The Rest of Atacama

Okay, so now that school is officially over, I actually have time to write...not that it's even too important anymore since I'll be home in 11 DAYS.

First things first, the rest of my Atacama trip: short and sweet version. On our second day, we took a tour out into the desert, where we jumped in a giant pond (it's so salty that you can't swim under water, you get pushed right back up to the surface), saw the salt flats, and ran through a 3-inch deep salt lake. So fun!!! We wanted to go on an astronomy tour that night since Atacama is one of the best places in the world to see the stars, but of course that was the one day it was cloudy. :(

Floatin'. I look like I'm wearing a toupee.

On our last day, we took a bike ride out into the desert, but kept having to stop because the wind was so strong we couldn't open our eyes without getting our eyeballs covered in sand. We ended up having a picnic under an ancient Incan archway carved into the rock, then rode back and did some souvenir shopping in town.

Atacama was amazing! Definitely one of my favorite trips.

On a different note...I can't believe I'm coming home so soon! So many mixed feelings. Up until last week, I couldn't wait to get back. I felt so ready to leave. But the closer it gets, the more I feel like I wish I could stay. I'm sooooooo excited to see everyone, and to eat food with flavor in it and dry my clothes in a dryer and to sleep in my own bed, and so many other things. But still, I keep getting this weird feeling that I'm scared or nervous to leave Chile and go home, like going home means losing all of the independence and freedom I've had here, even if I've been limited in other ways, like the whole language thing...I can still barely understand Chileans half the time haha. I feel like my life doesn't fit into my life at home anymore, and it's terrifying. I was talking to one of my friends who's already home, and she was saying how overwhelming it is and how she can't seem to get in tune with life back in California. I know it'll wear off eventually, but IT'S WEIRD, GUYS!!! I feel like I'm already getting reverse culture shock, and I'm not even there yet!

Everyone's starting to leave, and it's sad to see our little family here slowly get smaller. No me gusta! Not to say I'm not happy to be getting back to the states, I really am, it's just a lot harder to leave than I thought it would be, even a couple weeks ago. Okay I'll stop there. I feel like I'm not even making sense, look what this is doing to me!!! Haha see everyone soon!

Atacama: Day 1

Okay, I know it's been awhile since I actually went to Atacama, but school basically took over every minute of my life for a good 2 weeks. But here it is! Well, here's Day 1 at least. Better late than never!

Sunset from the plane!

Anywho, we got in around midnight on a Friday, and the first thing we noticed was the sky. SO MANY STARS. I've never seen so many in my life. Beeeautiful. After a refreshing 3 hours of sleep (that was sarcastic, people...it was such a tease), we got up to go on our first tour, a trip to the geysers. Our friends had arrived the day before, so they came with us, along with another big group of American students that were staying at our hostel. It was about a 2-hour drive out to the geysers, and it was still dark when we got there. Apparently the geysers are more active around sunrise, so we sat there in the dark and waited. When the sun came up, we got out of the van to look at all the steam and boiling water coming out of the ground, and after about 10 minutes, we ran right back inside. We were completely miserable. I've never been colder IN MY LIFE. Like the kind of cold where you can't tell if your toes are still attached to your body. I'm normally all about getting the most out of each experience while traveling, and I would usually get really annoyed at anyone complaining while on a trip like this, but this was a completely different story. To put it in perspective, the other people in our tour were all from the east coast where they have real winters, and they were right there next to us in the van, watching the geysers out of our frosty windows. In the end, I guess it was cool to see them, but I can't say I enjoyed it at all. Here they are:

Debora was feeling a little gassy.

After the field trip from hell...or from when hell froze over...our guide drove us over to the hot springs, where we got to reheat our bodies in the water. The hot springs were really fun and relaxing and didn't smell too strongly of rotten eggs, and my butt only experienced a few surprise scaldings. However, right after I got out, the altitude suddenly hit me (up until this point, I was unaware that we were at any altitude...nobody told me!) and my head felt like it was swelling, which is a terrifying thought when your head is already huge. Imagine.

On the way back, we stopped in some tiny town to grab a light lunch of llama skewers. I did not participate, partly because I was too busy trying to soothe my raging headache, and partly because I just didn't like the idea of eating llama meat. I've become a little obsessed with llamas and all related animals (alpacas, guanacos, vicuñas, etc.) during my time in South America. Not about to eat one.

I don't have a picture of the llama skewers, but here's a donkey.

After a much-needed nap back at the hostel, our guide picked up Nallely, Rachel and I to go SANDBOARDING in Valle de la Muerte! So fun!!! Except for carrying our boards back up the sand dunes every time. That part wasn't very fun. Neither was getting sand in my camera when I tried to go all Evel Knievel and ended up flipping down the hill. Leave it to me to hurt myself even on sand. But it was still so fun!

