Santiago de Chile – Day 3: The Sunset of a Thousand Miles
SANTIAGO DE CHILE
Day 3: The Sunset of a Thousand Miles
April 12, 2023
It took a while for it to dawn on me the second I woke up. Hell, I didn’t even realise until I stood in front of the mirror as I was brushing my teeth. This was my last day. My very last day. 252 days on the road. And this was my last.
I had been expecting this day with so much dread. I thought I’d be this nervous, jittery wreck on the verge of a complete meltdown. Now that it was here, I felt… numb and hollow, and, in a way, peaceful and calm. The wave of sadness and grief that I thought would overcome me on this day was nowhere to be seen. I guess I had made my peace with going back all throughout this journey – right from the very start.
At first, it was me wanting to go back to a job that I love. Then it was me wanting to practice skills I learnt throughout the trip back home. Then it was me looking forward to everything that was in store for me, to see what I make for myself in general.
Acceptance
Whilst this day would mark the end of a beautiful chapter, probably the most beautiful thus far in my life, I found myself excited at the prospect of seeing what the rest of my life would look like. It’d be good to go back. It’d be hard, sure, but it’d also be good. To catch up with the people that I love. To start preparing to go back to a job that I love. To keep up all the things I had been doing throughout this journey. To start planning future trips. Going back home would just be the start of a new chapter.
As I walked all over the city, I felt as if I had been walking in slow motion, trying to absorb every single detail for the last time – the very same transitory ghost of the previous day saying its final goodbyes before departing for the afterlife. The sense of excitement and adrenaline that always accompanies me when I roam around new streets was now replaced by a certain aura of peaceful resignation. I didn’t feel like wallowing or wasting the little time I had by overthinking everything.
One Last Sunset
Looking back on this trip, one of the things that made it the absolute best experience ever was the people I’ve met along the way. And so, as much as I loved my own company, I didn’t want to spend my last day in Latin America all alone.
Emiliano, the guy I had met while on tour back in San Pedro de Atacama, had stayed in touch ever since we met. We had this flirty vibe going on, so the second he arrived in Santiago, I hit him up and asked him out. He picked me up in his fancy car, we had lunch, went to Cerro San Cristobal, and then to the Sky Costanera – the tallest building in all of Latin America. Sixty-two floors up, the city of Santiago was literally at our feet.
As the soft golden light of the sunset painted the city orange, a new city seemed to come alive with the blinking lights on the roads and those of the skyscrapers around us lit up. Looking at the view, I felt myself coming back to life. It was just beautiful.
And, undoubtedly, I’d be seeing more of this someday. I’d be more than okay. I’d go back full of experiences – full of memories I shall cherish for the rest of my life. And I would go on to make more. I was not finished – I had only just begun.