The Last One: Wherein Nate and Erin Cleverly Wrap Up Their Adventures with a Photo Montage

To Our Dear, Faithful Blog Readers,

Apologies for the lack of posts in the past month. This will, sadly, be the final post of our blog outlining our adventures in Chile. Because we've neglected the poor blog for a good chunk of time, the easiest way to catch everyone up on our latest and greatest endeavors is with pictures.

We spent our last week in Chile treating ourselves like royalty. This meant 3+ meals a day (sometime in restaurants!), coffees from Starbucks whenever we wanted, unfettered Lost watching, sleeping til 10, and meeting friends out nearly every day. It was glorious. We even cleverly handed over our apartment and cell phone to a new couple who arrived to work at Comunicorp. It was as if they assumed our identities, living in our apartment the day after we left, adopting our cell number, replacing us at work. Very odd. The night before we left we had a little despedida (farewell party) at a bar called Cabo Frio. It was not the drunken orgy we had anticipated (we had packed the day before just in case we needed the whole day to... relax...), but it was a nice gathering of good friends, good beers, and goodbyes.

Erin and Janine and some douche in the background.
Louise, Jose, Janine and Gonzalo
Nate and Gonzalo discussing what, exactly, makes girls so damn crazy and hard to understand.
Irish David and Chilean Tania

We were driven to the airport by our Scottie friend Fiona and her boyfriend German. We drank one last mini-bottle of Chilean wine at an airport bar before boarding the flight... Erin and Fiona
We used everything we brought with us. We swear.

Back at home in the States was a whirlwind of activity. We were greeted in Lexington by a dinner of smoked ribs, grits, grilled veggies, and delicious non-Chilean beer. We spent a few days with Nate's parents (during which time Erin got used to calling him "Nat" again), and did approximately 142 loads of laundry. On the second day back, they went to Roanoke to pick out The Ring. Erin has a tiny engagement ring with which Nate proposed in Patagonia, but there is another Ring on its way, complete with a family diamond. Unfortunately, it hasn't been made yet, so no pictures. But I will describe it: it is big and sparkly.

We drove up to DC that weekend to hang out with friends and attend an engagement party (ours). We caught up with friends we hadn't seen in forever, played lawn darts, drank beer, grilled food. It was nice. Erin also propositioned her 3 female friends to be her bridesmaids by giving them Chilean jewelry. Luckily they all said yes.

Lawn darts
Karen and Christine (bridesmaids to be!)
Christine, Erin, and Karen

Our engagement party (slash Christine's birthday party) was at a bar in DC and was crowded but awesome. After a $40 cab ride into DC (damn these American taxis!), Erin realized she forgot her ID at home. She swore she wasn't used to taking it out in Chile, and she tried telling the bouncer it was her engagement party, etc., but he wouldn't let her in for a while. After a few panicked moments, he quizzed her on her birthday, age, sign, and finally let her in. Thanks to everyone who came to the party--it was great to see you. And, since we never revealed who really wrote the e-vite (and consequently did not give out any free drinks), the answer was this: it was a collaborative effort between Erin, Nate and Karen. I know. We're tricky and stingy. Sorry.

After a rough morning , we got on a plane and headed down to Florida to hang out with Erin's grandma and parents. The weekend was spent mostly being force fed delicious Chinese food by Erin's grandma. Her apparent line of thinking was that if you couldn't pack away at least 7 lbs of food at each meal you either didn't like her cooking or you were anorexic. She even insulted Nate's eating abilities, saying something like "Erin told me you could eat a lot, but...". Needless to say, we loved her food, but began dreading mealtimes. To escape we headed out to the beach and enjoyed swimming in water that was above freezing. It was awesome. Sorry, Chile, but Florida's beaches have you beat.

Nate chasing his shadow
On a boat headed out to a restaurant on an island.
3 generations of crazy women.

After hanging out in Florida for a few days, we flew back to DC. We spent one day there before Erin flew out to Denver to look for a house. The fun part was she got to stay with Whitey and Meg in Colorado Springs, two friends of ours we went to school with who also happen to be getting married. The sucky part was that she had to find a house. After multiple panic attacks and a phone call to Nate every hour to cry about how she could not possibly find a house by herself, she found a place. We'll be living in a garden level (read: basement with windows) apartment in the Highlands. The Highlands are just outside Denver, and pretty much close to everything we need. The couple who live above us (and who also own the house) are also involved in furniture production/woodworking, so Nate will most likely get along with them well and the three of them can haul out the sanders and table saws and drill presses and all those other woodworking gadgets and play together in the backyard. Erin is mostly excited about this new place (it has two bedrooms and its own washer and dryer!!) because the kitchen is straight out of the 1950s, complete with pink oven, countertops, and stove. It rules.

After the Denver trip, Nate picked Erin up at the airport and they headed down once more to Lexington. The past few days have been filled with Nate working on enlarging his parents' deck and Erin researching wedding venues. She'll be picking up her parents this weekend so they can come down, bond with the other set of parents, and look at wedding venues.

A happy boy with his truck and power tools.

And now for the very exciting future. We'll be moving out to Denver during the week of May 30-June 5. Erin will be going to school at the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies in Boulder. Nate, meanwhile, will find a way to earn us some money until we both start teaching in the fall. Nate will also attend woodworking courses during the year, and will hopefully get to do it full-time next year. We have plans to get a dog (eventually) and a car. The wedding will probably take place in Fall of 2008, but nothing is set in stone. If any of you fabulous blog readers are ever out in Colorado, definitely let us know. I hear they have good skiing and rock climbing there.

Erin's email: eefayx@gmail.com

Erin's phone: 540-460-2839

Nate's email: emailmroliver@gmail.com

Nate's phone: 540-460-1274

I'll try not to get too cheesy on you, but we just want to say thanks for reading our blog and supporting us during our adventures down south. We had a blast in Chile. Like any extended period of time abroad, it had its definite ups (Patagonia, San Pedro) and downs (no money, 200 square foot apartment). We made some good friends, and we can both passably conduct an entire conversation in Spanish. We're happy to be home, but we'll always remember Chile fondly. It's the place where they have not only street musicians, but also street jugglers, street break dancers, street comedians, and street magicians. It's a place where people sell you ice cream on buses in the summer. It's got Patagonia, and it's got the desert, and it's got some beautiful beaches. It's got choripan. And wine. It's a place where the people are open and inviting, and curious. It's the place where we got engaged. It's a place that has a lot of culture and nature to offer, and you should definitely visit if you ever get the chance. We'll let you use the blog as a guide.