Valle de Elqui

Estoy en el hermoso Valle de Elqui y mañana me voy a viajar a Arica! Paso el fin de semana super bien y tranquila. La gente son super wena onda y la aldea es muy linda... de verdad mas chilena que un porroto, me preguntaron adonde nacio en Chile...imaginate!! Gringa loca de verdad! Te seguro que Santiago es el unico lugar adonde puedes contar las estrellas... aca es imposible! Fue magia como llego aca... no tenia ni un idea como llegar y con unas preguntas y como siempre sigo el viento y ya estoy!
Cuando llego no habia nadie en la aldea... desierto...casi paracido abandonada... entonces desenrolle mi saco de dormir a acostar abajo del cielo lleno de lucecitas. Despues de un rato un camioneta entro y casi me mataron!! Los jefes ya me invitaron a dormor alla adentro...igual quieria dormir afuera pues la proxima noche me quede afuera con la luna! Me contaron que llego justo con un maestro y unas fiestas por el finde. Que bakan!!! Celebremos y bialamos y Lunes fuimos por Piahuano, mas interno del valle y bañemos en el rio con los caballos y comimos comida rica y pasabamos super bien!
Estoy feliz en el camino y espero por el viaje mañana!

Thres, dos, uno.... anda!

YaY! I will be starting my trip this weekend! First stop is in the beautiful Valle de Elqui where I will stop at an Ecological Village to volunteer for my stay. I will be stopping at these villages, two in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and in Mexico: http://ecological-farms.blogspot.com/. I cant wait!!! The programs consist of a small fee between $5-10 and working between 4-6 hours daily. They are vegetarian only and have permaculture and yoga classes daily. I plan on taking a week for each camp including travel time in order to make it to Mexico my June.
These last few days here in Santiago I will be focused on preparing for my journey and wrapping things up until next year. I am currently washing my laundry and packing up my backpack in preparation for my departure this weekend. This afternoon I plan on stopping in at the Latinoamericana School of Chinese Medicine http://www.medicinachina.cl/ to do some research about studying in 2011.
I will try to post once a week between ranches and it looks like I'll see some of you in about 8 weeks!

MOCHILIANDO

Las ultimas horas de verano vienen
Las ojas estan secando
y los dias oscurando
El viento ya cambiado direccion
y lleva el olor de otono
quemadito aun frescito

Los signos los veo tan claro
El momento esta cercando
Lo de alla que me llama

Me llama mae
cara de negrita
me llaman gringita loca
la unica
si po jackie me dicen
¿Por que te vayas?
Me llaman hasta al norte digo yo
Y norte voy

Cerrando las cosas
Abriendo las puertas
Conectado con energia
Distancia no existe

Hay que empezar el viaje

Jackies Big Adventure

Hi family and friends, I write to you from my house for which I have much carino for. Especially with all of the terremotos its nice to feel the protection of her strong foundation and firm walls. I am so thankful for here, for Chile for the life I live and for the luck and protection that follows me wherever I go. I must admit that my cup is more than overflowing and I couldn't be any more happy and content. I continue planning my trip north and it seems I will be leaving shortly. I will not be driving north in my vw bus this year but will be happy to pick it up next year on my trip back down to Chile. I am currently working on a route north and am looking forward to visiting friends and family along the way.
The time again has yet approached, preparation is underway and the next adventure is about to begin!! Although in times like these it is easy to stress I figure the only way to take a trip like this is to take it like you take life...day by day or as they say "paso a paso." I must say that I will be sad to leave my community of friends and cosmic family and yet I know they will be here when I get back so as always I bid farewell to those I care much about.

A Las Playas de Nacimiento

I am quite amazed with how quickly the time has passed, and forward bound I continue ahead with my journeys. Over the past few months many things have become quite clear in my life adventures and I am taking them on with energy and excitement. My time here in Santiago is no where near over, yet my roots are pulling loose and I set out once again to travel, this time back to las playas de nacimiento, como las tortugas. Im am fine tuning day by day, and paso y paso the departure date for Jackie's Big Adventure nears. April seems to be the chosen month however there are some things that must take place before, including residency and a work/student visa.
I am in the process of signing a work contract that allows for my visa, meanwhile I am searching out an acupuncture school here in Santiago and planning for my drive North. Between paperwork and the restaurant I have been playing guitar and working in my garden. I recently harvested lavender and mint for my artisan massage oils and shooting out from my compost I have squash, two huge tomato plants, an avocado tree, potatoes and onions. A few of my girlfriends and I are working on writing up a residential recycling program and working on creating teaching programs for organic gardening and compost in the school systems (if you have any ideas please pass them on!). I will be sure to keep you all posted as the projects keep rolling and my last 8 weeks or so come to a close. Sending love on the wind!!

Casillero del Diablo

Yesterday I spent the day in one of the local Chilean vineyards outside of Santiago, Concha y Toro. We were treated as first class guests with a personal guide, a special tour of the house and cellar, and a special wine and cheese tasting in a private tasting room where we got to interview one of the owners. We will have a followup visit within the next few weeks and later be touring Chile and Mendoza, Argentina through these wine tastings and interviews as a photographer.
As some of you know my future plans include a road trip from Venezuela to Puerto Nuevo, Mexico where I will join my family for my cousin Shannie's wedding. Afterwhich I will be heading North to CA and OR. Little by little the dream continues to come together. It looks like I will be leaving Chile sometime in April and heading to Venezuela with a friend of mine, Fernando. Fernando has gifted me a '73 VW bus which he toured South America in four times. The motor has recently been reconstructed and the bed and other luxuries have also been rebuilt. The only rule is that when I'm done, I must also gift the car to a fellow traveler. I can't put into words how thankful I am and how lucky I feel to have the friends and family that I do.

Feliz Ano

Happy New Year to all!! I hope each one of you passed it well! They say the first twelve days of the new year represent the twelve months, and I must say my last twelve days have been quite prosperous and enjoyable! I spent the New Year in Valparaiso, a beautiful beach town just outside of Santiago. I went with Ale and Mili and we stayed with a friend of ours who runs local theater programs. We took a bus into the city and spent the afternoon in the plaza drinking white wine from the bottle and basking in the sun. After a lovely lunch and siesta we made our plans for the evening of which the second most famous firework show in the world was to take place.
Before the big show we went to a very popular lookout where we had a perrrfect view of the entire coastline. The full moon sat above crowning the lighted hills and salty ocean. As the last minutes of 2009 nine passed and the first of 2010 began the lights of the city went black, the bottles of champagne popped, and the sky exploded with seven different fuegos arteficiales up and down the coast. It was quite a magical experience. After the most incredible light show I have ever seen we took off to the center where we danced followed by more dancing followed by even more dancing until nine in the morning! We danced salsa, we rocked out, we jumped and sang and laughed and smiled all night long. For breakfast we went to the central market and filled our bellies with the fresh and traditional sopa de mariscos followed by yerba mate we took a collectivo to Vina del Mar and spent the morning on the beach. After a fresh swim we had completos for lunch we exhaustively headed back to the city.

Merry Christmas!