valdivia.

A perfect cappuccino in the floating cafe tfs, with a view on Valdivia and its military parade today, fanfares and cheering, and lack of hot water is what marks the last day of my trip in Southern Chile.

Valdivia was the last on the list after Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales, Castro and Puerto Varas, among other short stops on the way. I can only say that this lovely student city on the banks of three rivers and home to one of the best Uni's here in Chile is the perfect way of how to end the trip. It is completely different that the pampa of south or the evergreen hills of Chiloé.

Valdivia is  marked by its student spirit, quirky cafe's and, surprisingly, German influence. Now I really understand what my Geography teacher once said about the German colony in Southern Chile. Almost half of the streets have names like Franz, Joseph, schmetterling and eichhörnchen, it's almost as if Germans belong to a higher social class, and wandering around its streets and costanera and listening to Ger-nish makes me feel like... well, Europe.

My host here in Valdivia was Niklas from Germany (what a surprise!), even though our friendship is just another proof of just how little the world is. So, in July 2011 we met in Portugal during the AFS Volunteer Summer Summit, me, him, and his friend Anne from Germany among other 200 volunteers. Even though losing contact soon afterwards, when I found out about my acceptance in the Uni of Edinburgh, it was Anne, who offered to share a flat in Edi and at some point mentioned that Niklas is in Chile at the moment, so, getting in touch with him was obvious, as visiting all AFS-ers around is always a must-do.

We actually caught up in Puerto Varas, an idyllic village by one of Chile's largest lakes Llancahue facing Osorno, an impressive volcano (well, I wouldn't actually know, because it was either raining or foggy all the time but when we were inside, though the postcards definitely create the right impression). We visited los Saltos de Petrohué, which was the perfect Laws-of-Murphy-in-action experience, since it stopped raining for the rest of the day at exactly the point when we got on the bus back.

Niklas let me explore Valdivia on my own (someone has to study as well), and I, having arrived without any expectations whatsoever, fully enjoyed the process of discovering its streets, floating market and the lovely sea lion colony on the riverbanks.

I will also use the opportunity to make a short introduction to what affection means to most Chileans.

End of introduction.

One of the many memorable moments was a short trip to Niebla, a tiny coastal town, with a sandy beach, sun and seagulls, my personal get-away for the day.

I must've looked like one of those middle-aged single women meditating at the seashore, but I'm sure that the seagulls didn't really mind.

And maybe it was even better that my phone doesn't allow international calls, this way I could actually stop the time for even if only a short time.

Staying with Niklas was really a student experience. Having take-away empanadas for lunch at the banks of the river, watching Uni's rowing team practising, unsuccessfully trying to translate rosemary in the central market (romero, for your information) and successfully liquidating Niklas' wine and beer resources. I guess I'm just at that one point of superexcitement to go to Edi in September. I even miss the studies, but let's wait until December or so to see if I actually mean it.

I also had two surprising conversations. Firstly, turns out that one of Niklas' Uni mates studies Lithuanian, just for the sake of understanding the meaning of ruda (rue in English, even though I have no idea what exactly that is)  in their mythology (at least that's what I understood from our screaming-over-the-table conversation in the crowded German student bar Salzburg, never mind it's in Austria). The most striking moment, however, came, when Niklas' landlord visited us and greeted me with Dievs, svētī Latviju, the name of the national anthem and also the slogan on the old 5Ls coins, an episode that officially goes in history. Turns out his former colleague with family emigrated to Chile during the WWII, before permanently settling in the USA.

I also had the opportunity to go to a Modern World lecture, which was actually a very exciting discussion about education in Chile. It's quite clear that the inequity is one of, if not the greatest, problem of the modern Chile, but I hadn't occurred to me before that virtually anybody with sufficient funds can found a private university, eventually decreasing the overall quality while increasing the price of education over here.

Autumn in Valdivia.

Among all, I just cannot appreciate even more the opportunity to get to know so much of Chile. It's not only the landscapes, it's been 3 different families, students, office, schools, Uni, bars, social protests and more where I've peeked in to find my understanding of Chile. All the way from Punta Arenas to Santiago, I officially declare the South of Chile to be conquered.

Back to Santiago, but the trip never ends.

P.S. Did I ever mention that Punta Arenas is so isolated from the rest of Chile (blame the Andes) that, in order to reach it by land transport, there's just no other way but to pass through Argentina?

You can always fly, though.