Took my sweet ass time to write this one. But life gets busy.
Santiago, Chile was a breath of fresh air (kinda, it was pretty smoggy). I should have moved on from Buenos Aires before, as within hours of arriving I felt the fog lift and felt alive again. I don't regret not leaving Buenos Aires sooner as I learnt a lot just being there but arriving in Santiago, a slightly chaotic city, apparently a very dangerous city, I loved it. It turns out this is what I need, instability; unknown; spontaneity.
The hostel I stayed in was the biggest I've stayed in, though in a small 4-bed dorm with a beautiful view over the park. There was a pretty quick turnover in the room but Cati and Kim were my more constants. TBH the week in Santiago was a bit of a blur, super busy doing stuff and things, it was wonderful. At one point Cati invited Kim and I for dinner with another girl that Cati met on a tour. We went to this incredibly fancy restaurant, which was unfortunately fully booked, but lucky girl syndrome, we sat for a drink and a table appeared for us. Cati then let's us know the tour guide may be joining us, fab! The more the merrier. We're all having a lovely time, communicating between English, Spanish and Portuguese and tour guide arrives and so we are moved to a bigger table, next to a family with children. Our delicious food arrives, we're all having a lovely time, but the children on the table behind aren't the best behaved. Tour guide has it out with the parents a couple of times. Eventually calls the manager over and, most of this missed by me and Kim due to our lack of Portuguese, he's trying to get all our food for free. Cati is so embarrassed but we are finding this absolutely hilarious, especially when he calls the police, like come on mate 😂 in the end us girls pay for our food and leave him there, "on the phone to the police". This I think was night 2.
A wonderful city. I will return to you Santiago. You recharged my batteries and filled my soul.
Another beautiful thing about Santiago was meeting Kim, who was on the start of her solo adventure. Life brings people together at the most perfect times. Seeing the uncertainty and excitement in her reignited my need to keep going and get on with my next plans. There is so much to see.
Australia.
Well, I don't get the hype. It was a big England. Melbourne was alright though grey and wet the entire time. Nambucca Head was a beach stop in the middle of nowhere which was beautiful. Sydney, ... Yeah? Holbrook was a weird little hot fuzz town. Gold Coast = large scale Benidorm. Brisbane, you were cute, I really liked you Brisbane.
What I learnt in Australia was how much I like being alone. Being a work trip, the time there I spent in constant company of a colleague and in airbnbs with no way of meeting other people. I felt incredibly isolated and struggled a lot. Being in hostels/coliving spaces means there are always people around you can off load on, get a hug from, just be around, but you're all in the same boat. You all have the same understanding and give each other the energy you can, no offence taken if the energy is not there to give.
For years I've been told I'm ungrounded, like a feather floating, lacking an anchor. This has always been something I've tried to fix and thought was bad. It's not. It's me. I was not put in this world to stay in one place. I'm here to float free, connect with people all over the world, hear their stories and fall in love with life over and over, every single day.
🫶🏻