Update

I'm sorry, I was so vague the other day! I just assume that everyone reading this has heard me babble on about Chile over the past few months and now I realize that I must divulge some details!
I am flying in Santiago, Chile in early February. This is not because I want to go spend a ton of time in a smoggy city of 8 million inhabitants but that's the only place I could get to with my frequent flier miles. No worry though, it's only a scant 70 miles to my destination city of Valparaiso and I hear land transit in South America is great, haaa.
So, Valparaiso, or Valpo as it is affectionately called, is a city on the Pacific coast. It was once a shipping capital and those blue collar roots are still palpable. But it also has a young, bohemian, artsy vibe and is often referred to as the San Francisco of the south. I hope the housing costs are NOT like San Francisco! Directly above Valpo is a resort town called Vina del Mar, a bit more upscale with beaches and touristy stuff. But I prefer earthy so I'll be making my home in Valparaiso. A cool thing about Valparaiso is it's topography; the city fans out around the bay and there are tons of hills, winding and deviating. Travel is made easier by ascensores, which in English means elevators but I think the word is really funiculars, you know, those cable cars that go up and down hills, like a ski lift.
Oh yes, this is no group thing, I am going alone on my great adventure, although I do welcome guests. I plan on doing a bit of community service while I'm there, to get into a groove and work my Spanish skills, which is the whole reason for going. I won't be making any money but I think it's important to have something concrete to do, I don't want to fritter away 5 months on the beach with surfer boys. Wait, that doesn't sound so terrible.
No, I don't know anyone there but I have a lot of friends with family there who can hopefully link me into their network. I'd like to find a roommate to help defray the cost of being unemployed for so long. Apparently I chose the most expensive country in South America, awesome. I have a real talent for squirreling out the priciest options! No matter, I think this is a once in a lifetime kinda deal so if I spend a few hundred more than I planned, so be it. I'm in debt to Sallie Mae for the rest of my life anyway.
Let's see, what else? Oh, the job and apartment. I'm leavng them both behind, sniffle. I've told my boss I'm off for adventure but my landlord is being a real jerk about me leaving in the winter. Just kidding pops. My landlord/father is awesome, I offered to move in with him for the last few months I'm here so he isn't saddled with an empty apartment for the rest of the winter but he doesn't seem to care. Or maybe he just doesn't want me moving in, hmmmm. Also, I'm spending this fall applying to go back to school, yet again, this time to get my PhD in public health, that's Dr. Bondi to you! So next fall should bring me to a new city and another exciting chapter in this book called life.
Finally, I will most certainly be updating ye olde blogge whilst on my travels. Hopefully I'll be eating lots of delicious food and taking tremendous pictures of breathtaking vistas. Wish me luck!