I think my brain is actually swirling around in my head.

I think the brain's ability to manifest stress into physical sensations is incredible. For example, when I finally arrived at the hostel this morning and laid down for a well deserved nap, it actually felt like the room was spinning and that I was inflating like a blow up mattress. I'm sure many of you are quite familiar with the sensation. However, it normally only happens after a long night involving embarrassing dance moves and one too many vodka tonics (or Miller Lite, if you're Eric Lowry). To be experiencing the dreaded 'spins' at 7:15 am in a tiny bed in a hostel in South America by myself while completely sober was not the way I wanted to start this thing off. Such is life.

Leaving the comforts of my house (and my jobless, fun-filled life) was incredibly difficult. I slept for a grand total of 15 minutes on the night before I left. Unfortunately, I couldn't pour those idle hours into something productive like practicing Spanish or completing my TEFL certification. I just sat there and tried to make sure my heart didn't literally beat out of my chest. After I left the house, things felt better. That only lasted until my Mom, sister and G-ma dropped me off at the airport. I cried a bit and felt like vomiting for a solid 20 minutes after that goodbye.

Something again seemed to change as soon as I got onto the plane though. I felt focused and a strange sense of confidence washed over me. My mission in South America had begun and I was going to take care of business. I slept in 1.5-2 hours shifts on the plane ride and each time I woke up what I was about to do slowly came back to me. It wasn't a terrible feeling but it wasn't one I enjoyed experiencing 4 or 5 times.

Finally, my plane landed and the panic of figuring out how to get out of the airport masked any remaining apprehension. As a giant of a man (had to be at least 6'8'') walked me to the van that would take me to the hostel, I started to calm down. The overwhelmed feeling went away and I realized I was actually in Santiago, Chile. A place I never would have expected myself to see as little as a year ago.

The city is a lot like other big cities. Lots of big, glass business buildings buttressed by high rise apartment buildings. I'd read about Chile's problem with stray dogs and wondered just how bad it could be. I've gotta say, it's pretty bad. There are stray dogs everywhere. Don't worry, they're friendly and don't seemed to be too bothered by sleeping anywhere and everywhere. I'm sure they make good use of the trash that seems to pile up in some places.

I checked into the hostel and was surprised to find that I was the first person in my room to arrive. I took a couple minutes to look around and reorganize some things in my backpack. That's when the spins hit. I cured them with my first Chilean siesta. By the time I woke up, the other 3 guys that would share the room had arrived so we introduced ourselves and etc. We'd been told that all meals were served at the hostel but found this not to be true when we asked about breakfast & lunch and were kindly told that dinner would be served at 7:30 pm. We decided to venture out into the city to find lunch and something to do with our day. We went to a small restaurant where I had a sandwich with chicken, red bell peppers & mayo. It was pretty good.

The restaurant was right near one of the large hills implanted right in the middle of the city so we took the opportunity to explore by hiking to the top where there's a statue of the Virgin Mary. It wasn't a difficult climb but I definitely didn't have the appropriate attire for a mid-afternoon walk in the 90 degree heat. The view of the city that we found at the top was definitely worth it though. For as far as I could see, in every single direction, there was the city. It's incredible how expansive it is. Sometimes it's good to feel small and this was one of those times.