Chile

I had a nice walk (in 3C weather, brr) with a friend yesterday. We stopped into a Middle Eastern place for a lunch. We had falafel sandwiches, pretty good and inexpensive. My friend just came back from Chile. They also did a cruise from Chile, thru the apparently narrow Panama Canal and into Ft. Lauderdale, Fla, then back home. Apparently the cruise ships pay a ton of money to go through the canal and they seem to barely fit. It must be hard to make a profit.

My friend reports that the Chileans are very hospitable. They were forced to leave their hotel on the coast one night because the Japan tsunami was headed there. They hitched a ride up into the mountains and a poor family fed them and put them up for the night and refused to take any money. She wants to go back and do the southern portion of the country.

Speaking of travel, my sister was commenting on the experience of a long trip abroad with a couple of good friends. Some people really knock themselves out trying to see absolutely everything there is to see in the short time they are visiting. Rick Steves always says 'assume you will return', in all his travel guides. It's a point well made. You can always go back, it may be better to see some special places and to take the time to savour the experience. Unless everyone in your party is of the same mindset. What do you think?