Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Chile!!! Here is a summary of the past few days:)

On Thursday we had therapy at 8 and then 11:30. Abby was great! She performed every exercsie and only shed a few brief tears with the really scary ones ie. the ones that really challenege her balance and force her to be free. The video shows her walking with just a band of schmata wrapped at her thigh. Ramon is simply providing balance but is not actually holding on to Abby. It was very cool!!

Because our 2 sessions were early in the day it allowed us to have a little adventure. After the second session, we all boarded the double decker bus and headed off for a tour of the city. The open top bus was great on the sunny afternoon. It took us all around the city and we could get off at any stop and then jump back on as many times as we wanted. Our big stop was the central fish market in downtown Santiago. It is a landmark location! It is a traditional slinging fish market with Augusto's in the middle. We had a lunch in the market which consisted of a HUGE King Crab that the 3 of us split!! It was amazing. Soooo yummy!!! After lunch Abby and Jack found a llama outside and hopped on for a quick pic...of course:)

Friday was only one session because of New Years Eve - Ramon only worked a half day, which was a blessing in disguise because Abby was really tired this day. I think the week of hard work has caught up to her so it was good to be done in the am and then have the weekend to rest. We hung out at the apartment and then spent the afternoon in the Marriott pool. Quiet New Years but we did get a good view of the fireworks from our balcony. Even Jack woke up to ring in the New Year!!

Today was New Years Day and we headed off for our big adventure to Vina del Mar, a little town on the coast. It was a beautiful hour and a half drive through the mountains and into the valleys littered with vineyards....and the odd stray dog wandering across the highway! We arrived in the busy little town to find the beach busier than we would have expected - I guess the beach is a cheaper alternative for the drunken partiers:) We found our spot and played on the beach and put our feet in the Pacific. Too cold to go all the way in and the waves were pretty rough:) After some time on the beach it was up to the boardwalk to shop the little huts full of trinkets and jewelery. Great deals!!! I was in heaven!! One man even ran after us down the beach because we had paid too much....such wonderful, genuine and honest people here!! Lunch at a great spot just off the main road and then back for a little more sand and surf. It has been a long day!!!

Tomorrow is just some R&R at the apartment and then back at the therapy on Monday for our final week. It has been an excellent week and we are already looking forward to coming back to Chile:)

Stay tuned.....