Jeff'S JOURNAL January 2007  Iguazu Falls, border of Brazil and Argentina I find myself sitting here writing this with snow on the ground, even though my skin has a darkness that tells the world that I’ve been somewhere where global warming is making it unbearably hot, not cold. It seems like the minute I stepped onto the Territory of the Bald Eagle I came under the weather with a particularly strong bout of intestinal illness which has made adjusting to life back in the states a little harder than I thought it would be. However I’m starting to feel better just in time to head back the college, which I guess is all I can ask for. My time in South America was filled with wonderful, eye-opening experiences. It seemed like behind every bend was another stunning view and within every body was a story of the hardships of outside exploitation, first by the Spanish, then by the United States and the vicious dictators we brought in to run their countries. My main (and pretty much only) goal before I left was to become comfortable speaking Spanish, but by the end of my time I had learned so much more that my mind is still racing. 
Chilean flag blowing in the wind overlooking Puerto Williams, the southernmost town in the world The first couple months I spent almost entirely in Valparaiso, Chile. I had the good fortune to be placed into a perfect host family. I had two “brothers,” a 26-year-old professional college student and a 31-year old engineer who played tennis with me and took me out to enjoy the Chilean nightlife, and a sister with two elementary school kids that were as cute as can be. Our apartment was small — my room was pretty much a bed with a foot of walking space on one side and a cupboard — but I think the close proximity forced me to use my developing Spanish from the moment I woke up to the moment I fell asleep. There were times when I would lie on my bed wishing that I could just fall asleep again so I didn’t have to speak Spanish, but I think that just comes with the territory. My Chilean mom was just about the most caring person I have ever met; on my last day she tried to wash my clothes even though I only had two hours just so I wouldn’t travel with dirty laundry. We spent every evening talking about our families and the differences between our countries. By the time it was time to say goodbye she started crying and I definitely got blurry-eyed. 
My host parents and I Towards the end of my time I started traveling. I visited Easter Island, an isolated island halfway between South America studded with gigantic “Moai” or sculptures of heads. I ventured to the north of Chile, where the driest desert in the world keeps out all but the most resourceful farmers and, nowadays, the world’s largest copper mines. And I visited the south of Chile which went from looking a lot like my home state Oregon to feeling like the end of the world when I was staring at penguins and seeing flights leaving to Antarctica at the airport. Chileans take great pride in the geographical diversity of their country and with good reason! I felt like I traveled from the Sahara to Alaska all without even having to get my passport out. My parents came down in the middle of December and we had a fun time traveling around and playing cards, although we seemed to be greeted with rain at every stop. We got to spend Christmas with my Chilean family, which was a real treat, especially since the summer sun was beaming down on us while we sat poolside and ate barbequed chicken. As a final coup de grace, I made a whirlwind bus trip from Chile, through northern Argentina and the Igauzu Falls, to Brazil and Rio de Janeiro where I met my brother for New Years. Unfortunately it was rainy there, too, so we didn’t get to spend New Years sitting on beautiful white sand beaches as we had both envisioned, but it was tons of fun to see him and his girlfriend in a totally different place nonetheless. We spent five days together touring the city with our raincoats and drinking caipirinhas, a particularly strong lime and sugar-cane liquor concoction that’s the Brazilian national drink, while playing dominos. It was sad to say goodbye and begin my four-day journey back to Chile. Now as I sit here trying to put off packing my bags to return to Colorado, part of me wishes I was still in South America, while another part of me is excited for my last semesters in college. There is no doubt in my mind that I will venture back down south soon…what can I say — I must have caught the Latin Fever!
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