Getting to a new country during a trip always takes some getting used to, especially if you've been on the road for a while. New rules, a different culture, changing currency, often another language,... Some recalibration is required. In Chile's case, quite a bit of recalibration. A country that turned out to be a lot more rule-bound and organized, culturally less intense (or overbearing, depending on who you ask), seemingly more prosperous but definitely more expensive than Argentina. It's demanding, if exciting, to discover these differences little by little and to get settled in the mindset that best suits the new environment. It can take a bit of time, which, luckily, we have plenty of.

After a few days in massive, breezy and somewhat eery Santiago we escaped to quieter pastures with friends from Copenhagen who were on vacation in the country. It was a relief (and sometimes a challenge) to become part of a group of people where decision-making was mostly shared, requiring less persistent individual initiative. We drove north for a full day, arriving at a rental cabin in Pisco Elqui by nightfall. The setting was simply stunning. A lush, irrigated valley carved itself through arrid, cactus-covered hills, vineyards and little villages all around. As the name suggests, this valley constitutes the heart of the Chilean pisco-making region, and only the liquor distilled here can bear the name pisco. A bit like Chilean champagne in that regard. Pisco is distilled from fermented grape juice and matured in oak casks. It's becoming increasingly clear to me that humanity would have long ceased to exists if not for the discovery of fermentation. If you haven't yet, visit you local cocktail bar and order a pisco sour, a delicious lime-eggwhite concoction that, if made right, will blow your socks off. At least it did Maria's and mine.

Even more spectacular than the landscape in northern Chile is what sits on top. Home to over 50% of the world's telescope infrastructure, this part of the country provides exceptionally clear skies throughout the year. At night, the Milky Way becomes a glowing band cutting through the darkness with thousands of stars scattered everywhere. Remembering my childhood astronomy club years, I spent a few evenings staring up at this vastness and attempting to pinpoint some southern-hemisphere constellations. Capturing the night's sky is one of the more tricky areas in photography, but I've been slowly getting better at creating manual exposures and managed to get some sharp shots. It's fascinating to me that due to the very low shutter speed, astrophotographs often reveal many more stars than the human eye can immediately detect. The photograph in this story was definitely a testament to that.

A whole week went by in a tranquil heartbeat, the second half spent at our Chilean friend Dani's parent's estate in the hills of Melipilla. We were met with generous hospitality and easy comfort. We ate and drank a lot and splashed around in various pools to cast off the summer heat. I finished my third book of the trip, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, in my Kindle-driven quest to immerse myself in fiction reading this year. To me, traveling is as much about trying new experiences as it is about enjoying mundane ones in a conducive setting. Reading, running, ruminating may be some of my favorites. I'm happy that there's been plenty of time for that this past period.

But it's not all fun and games! A long-term trip requires long-term financial planning as well as scrutinous and at times tedious money management. On a daily budget of at most 50 euros, keeping track of expenses and minimizing unnecessary costs is critical. A good way to do it is to use cash as often as possible, avoiding credit card fees and being able to hold what you can spend in the palm of your hand. While Argentinian inflation meant piles and piles of 500 peso bills, Chilean money is a bit more stable yet still inflated, and taking out 450000 pesos (500 euro) from the difficult-to-find ATMs comes with a decided amount of healthy paranoia. Being the nerd that I am, an increasingly detailed Excel-sheet is emerging at my hands to keep a continuous eye on monthly spending and income. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this increased scrutiny is revealing many unneccessary subscriptions and hidden payments I wouldn't have questioned during periods of steady salary. My reporting revealed an overspending of 2 euro per day in January, to be compensated for when we get to less expensive countries in coming months. To give you an idea of the amounts that should be considered as significant on a trip like this.

In other news, Maria's foot is slowly getting back to normal. It's been nearly a month since the broken toe and we'll likely be hiking-ready in a few more weeks. We're making our way through the Harry Potter films in happy nostalgia and trying to not take life too seriously. And we've been practicing a fair bit of violin in preparation for Ethno Chile, the music exchange where we'll be teaching and learning some traditional folk songs, and which starts today! Over the next eight days, we'll be immersed in music and getting to know dozens of local and international musicians in the process. Maria and I met at an Ethno camp in Belgium, 14 years ago, so this experience will carry special significance to us. We've been rediscovering our love for making music and for doing so together and I have a feeling that the coming days will only strengthen those feelings.

February 2nd, 2022