Familiar Places

When I arrived and had to choose the city to live in, between Antofagasta and Santiago, I didn't hesitate. Antofagasta looked to me as an ugly and boring city, just good enough for a settlement to organize trips to the North. Well, it took me quite some time to discover the charms of Antofagasta, mainly because it is not a city made for the tourists. This means you have to dive deep into the chilean lifestyle to find the good spots. So now I know that Antofagasta has good restaurants, a fancy casino, european music and good beaches. And the key to all this is as simple as friendship. On the 18th September, I made contacts in Antofagasta. I went there once to see them and left as friends. Now, I went again, just after the new year, for some beach life and... I guess I left a piece of me there.

In these first days of the year I had, for the first time in Chile, the chance to go deep into the life of a chilean, to share it and for some moments to be part of it. I have friends in Santiago, chilean friends who showed me a lot of what it is to be a chilean, but Santiago is the capital and the deepest chilean roots are not there anymore. In the new year's week, I had the chance to go one step further into the chilean roots, sharing some time with families and not just the friends. I was so well and warmly treated that it felt more like... home. Somehow, in Antofagasta this experience felt purer, more traditional, and this difference made me feel lucky, for being accepted in such special environment, for being given the chance to be part of it for a while. Also for the first time in Chile, I left part of me somewhere, in the most unlikely place I could imagine. I am now binded to Antofagasta and, no matter what happens, I will never look at it the same way as before, there will always be a smile every week, when passing by to the airport. It's all about the moment and "if you find that moment... it lasts forever..."