I came back to Santiago today. Should have stayed another day at the beach in Viña, the city is like a ghost town because of the celebration of Immaculate Conception. Well, the celebration sure doesn't happen on the streets. And I don't see the reason to celebrate this, but I'm not a Catholic. I don't really see the reason to celebrate Whitsunday or Ascension Day either or all the other days when I don't really know what supposedly happened, but that's what you get when the church is affiliated with the state. I had to explain to a tourist on Whitsunday this year what was being celebrated and I had to think for a while before I gave an answer. I think the only people who really know what the case is with these days are old people and sunday schoolchildren. And priests of course. But what do I know, the highlight of going to sunday school for me was when the priest's wife read us a story. And I don't think any priest would call my faith Christianity, or any other religion for that matter. It's a mix-and-match; pick what you like but leave the rest. And on many things I don't even know what I believe. But I'm not here to anwer the big questions in life, so it doesn't matter. My favourite holiday is the very Icelandic First Day of Summer (in the end of April, while the ground is sometimes still covered in snow), now that's something worth celebrating!

For those who don't have a clue what I was on about in a previous post on the genocide in Rwanda you can read this; http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107926.html, very concise information on Rwanda, or this; http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560996/Rwanda.html, slightly more info. And notice the beautiful new flag, here you can read about what the colours symbolize; http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/rw.html#descr (yes, I am a flagnerd, it's a rather specific field of interest). For more detailed info on the genocide you can read The Rwanda Crisis by Gerard Prunier (but it's very "dry", it took me days to get through it) and another good book on the topic is We Wish To Inform You That Tommorow We Will be Killed With Our Families - stories from Rwanda, by Philip Gourevitch. My favourite book on the matter is Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey by Fergal Keane. I had that book years ago but left it at my then boyfriend's place and didn't have the heart (or courage) to contact him and ask for the book back. Will just buy it again when I get rich. Fergal Keane is one of BBC's foreign correspondents, he's also written the excellent Letters home. Just in case you needed something "nice" to read over the holidays...