A new year, a new adventure to begin

Well, it's 2013....amazing how this year has flown by. I feel like just yesterday I was packing up my New York City apartment in order to set out on a life-changing journey. One year later, I'm in South America, maybe to live for awhile, and with a new perspective and some new life goals as we move into a new year. A lot has certainly changed....

I arrived in Santiago a few weeks ago to begin settling into my new life and putting the pieces together of job prospects, apartment hunting and networking connections. After re-acquainting myself with some of the familiar spots, I headed to Buenos Aires to visit friends over the Christmas holiday. Being a predominantly catholic country I was surprised at how "un-christmas like" the city was. Few lights adorned apartments, stores were not bombarded with decorations and trees, people didn't seem to have that anxious holiday energy. Perhaps the Christmas frenzy exists only in the US? After a few sweltering days in the Argentina heat, we headed to Uruguay for some R&R in Punta del Este, one of the most famous southeastern coastal vacation spots in the country.

Punta is known to many as "the Hamptons of South America" where the tanned and beautiful roam the beaches by day and the clubs by night. This is certainly the case, but we opted for a more relaxed week of soaking in the sun and touring the various parts of the city and neighboring areas. Our residence, Casa Pueblo, was a vacation all in itself as it is a famous house of a Uruguayan artist, now a hotel, museum and restaurant attracting tourists to some of the best sunsets I have seen in my life to date. For new years eve, we attended a beautiful house party, where the DJ tunes gave way to dancing into sunrise of 2013.

Casa Pueblo

After a week of sun and fun, we divided up as a group and I continued on with my friend Jaclyn to another beach town, Punta del Diablo, just 3 hours north of Punta del Este along the coast. For those familiar with the New York city summer retreats: If Punta del Este is to the Hamptons, Punta del Diablo is to Fire Island, totally my vibe. The sleepy beach town is filled with holiday house rentals, loosely structured cabanas adorned with hammocks, hippie-like hostels and a strip of restaurants and bars in the "centro". Unfortunately, due to the high season, we weren't able to secure a place to sleep (aside from the beach) so we spent the day and then headed to Montevideo where we spent the next 2 days soaking up a few more rays along the city's coast.

Punta del Diablo

Now, back in Buenos Aires after a fantastic and relaxing start to the new year, I'm packing up my backpack once more to head south, very south, (to the end of the world to be exact) to begin an adventure through Patagonia. Sending much love to my friends and family around the world and a happy new year! more to come soon....besitos!!