En el Aeropuerto Santiago

In the Santiago Airport

First things first: I just had a granola and yogurt parfait from Starbucks!! After leaving Arica at 5:00am this morning to catch an early flight to Santiago (Remember, I can't sleep on planes. No exceptions.) I can't express the joy I felt upon seeing that towering symbol of American consumerist culture. :)

Right now I am in the Santiago airport with the rest of my group. We have a five hour layover here, and then another short flight to Temuco. I am actually super excited for this excursion to Temuco, but not for the reasons you might think. The purpose of this trip is to learn about Mapuche culture and medicine. That's all well and good, but what I am really excited for is the RAINNNN. It is raining in Temuco right now! After living for about two months now in one of the driest places on earth, I have realized how much I really miss rain. It's so bad that sometimes I wake up in the morning and hear someone watering plants and think that the water hitting the ground is rain. And sometimes, I hear a loud truck in the distance and think that it is thunder. I am actually hallucinating for lack of rainfall! So you see, this excursion is much-needed. If only they also had Kraft macaroni and cheese in Temuco I would be all set....