"Welcome... to the desert." - Morpheus

Well i finally have something worthwhile to write about. i apologize for the frequent hiatuses but it's because one needs to save money in order to do exciting things. this past week i took a vacation to Northern Chile to San Pedro in the Atacama desert. even though it's a desert, it still has equally insane climates all over the place much like the rest of Chile.

but before i went there, i had a week with Alice where we celebrated our one year anniversary. it gets pretty cold in the winter in Santiago so we haven't been doing as much walking around or exploring lately. but that week we realized that we really missed doing that. so we bundled up and explored like crazy. on the tuesday of that week, we walked all around Las Condes which is a suburban (and pretty Americanized) part of Santiago that's close to Providencia. We got pretty lost doing that but we found a cool park that we want to explore during the daylight. later that week we got some really warm weather and decided to explore downtown Santiago a bit more. We saw this awesome building called the Palacio Cousino. it has crazy hours on the weekend (closing at 1:30pm? wtf?) but it's awesome. it's basically like walking into Mr. Burns's mansion and seeing different furniture and architecture from all around the world. apparently the family that lived there were gazillionaires. after that, we went back to La Moneda (which is a building in Santiago where the president of Chile lives) and explored the surrounding area. We saw a giant church that's only open for one hour per day. i want to go to there. Santiago is a really beautiful city in certain areas. you just have to give it a chance and be willing to walk around. all in all, it was a really nice way to say farewell before our trip.

we hired a van to pick us up and bring us to the airport. our plane landed in Calama which is a town that is a little over an hour from San Pedro. from there, we called a shuttle to drive us to San Pedro. we were given this advice as an alternative to taking a cab into Calama and buying a bus ticket to San Pedro. our shuttle was about $18 per person versus about $50 per person total for the cab and bus ride. totally saved some money as a result of taking Alessandro's advice. once we arrived in San Pedro it was well into the night. you couldn't see a thing outside the van besides what was lit by the street lights. we checked into our hostel and there was a slight problem. we had booked a private room but the people staying in the private room before us had an emergency and had to stay an extra night. as a result, we ended up staying in a 6 bedroom mixed dorm together for one evening. it wasn't that bad though and again, we ended up saving money at the end of the trip. the next morning we were eager to get up and check out the area surrounding our hostel. the sky was crystal clear and beautifully outlined the surrounding mountains and volcanoes.

the first full day we were in San Pedro we decided to relax and see the town. San Pedro is incredibly small and in the middle of nowhere. it's maybe about 7 or 8 blocks total. they have a "common" much like Burlington but it's about 1/30th the size of the Burlington common. There's also a church and some shops. it's verrrry touristic. while we were there i heard French, English, Spanish (duh), German, and more. the grocery stores sell food at incredibly high prices as a result of this. i think while i was in San Pedro, the money i spent on food was about equal to the amount of money i spent on excursions. oh and i also bought some totally sweet llama wool glittens and a llama wool hat for about $10 total.

oh the excursions. we chose our first relaxed day to check out the many many excursions on "the strip" of the town. we went to a lot of different companies but in the end, Atacama Connection gave us the best deal. We were going to be in San Pedro for 8 days and once we told them that they offered us a package of 4 tours for about $140 including entrance fees. this is a HUGE deal compared to buying them individually anywhere else as it would equal about $200. we took the deal and planned the rest of our vacation that day. we felt pretty damn good after that.

even though we bought food we decided to eat at this place that was kind of like a restaurant attached to a bike rental office. in this town, most every shop has something about an excursion attached to it. i'm telling you. even though it's small, there's PLENTY to do. at any rate the place had really good food. i had a steak sandwich with palta. we liked it so much that the next morning we went back there for breakfast. Alice had pancakes with manjar in them. have i talked about manjar here yet? let me explain.

manjar is kind of like if caramel and nutella had a baby. it's this awesome flavor added to most sweet things in Chile. i will miss it greatly when i leave. it's one of the most delicious things ever.

after we went to this restaurant, we headed back to our hostel. Iquisa Hostel is not that bad a place. the woman who runs it is there all the time. there are about 5 or 6 cats roaming around and they're pretty adorable. the ground is rustic and covered in rocks. the kitchen is small but efficient. our private room was incredibly warm during the cold nights in San Pedro. if you stay here, you definitely do not need to worry about freezing your butt off at night when you're trying to sleep COUGHCOUGHSANTIAGOCOUGHCOUGH.

the next day we went on our first excursion to several valleys. our guide (who looked a lot like Asa Clemenzi) first took us to the Valle de la Luna. this was an amazing first thing to see in San Pedro. the rock formations are like straight out of the grand canyon. we got to go to the edge of the cliffs and see down into the valley. we got some cool shots. the next valley we saw was the Valle de la Muerte. the rock formations looked a lot like teeth. the different layers of erosion in them made it look a little bit like cake as well. we saw people sandboarding there. it was incredibly windy. next stop was to the valley of the three sisters. it is so named because there is a specific rock formation there that looks like three points sticking up. this was our first glimpse at the salt in these valleys. it was pretty white. lastly, we went to this valle where we saw a rock structure called the "Ampitheatre" which looked a lot like a giant bowl. we hiked up to the top of a dune to watch the sun set. unfortunately it was a significantly cloudy day and we didn't really see much. but the experience was awesome. it was a great tour for our first day there.

