It's Chilean Independence Day

I'm celebrating! Though not as much in love with the idea of setting up shop in Chile as I was earlier this summer, I still think it's a nice country. My reasons, to be honest, are fairly shallow. Chile has (in order of importance):
1. Penguins
2. Lots of views of the ocean
3. Wine
4. Snow
Penguins on the list is kind of self-explanatory. They're just that awesome. I have a feeling that I'd be able to handle 3,861 miles of coastline. Snow and Sarah, starting with the same letter, are obviously very compatible, and I like Chilean wine a lot*.

I've been looking for a Neruda sonnet to post, but I've not been able to find an appropriate one. The sonnets on love, wonderful though some are, are just not very independence-y (and quite heavy-handed on the longing bit - I'm certainly not in the mood for that). Anyway, if my work uncovers a particularly great example of Chilean poetry, I'll let you know. Until then, however, I'm eating an empanada and enjoying a fairly nice merlot. For the rest of the day, at least, my head is in the Southern hemisphere. Viva Chile!

*We get along quite well because, well, I enjoy good and inexpensive things - two things that Chilean wine does quite well and fairly predictably.