Happy Thanksgiving from warm and sunny Ritoque, Chile

Feliz Dia a todos! Ahhh, Im livin´ the life, I tell ya. This place is golden. I dont know how the heck Ive been lucky enough to happen upon such a wonder, but let me tell you, I havent for one second taken for granted the time I have here - ok, maybe when Ive been freezing with ten layers of clothing on, I feel less than happy, but those moments are usually quite brief.

So where am I living "the life," so to speak? Well dont go trying to find it on a map, because most maps do not even list the town. In fact, we are quite lucky that our dinky little map DOES have the town on it because none of us was particularly aware of where we were headed until we woke up Sunday morning and hopped in the car. "Where to?" I asked as I was serving as navigator. "Hmmm. Some hostel on the beach north of Viña del Mar. I wrote it down somewhere," replied Nina. Side note: Nina is GREAT at planning, finding, and booking places, which works out quite well as I dont seem to have much of an eye for planning in advance. So, on that note, she had booked this hostel four days earlier as it was cheap, ON THE BEACH, and not in a big city. This is all we knew (and even thought about) until this moment when we were actually en route to said hostel and beach. "OK, so the address says Comunidad de Playa Ritoque." Excellent! Given that many towns here are so small, you dont need much of an address. Our method of finding our hostels thus far has involved 1) arrive at said town, 2)drive down main street, 3) keep eyes peeled for hostel. This usually involved turning around several times and asking numerous people if they have ever heard of the place, but has been fail safe thus far. So I looked on the map and found Ritoque listed as being a tiny town at the end of a dirt road. Score! So after an afternoon of getting lost, then found, driving down dirt roads through avocado plantations, viewing a penguin breeding colony in the beach town of Cachagua, and walking on a gorgeous stone path running along the cliffs skirting the ocean, we headed to our happy little hostel here in Ritoque. And, yes, we had to ask at least three people, turn around various times, and walk around looking quite perplexed as the hostel does not actually have any sign on it, but we found it!

So here we are in what Jenny has described as " not the middle of nowhere, Chile, but, somewhere, Chile. And that somewhere being paradise." It is a tiny tiny town at the end of a gravel road. It´s still not summer yet, so there arent too many people around and we have had the hostel to ourselves much of the week. The local bar has opened each night just for us. So beach, bar, and house to ourselves. We were booked for just two nights but extended to 5, and if we didnt have to return the car to Santiago tomorrow, Im not sure we would ever leave. Thanks to a train that runs right through the gorgeous dunes each day, there had been NO development on this beach and, thus, we have discovered the last undeveloped beach within four hours of Santiago. In addition, Nina, Jenny, and I found teh most perfectly wonderful field to go running in. After bouldering along the shore up a steep rock wall, you are greeted with the most glorious pasture skirting the cliffs that drop down to the ocean. There is NO development here, and so the only thing you see as you run along is the ocean and a vast field of wild flowers. Nothing but water between you aand Australia. I imagine this is sort of what parts of the California coast must have looked like long ago before developers got their hands on it.

And to honor this day of giving thanks for all we have, we are having a feast for all of the people we have met here. The local bread man is making a pumpkin pie that he spent several hours yesterday doing research on the internet and at the library to get a recipe because he wants to make it just right. I insisted he didnt need to go through so much trouble, but he really wants to learn how to make it and his wife told us she was going to put everything she has into making us the most delicious pie to celebrate this tradition of ours - AMAZING!

Tomorrow, we head to Santiago to drop off the car and then we bus it back to Argentina - lets hope this border crossing is less eventful than the last. To all my lovely and wonderful family and friends, I am thankful for each and every one of you, and thanks again and again for all of your love, well wishes and support. VIVA!