this is it, i guess

so i'm back in the us of a.
brazil was amazing. i've never been anywhere as hot, as humid, as colorful and vibrant as Brazil. i landed in Rio and stuck around for about 24 hours. we went to the beach at copacabana, visited a working favela (a slum). then we were off to the capital, brasilia.
the city sits in the middle of the savanna, actually locating in the rainforest but you wouldn't be able to tell. it was a completely planned city, built in the shadow of the ussr in the 70s. it's shaped like an airplane. all (or most) buildings were designed by neimeyer, who designed the UN building in new york. people live in superblocks, which are rows and columns of apartment buildings, named only by numbers. we felt like we were living 1984.
our program had set us up at the nicest hotel in brasilia, one who flew the UN flag as high as the Brazilian flag because it hosted so many heads of state and dignitaries. we rolled in at 12 pm with pizza and beer and the concierge rolled their eyes.
anyway, 24 hrs in brasilia was enough and we headed off to salvador de bahia. the city sits 13 degrees south of the equator, and my hair has never been as curly in my life. the influence of afro-brazilian life was fascinating, especially since racism practically does not exist there. everyone wants dark skin, nice hips and to be able to samba. our tour guide told us if you are white in salvador you're either sick or a tourist. we got a lot of time to walk around the old town, go to the beach, the pool, go shopping. on our last day we took a boat tour to two islands, drank caipirinhas (the brazilian national drink) i ate shrimp and we tanned. we were so sad to leave one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

so my last week in santiago was spent writing papers and doing finals. it was sad to say goodbye to our kids in la pintana. our last day in spanish was spent doing oral presentations, which included a song about pinochet and the making of pisco sours and passing out of manjar cake. it was a really great way to leave our universidad diego portales. we went out and partied on friday and saturday night; i reunited with a chilean friend named pablo whom i had met in september. on sunday marie and i went to viña and stayed with my friend char.
on tuesday i went to the concha y toro vineyard with bevin, then i had lunch with pablo in bellavista and we went to the top of cerro san cristobal via furnicular. i got home to la reina, then my mother and brother drove me to the airport. we cried when we said goodbye, and i landed in baltimore on wednesday at 10am.

i miss chile already. here's a despedida video i made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u9zLry8Kjw