The Last 3 Sunsets

Puesta del Sol: "pway-stuh dell soul" n. sunset

I've began counting sunsets. I have two left after tonight's, which will happen in a few short hours.
The sky has been playing tricks on me recently and I suppose Mother Nature gets the last laugh. When I planned for the past two days to be lazy beach days, getting some last minute rays before I go repeat winter all over again (remember I just recently survived winter and made the transition into summer within the last month), the sun has refused to come out until six p.m. and has chosen instead to give me a cold, overcast sky.
I haven't done anything dramatic in my last week here in Chile, as I mentioned in my previous post. However, the past few days have been uneventful, boring, and wonderful. I've lost all pretense and pressure to be doing something grand and memorable, choosing instead to be a happy bum who embraces spontaneous activities but is happy without them as well.
Most days I wake up late (I can't seem to sleep until 4am lately), hang out in my room until lunchtime before eating almuerzo with my family. I'll go to the gym for a Spinning class in the evening and try to squeeze in something from my bucket list someone in between or afterwards.
On Monday, I attended a friend from Frisbee's birthday party in downtown Valparaíso on Calle Ecuador (where all the best bars are) with Rochelle. It was very easy and simple, just a big group of foreigners and a few Chileans sitting together for a few hours. The birthday boy may have gotten a bit sick, but I suppose thats a rite of passage for most.

On Tuesday, Rochelle and I visited the sand dunes between the cities of Reñaca and ConCon. There has recently been a big uproar to save and protect the dunes from high rise apartment/condo development that has been grossly popular along that stretch of beach. I even signed a petition my host brother was passing around. My friend Felipe also came along with us after he finished his day of classes at the history building of PUCV near my house. (hold your wedding bells ladies we're just friends...and I've got at least 5 inches on him). Felipe is in fact my ONLY friend from my University, and we didn't even meet through school because he has been on strike the entire semester until just recently. Once we got to the dunes, it took ten difficult minutes just to climb to the top of them before we could look out at the stunning (however overcast) view toward Valparaíso on one side and ConCon on the other. It felt as if we were in Egypt and also reminded me of the Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan. There were some stray cardboard boxes left behind after past sledding adventures (we didn't try it though, the thought of climbing back up was too daunting) as well as scattered bottles from late night drinking adventures no doubt.
On Wednesday I did my last round of Christmas shopping (done so early this year!?) around Viña del Mar with my wonderful host mom for the majority of the day. I could say what I bought, but then I'd spoil the surprise for many of you! Mamá Sonia and I also ran some other errands around town, from buying a new broom and dustpan for under $5 to bags of funny little mini-peach looking fruit to make into marmalade. She even put up with my characteristic indecisiveness when it came to picking out gifts, bless her soul. After a double round of spinning class I came home and realized I STILL had a box of USA style (gringo) pancake mix! I decided to make banana pancakes á la grina for my host siblings while listening to Christmas music to get in the mood. My host brother Dani had never seen them before and exclamed: "Ah son como los wafles!" (they're just like waffles!). We ate every last one.
Today, my mamá made home-made empanadas neopolitana as a surprise. They have oregano, cheese, and tomato inside. The best. To make the overcast day even better, I had my very first massage. It wasn't quite as relaxing as I had hoped, however, due to my uncontrollable ticklish spasms every time she touched my lower back or forehead or pretty much anywhere else! She told me the more often I have a massage the less it happens, but lady you are crazy if you think I'll ever pay US prices! I'll stick to bribing my friends or massage circles I think, but it was still something everyone should experience.