twenty one and back in chile

Today is my twenty-first birthday.

Well, it was, until about 15 minutes ago.

Julia and I woke this morning to a sunny (although significantly cooler than the 30+ we were used to in Rio) Santiago morning. Lo and behold my little bro called me bright and early to wish me a happy birthday. I was pleasantly surprised -- and just happy to talk to him.

J and I did some last minute souvenir shopping. I bought myself a lapis lazuli ring ... happy birthday to me.

The we had some monetary issues -- mainly the fact that no bank machine was willing to spit out any cash. With just enough coins in my wallet for some metro tickets (and that only because of cheaper weekend rates) and a credit card, Julia and I decided to take a little trip. It's my birthday -- forgive me for feeling a bit invincible.

So we hopped a bus to Isla Negra, a tiny town of one paved road that is neither an island nor black. On the ride over the rest of my family (sis, niece and nephew, mum and dad) called and treated me to a lovely rendition of the birthday song -- complemented by the happy shrieks of the twins. I miss my family -- it's weird to know that they are all together without me!

Back to Isla Negra. It's a small town on the beach, where Pablo Neruda had his third house, now a museum. At the ticket counter we were informed that they did not accept credit cards. And that there is no bank in the town. I must have looked disappointed, because the guy behind the counter decided to let us in on a tour for free...as "invitadas". I couldn't believe it -- I never expect that kind of treatment for formal institutions. It made my day. I told him it was my birthday and thanked him for the gift.

The house was amazing, as are most things related to Neruda. All of his houses have boat themes and are full of weird object. Neruda was a collector of collections -- hundreds of huge shells, sculptors of the prows of boats, little ships in bottles. Afterwards we hung out on the beach for a bit, then went into a restaurant (with a visa sticker on the door) for an extremely late lunch. We toasted to a successful voyage (can't believe it's over!) and to my cumpleanos. Sneaky Julia even got me a gift -- a collection of contemporary Brazillian plays (don't know how she managed it considering we were almost always together and she doesn't speak Portuguese). She's a crafty kid -- I was impressed.

I think we got back to the hostel around 10:30-ish, and spent the rest of my birthday minutes making annoying calls to banks in Canada to figure out why we couldn't get money. Turns out RBC cancelled Julia's credit card because it had been copied -- although there were no unusual charges made on it so who knows. TD got their act together on my debit card so we should have cash again tomorrow, joy.

We don't have any major plans for our last day in Santiago, just retrieve the rest of our luggage from a friend's storage room, repack, then make our way to the airport for our evening flight. We'll be back in Montreal 5 pm-ish on Monday. Then I'm off to Ottawa to celebrate my birthday with the fam (I haven't had my cake and candles yet) and to Winnipeg on Wednesday for my godfather's wedding. Definitively back in Montreal for the end of the month.

I'm going to miss a lot of stuff here, but I'm dying to go home. Sleeping in my own bed, peeing in my own bathroom, having my own internet access all seem quite luxurious to me. The blog's not dead yet though -- I intend to add photos to all these last entries so do check back in a few days for the finished product.