Today is the last day of my challenge – a post for every day of February about something that I love about living in Chile.  I made it!  There were times that I didn’t think I would – not that I didn’t have something to write about, but because I couldn’t be bothered, or didn’t really have time, to write, but somehow, I got here.

So, there’s already 27 posts about things that I love about living in Chile, and there’s many more little things that make me happy about being here. But there’s one thing that would be difficult to live without, anywhere in the world, and no, it’s not wine.

It’s friends. The most important thing, the thing that helped me decide to stay, and that has kept me going.  All of the things I love would be insignificant if I couldn’t share them with … friends!

I was lucky to meet a lovely group of friends when I first arrived in Santiago, people from all over the world, with many and varied interests. While I was weighing up the many advantages of staying here, having a base of good friends certainly helped me decide.

I never intended to “hang out” with other foreigners, but as it turned out, my best friends here are from all corners of the world – Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, and yes, Chile!

I love and miss my friends back home in Australia, and those that I don’t get to see much in other parts of the world.

If I could tele-transport them all to share a long lunch in a winery at the foot of The Andes, then I would surely do it in a heart-beat.  And, I would probably tick off about 5-6 things from my list of favourites all in one go!

Even making my way here to Chile allowed me to catch up with long-but-not-lost friends in England and Germany, and to meet great new friends in Argentina.

And, I’ve been lucky enough to have some friends visit me while I’ve been here.  I’ve loved catching up with them and sharing a little of Chile with them. While I’m here, I’d like to encourage MANY more to come and visit (maybe not all at once, but hey, we’d find a way!). It’s really not THAT far and, as you can see from my previous posts, there’s plenty of things to love about the place.

And please don’t think that this excludes family.  Family can be friends and, even more so when you travel, friends can be family!

So, yes, great friends are something I love about living in Chile, and are an important factor wherever I live.  Here’s cheers to my wonderful friends, all around the world!

Besos x

PS. I didn’t ask anyone before I published your photo here but, hey, it’s more private than Facebook and, if you want it down, please let me know.  Also, I must owe photo credits to several people (since I’m in a lot of the photos) so apologies for not giving credit where it’s due.