Polyglot or Bon Vivant

I watched a video about twins from England who are polyglots. Each one speaks more than six languages fluently. And here, I've been patting myself on the back just for wading through Spanish.

The video shows one of the twins demonstrating his extraordinary skills. I noticed that he cycled from Hebrew to French to Catalan to Spanish to Portuguese. Listening hard, I tried to understand him in languages other than English or Spanish and heard many similarities in the romance languages. I've been thinking about trying to learn a third language, though I'm not sure which it would be. Where would I most like to visit next? That would be the biggest motivator for me because I plan to keep traveling.

In a travel article I recently read, the author listed eight reasons that travel can make you healthier. Among them were pleasure, sense of purpose, and challenge to keep the mind sharp. Also, smiling for all those selfies. Apparently, just the act of smiling sends the "happy" message to your brain. It's hard to feel down when you're smiling.

Between practicing for my selfies and tickling my brain with new information, I may live to be 112. Wonder how many languages I could learn by then.

~~Sally Rose
Author of Penny Possible & A Million Sticky Kisses
iamsallyrose.com

Time Warp

Back in Chile a little more than a month and I am just now settling into a regular routine again.

I suppose it didn't help that I arrived here exhausted, only stayed a few days, then set off for a week in Chiloé. In reality, I've only been back in Santiago for three weeks, but one thing is apparent. I'm not in Kansas any more, Dorothy.

I instantly jumped from spring into autumn. Skipping summer altogether, I returned to my tiny downtown Santiago apartment where my sedate existence was upturned. Like in Jerry Seinfeld's Bizarro World, everything is opposite.

Contrary to the quiet of the past six months, from 1 to 2pm, a lone saxophonist stands near the corner of Merced and Miraflores. I can hear him from my apartment if I am in my kitchen. In the evening, a band of buskers paints their faces and marches through the neighborhood like clockwork, an itinerant flute and drum corp. Late nights, I can hear another musician on a different corner. I'd feel like I'm living in the circus, except that I like this music and it's far enough away to sound soulful or lively, rather than ear-splitting.

My internal clock is now shoved forward a few hours. Instead of going to bed at 10pm like in the US, I'm sometimes finishing dinner at 10pm. Time slows down here, yet fast forwards to late night party and dinner invitations whose start time is more a suggestion than an expectation. Depending on where I am, I'm either in bed with the chickens or up until the cows come home. A slight exaggeration, but welcome to Bizarro World.

~~Sally Rose

High Luxury Indeed

It seems that I'm not the only one thinking of Chiloé. This article was posted yesterday in Forbes magazine.

Though I'll admit to being a travel princess, my trip was somewhat less glamorous than this, but I'm not complaining. And I can dream, can't I?

Chiloé, the Lesser-Known Emerald Isle

I'm still sorting through photos of my magical trip to Chiloé, though this one might be my favorite.

As if its stunning natural beauty weren't reason enough to visit, it is home to sixteen patrimonial wooden churches which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I visited five churches this time, so only eleven more to go next time I'm in Chiloé.

I spent three nights in Ancud, then another four nights in Castro. Janice, at Solo Travel Society, calls herself a solo BoBo. Part Bourgeois, part Bohemian traveler. That description might fit me, too. Being a "princess," I stayed in hotels in both places rather than in hostals, but though I was traveling alone, I had no trouble meeting fellow adventurers.

Along the way, I met a Finnish businessman, a Swiss couple, a French pharmacist, and an ESL teacher from the US who has been living in Saudia Arabia. I also met some good local tour guides and, finally, at the airport I met a teacher, who invited me to return to Chiloé to volunteer in her classes, and on the plane,a young Chilean movie producer.

The allure of the lesser-known emerald isle is difficult to describe. If you visit my Pinterest page, my photos can show you more than I could ever say.

Happy Easter from Chiloé

When I arrived here in Chiloé on Friday afternoon, it was raining cats and dogs. I got soaked just dragging my bag from the bus terminal to the taxi stand. Rain was predicted for every day this week, but miraculously, that evening, it cleared up and, except for a fierce fog this morning, has been beautiful ever since.

Yesterday, after breakfast, I went straight to the Visitors Center of the Churches because I wanted to see their display of Chiloé's famed wooden churches, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Cerrado. Closed for Easter weekend. Instead, I walked back to visit the Ancud Museum. It was a small museum, but entry was free and they had some interesting exhibits. After that, I walked to the Mercado and the Feria.

I had been told that I could arrange a tour of the area in one of tourist centers at the Mercado, but they, too, were cerrado. It seemed to me that most everything was closed for Easter.

I walked two circles of downtown Ancud before finally returning to my hotel in frustration. At the reception desk, I asked the young lady how in the world I was going to see anything of the area if there were no tours.

At first, she just shook her head at me and I was giving up hope of seeing more than the few blocks around the hotel when she had an idea. She dialed a phone number and, suddenly, I was connected with a tour guide who was available, willing, and able to conduct a tour on Easter Sunday.

We made the arrangements and he arrived precisely on time this morning at 10:15. We traversed the entire northern end of Chiloé. We visited a wooden church, Caleta Puñihuil, Faro Corona (Corona Lighthouse), a chicha (fermented apple cider) festival, and other parts before arriving back at the hotel at 6:30.

I had spent a unique day touring this spectacular area of Chile. If you ever need a tour of Ancud, contact me because I know a good guide.

Happy Easter!

Chasing Winter

One week from now, I will be on my way to the airport, heading back to Chile for their fall and winter. I'm a winter-chaser. I admit it. While some people are "snowbirds," avoiding winter. I am a "sunbird." I dodge summer.


If the temperature goes above 70º, about 20º Celsius, I am uncomfortable. Considering that air conditioning is not the norm in Santiago, and that my apartment has none, I stay away during Chile's hotter months.

I've been watching the weather carefully this year. A few weeks ago, it looked like summer in Santiago was on the wane and fall temperatures had arrived, but last week, summer came back with a vengeance. Santiago temperatures reached up into the 90's. Whoa!

Some like it hot, and then there's me. Since I can't change my return date, I guess I'll have to sweat it out for a bit, literally, when I return, but I'm considering another alternative. Land in Santiago, repack, and then go further south to the island of Chiloé where it's a blissful 57º today.

According to a report on Philly.com, fall is a great time to visit. "After summer vacation...Local tourists go home; the leaves turn red and yellow." One woman is quoted in the article as saying, "I know this is Chile, but I feel as if I'm somewhere else, in Vermont or England."

Fall is my very favorite season and I've wanted to visit Chiloé for a very long time. Bonus: I hear the seafood there is to die for. Thanks for the push, climate change.

Coming Soon

Ever since my first volunteer visits to Chile, I've been threatening to publish a book about my experiences.

That was back in 2009 and 2010. The story was written then and has sat, forlorn, in a computer file until now.

Last September, I returned to the US to publish this book. Little did I realize how long it would take to actually get it done. I was blissfully ignorant of the endless edits, the delays, the waiting. The revisions. I have read and reread the manuscript until I am cross-eyed.

Now, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I've approved the cover and the final "big" revision is done. "A Million Sticky Kisses" is now being formatted.

It's a good thing, too, because I want to have this book in my suitcase when I board the plane to return to Chile. With less than three weeks to go, I feel like I am playing Beat the Clock.

Coming soon, very soon, "A Million Sticky Kisses," the story of a gringa teacher in Chile.