estoy aquí!

well, i made it. i'm aware i'm going to have to do some backtracking, but i'd first like to share my experiences this evening.

i had a late start of the day because of a late night, and eventually wandered out of the house around 9pm, after spending the afternoon watching Ben-Hur in dubbed Spanish with Erika, one of the ladies of the house, while simultaneously looking for apartments online and catching up on business affairs.

i was headed out 'sola' because all the lovely people i had met last night had gone to the mountains or to the beach. i decided to take advantage of my lonely planet guide and find a new part of town in which to have dinner. off i went, to a new part of providencia.

av. providencia is beautiful, with plane trees lining the avenue and wide sidewalks for ample strolling opportunities. there are churches scattered here and there, restaurants and stores all mixed together with apartments and office buildings above.

however, on this good friday of semana santa (holy week) there was hardly a soul in sight, and i set off feeling as though the street had been made just so i could walk its length. i arrived at the restaurant, only to find that it was closed. i was about to turn around when three young people started asking me questions in rapid spanish. turns out they were foreigners as well, and that my handy-dandy lonely planet had the very restaurant listed that they were looking for. we started back towards the correct street, and i asked if i could join them since my restaurant had been closed.

so, there i was, with three new friends, Lina, David and Álmanzo. They study engineering, politcs and geography, respectivally. And, it turns out it was Álmanzo's birthday. We headed to Pizza Nuestra, which was delicious and very Italian in its thinness, and had a good time discussing what we all did, how we each came to be here, and then finally, the Iraq War and the upcoming election. (They want Bush out and the war over.)

My new friends walked me all the way back to my homestay and then we exchanged numbers and they walked off into the night. I think this is a good town.