that night we were preparing ourselves to go to bed early because we had to get up early (6am) to go to the Lagunas Altiplanicas the next day. however, we got a phone call saying that it had snowed a lot (yup. it snows in this desert) up in the mountains and that the roads were closed. so we had our tour switched.

the next morning we saw the Lagunas Cejas in the desert. of all of our trips, this one had the bumpiest ride through the desert. the buses they take you in for these tours must be like ATVs or something because it was bumpy as hell and we never tipped over or anything. people who have motions sickness should be cautious of this tour. at any rate, we went to three lakes in the middle of the desert. the first one looked a lot like a beach. people were allowed to swim in it if they wanted but the weather was freezing so not many did. the ones that did swim though, you are seriously adventurous. not for me though. next we saw two lakes that were about 7 or 8 feet underground. translation: you can't really swim in these. they looked like giant footprints in the desert. lastly, we went to see this laguna that was cool because it was surrounded by insane looking rocks that were incredibly hard to balance on. we got our complimentary food and snacks before we left. i can't believe they offer people pisco sour before the ride back on the bus. it's like "sure. let's get slightly tipsy before the bumpiest ride in a car ever. sounds like a great idea." and this isn't the only place i've seen this happen either! they also offered pisco sour before the van ride back from the observatory in la Serena and we all remember how horrendous that was for me (if you don't, read the La Serena blog entry). the ride home was in the dark. not only was it bumpy but it was windy. and when it's windy in the desert, sand tends to blow in your face a lot. this was happening like crazy outside. there were times when so much sand would blow our way that you just couldn't see anything in any direction from inside the bus. but we made it home. huzzah.

so that night we prepared (again) to get up at 6am for the Lagunas Altiplanicas (again). but sure enough, the tour company called us again and said that the roads were still closed. so our tour got switched again. only this time the next day we were seeing the Geysers. this meant that instead of getting up at 6am the next day, we were going to be getting up at 3am. we got this phone call in the middle of making dinner at 9pm. so we basically inhaled our food and fell asleep as quickly as possible.

let me pause for a moment to acknowledge something here. so... it snowed in the mountains for about 3 or 4 days while we were in San Pedro, right? well, our original plan was to not do any tours in San Pedro and just do a 4 day excursion where alice, me a tour guide and a chef would take a 4 by 4 into the mountains to see several sights while crossing over into Bolivia to see the salt flats that are supposedly even more blindingly beautiful than in Chile. this involves driving through the mountains for 2 days to get to Bolivia, staying there for a night and driving back for 2 days. so... if it snowed for 3 or 4 days while we were in San Pedro, if we had gone on this massive trip to Bolivia, we would have:

a) been stuck in the freezing cold in a van in the mountains.
b) been stuck in some town in the freezing cold in the middle of nowhere Bolivia

or

c) both

i was a little sad that i didn't get to go to Bolivia during this trip but after i heard about the snow i felt a lot better that i didn't do it. it would have been a lot of money, uncomfortable and probably the worst experience of my life. i think staying in town and seeing the sights of San Pedro was a significantly better choice. at any rate, back to my trip.

The geysers. holy crap. we got up at 3am. got picked up at around 4:45am. we were supposed to get picked up at 4am but they ended up being late. it was like 12 degrees celsius below zero at the Geysers themselves. we were exhausted and freezing.

but you know what? this was the best excursion i went on.

When we got there, it looked (as aunt louie accurately described) like something out of the x-files. there was a huge field of areas that had smoke coming up from the ground. the first geyser we saw actually ended up erupting while we were there. i got a video of it for my camera. when it was finished erupting the guide asked us all to quickly huddle over the hole in the ground. the steam rising from the ground was incredibly warm. it smelled like sulfur. i'm not really sure how geysers work. i think it has something to do with lava being underground deep beneath us mixed with the extreme cold of the early morning and the result is an eruption. there were some hot springs there. some really insane people decided to swim in them. you have to be out of your mind to do this. once again, i give these people props.

the second portion of this tour involved seeing a lot of wildlife on the bus ride back. i have no idea why these animals choose early morning as the best time to go hang out but we ended up seeing llamas, vicunas, quails and even a wombat. i also figured out the main difference between llamas and vicunas. llamas are fatter. that's basically it. but yeah it was awesome. vicunas were like 7 feet from the bus just hanging out and feeding. we were sitting right next to the door of the bus so whenever the bus driver opened the door for pictures i got amazing shots. after this wildlife we saw a very small village nestled in the mountains of Chile. it wasn't that exciting there but there WAS some incredibly tasty food there. empanads, sopapillas... but best of all, there were llama kabobs. and i had one! llama meat is damn tasty. after the village, we saw soem cacti (not that exciting. cacti are everywhere) and got home around noon. crazy hours but definitely my favorite thing i did in San Pedro.

