downtown living, etc

So, the past two weeks in the new apartment have been wonderful!!! It's 5 bedrooms in an old building which is instantly 10 degrees cooler when you open the front door, and Rodrigo has great decorating style and the place is funky, cute, and very green! He has lots of cacti growing in pots everywhere (they give off good energy supposedly), maps and pictures of his travels everywhere, and our (me and Jenna's) rooms are painted a happy shade of green with big comfy beds, and my windows open right up on to downtown Santiago! We are basically right next to everything I could ever want, we pass by Starbucks and the Presidential palace on the way to school every day, there are tons of cafes and restaurants, a sushi place around the block with 1/2 price sushi every day 6-close, the plaza de armas (main square), plenty of cafe con piernas (haha), the most fun neighborhoods, parks... everything!!! It's so fun to be in the hustle and bustle of the business sector (note that when I say fun I am looking at it in a positive light and ignoring the fact that outside of my window people think that if everyone honks their horn 20 times the light will turn green). Our apartment is spanish-speaking only (except when our gossip sessions cannot be expressed in spanish). Rodrigo, the owner, is a very down to earth, active, positive, "buena honda" guy; Joe is our age and is from California, quiet yet really fun and funny; Mariella from Germany, also very quiet but so nice; and mi amor Jenna. In the afternoons Jenna, Joe and I will sit around the table watching The Office. And, today I joined the YMCA which is next door, swam laps in the 80 degree water in the lane I shared with 8 people, yet I enjoyed it so thoroughly - felt great to swim laps!!!
So, I am very happy to be in this great space, with great people, and getting to experience living downtown in a big city. It all kinda came together and happened at the perfect time, too.
This week we celebrated Jenna's 20th with a small fiesta at our apartment, and towards the end Jenna, Chicho and I were getting all emotional because we were so happy yet so sad to know that this perfection must come to a close some day... It's an interesting thing, and what I have come to notice through my travels, is that the locals who I meet and grow to love, well we have these amazing friendships and memories, and then I leave and travel on to a new place.. For so many people the whole experience of traveling is outside of their mentality and their reality, and a lot of these people will stay put while I keep moving... (does that make sense?).