Goodbye to Pisco Elqui

After returning from my trip to San Pedro, I spent one more week in Pisco to conclude my time teaching and say farewell to my friends (and also I get my clothes washed one last time).  The week passed very quickly and before I had time to take in my last moments in the valley, I was dragging my luggage along the dirt roads of Pisco to catch the bus in the town plaza. 

Thursday night the volunteers and a couple of the English teachers surprised me for a farewell party.  I had no idea they were planning it and really appreciated their consideration.  Afterward some of us went to La Escuela (“the school”), a popular bar in town, to sit around a fire and listen to Chilean music played and sung by the barman and a few of the locals.  Pepe, the barman, treated to me a Pisco Mistral before I went home to get enough sleep for my last day of classes.  I realized that night is what trips like this are all about.

Friday night us five volunteers ate dinner in the restaurant whose owners I had been teaching English.  We all enjoyed the food and afterward tried vainly to learn to dance the Cueca, Chile´s national dance.

I got up early this morning to pack my belongings, realizing I have somehow acquired more than when I arrived.  No one was available to drive me so I determinedly hauled my rolling luggage and backpack to the plaza, up and down a hill and through road construction. 

I have finally arrived in La Serena for the night to take a bus south to Valparaiso in the morning to drop off my luggage at the home of one of Mondo Challenge´s coordinators.  From there I am still unsure where I will travel until Friday, when I meet my mom in the airport in Santiago and we begin our 11 days of traveling through the South of Chile.  I can´t wait to see the rest of the country, but especially to have my mom with me while I do.