ON THE GROUND IN SANTIAGO

So it´s Thursday morning and here I sit, typing away on my friend Andres´ laptop.  Getting here to Chile of course, meant having to go through the ordeal of the overnight non-stop red-eye flight from an airport in the USA: this time it was Dallas on American Airlines, but sometimes it has been Atlanta or Miami.  Regardless, I´m here now, and after resting and napping for most of the afternoon yesterday, it was nice to get together with Andres´ kids and have a wonderful dinner at a superb restaurant - El Aji Seco, specializing in Peruvian cuisine.

Here´s a picture (taken by Andres) of myself sitting at the table in El Aji Seco, sipping a superb Peruvian pisco sour and enjoying mariscos con arroz (seafood and rice) while I chat with Andres´kids.  Just so you know who´s who, they are (clockwise, from me) Constanza, age 17; Matias, age 15; and Cristobal (age 7).  It was a great meal and the kids were great company.

Gosh, it´s good to be back in Chile.

Today will be spent entirely in Santiago Centro - after a lunch with Andres, I will be on my own, with only the most simple of duties to perform: getting Chilean pesos from an ATM and then shopping at my favorite Chilean bookstore, Ferias del Libro, over on Huerfanos.  I´ll be staying this night here in this apartment while Andres has to go out to his father´s farm to take care of some business.  Then this weekend, the plan is to go fossil hunting in the Cajon del Maipo, a favorite weekend retreatfor Santiagueños in the foothills of the Andes.

Stay tuned - I´ll be posting more later...