more of chile as we took off for lake rapel over the weekend to paty and jorge's boat.  in spite of the weather (it rained and the winds were chillingly cold) we had a great time under cover inside the boat and then taking the little boat ashore to pedro pablo and francisca's house where we made ceviche and read poetry, sat around the fireplace and then danced into the night.  i would have stayed another week but i have to pick up so many certificates and deeds and continue with the duty i came to achieve here.  maybe next week i will venture down to puerto varas to my brother's summer house.  i want so much to make this a vacation as well as a business trip.

chile beckons once again.  wednesday i aboard a 14 hour flight down the panamerican coast duty bound.  so these next few days you will find me focused on last minute arrangements, making sure all the right things are gathered.  so many things one cannot forget.  first and foremost my camera and my netbook, my rosary and prayer book, my passport and chilean documents, bus pass, id.  and ofcourse knitting needles and thread just in case i should get fidgety, a good book (made sure of stopping by barnes & noble yesterday and picked up a great biography on teddy roosevelt.  i have now read the lives of all the most important presidents and have become an expert on american history), tums, advils, perfume, the basic black dress, the basic white dress, a bathing suit, tons of clean underwear, the list goes on and on.  not to mention gifts for two newborn babies and friends.  and leaving all the upcoming bills paid in advance lest i should be charged late fees.  thankfully my head is in a better space now and i think i have covered it all.

i have also decided to make this an adventurous trip in between the paperwork and bureaucracy.  so have been looking up short trips to mendoza, argentina and little cabins on the coast where i could possibly escape to with a friend or two.  driving distances between santiago and the coast and/or the mountains are very short; remember chile is a very long, narrow country.

it will be sunny i repeat to myself.  it will be sunny or i shall make it sunny. no woes this time around.
i will miss all of you and think of you, hopefully making time to visit and comment on your lives and surroundings.  i carry you with you, i carry you in my heart.

i am starting to see the light again. i know the pain of my mother's passing will be there for a long long time, but i feel she is allowing me to stop grieving and having all these flashbacks of that eventful night. i have begun to sew and knit again and although with scarce materials since most of my art supplies remain in the states, i inject life into the sparse surroundings with that little i have. there are possibilities here, and i wonder if it not might be the right time to move back to my native grounds. above all, it's the friends and the smells of trees and breezes, certain tastes of typical dishes, a whif of my essential being.