer and eat. We met the brits there and eventually ended up looking for a discotheque to go to, but for some reason the entire atmosphere of the town had changed and the place we were at the night before was dead. Anyway Robert and I walked around for like two hours trying to find a place to dance…haha…because as we have said many times before on this trip…we are only happy when we are dancing…but to no avail. We ended up at some dive bar with a group playing the Beatles. Had a good time, went to bed late.
I ended up coming home yesterday after waking up to rain and the realization that I had homework. The bus ride takes about 7 hours and I slept a majority of the way. The highway is listed as “the 5” on maps, just like the north to south interstate back home in CA. The scenery on the way home was beautiful but there really wasn't much out there, mostly farmland and forest, similar to driving up through northern California.
On a side note, some how our British friends had terrible luck in Valdivia. They were chased by rabid dogs, attacked by territorial foul, and marooned in some incestuous town near a Spanish fort. I have to laugh because I had no such experience and actually ended up with a date both nights I was there, although one night I couldn't find her anywhere. The point is, Valdivia appears to be a bit of a toss up...but if you ask me it comes highly recommended.
So as you guys know I headed to New York a couple months back to greet the Pope on his first trip to the US. I went because I wanted to see him for myself and because I have quite a few friends who mean a lot to me back there that I wanted to share the experience with. He amazes me. John Paul showed me how to love the Church and Benedict continues to show me why I should. For instance, this man came here to tell us one thing and one thing only, that Christ is our Hope. Not politics, not a bigger salary, not technology or lower taxes, or good grades at the University, but Christ. Who says something like that, and with such certainty? 
After seeing him it was clear to me that I wanted whatever it is that he has, I want that sense of certainty, that kind of faith, that kind of concrete relationship with Christ. He tells us that Christ is the only answer to our humanity, and when I saw him in New York you could see that he knew that to be true in his own life in the way he lives, he was so happy, so loving! For him Christ is real, someone that accompanies him as a friend in the here and now. That is why I follow him and why every chance I get I read what he writes or speaks about. We are truly blessed to have him as our shepherd. While I was there I got the chance to hear him speak at the youth rally in Yonkers. What impressed me most was how spry he was at 81. Also, everyone (the media specifically) before he came was calling him things like the enforcer, and saying he was too German and too stern, but the Benedict I saw was incredibly happy and loving, he looked at us like a father should. In the end we were all very excited to see him, and he was clearly excited to see us, it was very much of a mutual thing. 
