Going to Chile is alot like going to the field as an Army infantryman. You get your hair cut short so you don't need to worry about it; you pack your gear carefully, following a list to make sure that you don't forget anything; you get up really early to get where you are going.
	My housemate Jen drove me to the airport early in the morning. I got up well before five to start a pot of coffee for her after sleeping surprisingly well. I sat at the aiport amazed that I was actually going - it had been on my mind for months that I was making this trip, and I waited for my shuttle flight with tears of happiness in my eyes at the caring I felt from my parents for making the whole thing possible. My advisor, J.J., helped by giving me the time off; my good friend Brian by covering my TA duties for the three weeks of school I was going to miss.	This is Jen, my housemate. She doesn't like being up early in the morning, but she took me to the airport anyway.
	The flight from L.A. to Santiago was pretty nice. I was on LAN Chile, the Chilean national airline, which I imagine was pretty much like american airlines used to be before the took all the amenities away. Plenty of empty seats, the stewardesses all perfectly uniformed and uniformly young and cute. Wine with dinner, and an after-dinner drink cart with appropriate liqeurs. The flight stopped in Mexico City; I hadn't visited there in a while and was still amazed at the vast spread of lights in the valley - an amazing number of people live there. There were a couple of other guys on their way down to paddle in Chile. They were readily identifiable by their clothes and I talked to them for a while. No one else was headed for the Futaleufu - they were all going to paddle what was left of the Bio-Bio. I watched the movies they showed, then spread out in two window seats across from the stewardess rest area and slept some of the way.
	Morning brought a rapid sunrise and early landing in Santiago. The airport in Santiago was probably the most efficient I have been through - it only took about 20 minutes to collect baggage and clear customs and catch a taxi into the city. I've travelled around Central America a bit as a result of growing up a state department brat, and Chile seemed quite different. There were the horses and bicycles and dogs and pigs on the road in from the airport, but the taxi was new and modern and shiny and the driver has a cell phone. The city skyline itself seemed to be growing as we watched; there was an amazing amount of construction going on, mostly high rises, and it served as a very visible reminder of Chile's booming economy.
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