after that tour we understandably chose to sleep and relax not only that afternoon but for the next day as well. we were exhausted. we got a lot of Lost in though. Alice and I ended up finishing the first season while we were there. also, Alice's friend Kate arrived at the hostel we were staying at to begin their stay in San Pedro so that was cool. Kate's friend Elizabeth was also there. we took them to Atacama Connection and they signed up to do the Lagunas Altiplanicas with us the next day so that would be something the four of us would do together.

we also checked out a museo in town that had interesting cultural stuff from northern chile tribes of indians and the like. also, there was a really spooky gigantic graveyard near out hostel so we chose sunset as a time to check it out. the graves there were kind of above ground. there was still sand there covering the coffins but it's like they were hills instead of in the ground. it was cool but as it turned to dusk we quickly got out of there because we were pretty creeped out. we headed back to the hostel to get some rest so we could get up early and finally see the tour that had been canceled all week due to snow: the Lagunas Altiplanicas.

it was an all day event beginning at 7am with a trip to an oasis in the middle of the desert. on our way there we saw rock climbers practicing... well rock climbing i guess in the canyons we passed by. the Chilean army also comes to this area in order to train at times. at any rate, the oasis was a lot like the oases you see in cartoons. green trees. a flowing river. there were fig trees too. although, the thing that makes this oasis unique was that ancient indian tribes used to live in these areas in small caves that we actually ended up checking out. also, there was a pile of bones near the caves. apparently excavators come to this area every now and then to dig up stuff and whenever they find bones, they put it in this pile. a little strange but kind of cool.

the next stop was the famous Laguna Chaxas. this was simultaneously a wildlife reserve for about 7 different species of Flamingos as well as being a totally sweet lake that reflects the sky in an insanely awesome way. we saw black flamingos, pink ones, white ones... and when you looked out over this lake... i can't even do it justice with a description. it really just feels like the edge of the universe. it was really awesome.

after that we went to another laguna deep within the snowy mountains of northern chile. this was the portion of the tour that kept getting canceled due to snow being on the roads and i could see why. snow on a dirt road is incredibly difficult to drive through. and as amazing as those potentially ATV buses were in that weather, it just couldn't make it. but it wasn't too bad. we just ended up walking the last 3 or 4 miles of the road to get to the laguna. although, i would not recommend walking uphill in this weather at this altitude if you have just arrived in San Pedro. the altitude sickness is in full effect. it was hard to breathe walking up that hill. be careful if you have to do this. at any rate, the laguna itself was pretty cool. whereas we've only seen ones that are in a sandy environment, it was cool to see one with snow. the snow itself was also really pure. i ate some of it and it wasn't dirty or anything.

after that we went to a small village and ate what was probably the best included lunch on any of the tours we went on. it started with a salad. oh and by the way, a chilean version of a salad isn't like leaves and vegetables. a salad is basically a small mixture of 3 or 4 different kinds of food. it can really be ANY food. ours was potatoes, couscous and beans. then we got to eat this awesome soup that had beef, carrots and other goodies. it has a specific name and it's a traditional chilean dish. and for desert? jell-o! easily the best meal on our tours. our last stop on the tour was another small village where Alice caved in and finally bought chilean popcorn which is like the popcorn in the U.S.A. except it's way bigger and much sweeter.

the sunset was beautiful that night. i had a craving for pizza so we headed downtown and found this pizza place. we met up with more people from Alice's program and i had an absolutely positively delicious 4 cheese individual pizza. i'm sorry i'm wasting time with this but you gotta understand: i wanted pizza. and not just any pizza. i wanted a specific flavor, consistency and cheese. i knew there was no way i could get all of those things and was prepared to face that. but this pizza was perfect. satisfied my craving in every way possible. absolutely delicious.

the next day we got up for our last excursion that we chose to do at the last minute. we took a van to another oasis and bathed in some hot springs in Puritamas. the van ride itself was a little scary because at one point we were driving on a cliff on some rocky roads and i really feared the thing was going to tip over. thankfully, it didn't. once we got there we quickly hopped in the water as the weather was as cold as it had been lately. it was like being in a jacuzzi with no bubbles. there was basically a small river that opened up into 6 or 7 different springs that people could swim in. there were even these cool waterfalls that you could stick your head under and it would feel totally amazing. the trip was a little pricy but definitely worth it.

the last day of our trip was another relaxing one. we hopped the insanely cheap van from San Pedro to Calama and then took our flight back to Santiago. i've been back at work this week and really missing the warmer weather in San Pedro (especially since our portable space heater ran out of gas). i really don't know how Chileans live in these conditions. makes me glad i'm only spending one winter here. but overall, i'm really glad i went to San Pedro and I'm already planning my journey to the beautifully forested south of Chile in December. but i won't be going anywhere for a while. San Pedro, while being really cool, was a pretty big dent on my wallet. but i don't regret any of the things i did for a second.

and that's it! check back in... well probably a long time for another entry. ttfn. ta ta for now.