Next, we headed over to Valle de la Luna to watch the sunset, which was absolutely gorgeous, and was made even more enjoyable by the pisco sours served by our guide.

And finally, as if we needed to fit anything else into the day, we went to go see the caves. The park was closed and blocked off by a gate, so our guide did the only sensible thing and moved the gate. Ta-da! Free entry. He showed us the salt crystals on the rock walls, and we layed on the ground looking at the Milky Way and watching for shooting stars (saw like 3!). Then he took us through a cave, but the only light we had was on his headlamp, and about half-way through we started freaking out thinking about how we were with a strange man in a cave in the middle of the night with barely any light and no one around. He finally convinced us that it would be shorter to go through to the other end than to turn around, and we skeptically followed him since we had no choice, but turns out he was right and he led us up and out and back to the truck. So maybe he was perfectly trustworthy, but some crazy scenarios can go through your head in a dark cave! Anyway, the point is that we survived and it ended up being a pretty incredible day.

Mendoza (& Some of the Past Week)

Two weekends ago, my friend Jade and I decided to go to Mendoza, Argentina (and ended up running into Michael from our program in the bus station, so he joined us too!). We took an overnight bus on Friday over the Andes, and getting out to wait in the immigration line at 4 AM was absolutely brutal. Not only had we barely slept at all but it was FREEZING. And of course, being in South America, everything took three times as long as it needed to. But at least I got another stamp in my passport!

We got into Mendoza around 8 AM, took a short nap and headed out for the day. Mendoza is known for its wine, so wine tasting is its main tourist attraction. And unless you rent a car, all of the winery tours are done on bikes!!! Slightly dangerous to have drunk bikers all over the roads? Yes. Still a brilliant idea? DEFINITELY! Maps in hand (actually in the basket on the front of my bike), we set out for the first winery, where we got to try lots of jams and marmalades, chocolate, different flavors of dulce de leche, salsas, delishhh olive oil, and absinthe!!! Now that I think about it, we didn't even have any wine there but a shot of absinthe was a great way to start my day! Okay I'm lying, it was disgusting, but I'm glad I tried it. Throughout the day, we rode around, visiting different wineries and enjoying the scenery. That night, we got some Argentine steak in a supposedly "German-themed" restaurant that was decorated like a rainforest, then passed out.

The next day, we walked to the main square. We decided to make some dog's day by giving him Jade's leftover steak from the night before, and ended up practically starting a dog fight in giant pack of strays, who then surrounded us and followed us all the way down the street until we took shelter in a bakery. Michael had an early bus back, so Jade and I wandered around the city, but EVERYTHING was closed since it was Sunday. Even the outdoor market wasn't going to open until the evening, but we had Argentine pesos to get rid of so we ate all day until we had to head back to the bus station.

Our ride back was much more enjoyable than the ride over. It was still light out for the first few hours, so we got to look at the mountains and see all the SNOW! Such a fun weekend! I wish we could've stayed longer but this whole "school" thing is kinda cramping my style.

Photosss:

Chocolateee :)

Preparing our absinthe shots.

The plant that Jade accidentally sat on and killed with her butt.

Aging wine bottles in the cellar.

All of the fountains in the city were died blue...

About half of our dog gang.

Driving home through the Andes!

This past weekend, we had a Mexican potluck since that's the food that everyone misses most. The food was good, but the best part of the night was meeting this little guy!

Her name is Espineta. I want one.

On Saturday night I saw Mamma Mia in Spanish! It was really small and low budget but I LOVED it, and it was pretty funny to hear all the songs translated to Spanish.

EXACTLY 6 WEEKS TIL I'M HOME!!!

Just A Little Update...

So I've been really slacking on the blog, but I think it's time for a little update on my life down here. Nothing too interesting, no major trips since Peru.

First things first. I started my internship!!! I actually don't think "internship" is the right word, but that's what my school is calling it so I'll take it! I work with an organization called Corporación Padre Patricio Espinosa. My friend Nallely and I are teaching an afternoon arts and crafts class once a week at an elementary school in a town called El Monte, which is about an hour outside the city. The students at the school (as well as the rest of the town) are for the most part extremely poor. The director was telling us how the school's attendance rate isn't much over half since education isn't considered a priority in most of the poor households. The kids are fed at school, but some of them go without eating all weekend at home. El Monte's teenage pregnancy rate is off the charts, and drug and alcohol addiction is very common. The high school even has a civil registry right across the street, which is kind of a scary idea. Really sad and humbling to think about, but the kids I work with are AMAZING. I work with 3rd and 4th graders and we mostly do simple projects since we have pretty limited resources, but I love every second that I'm with them. They call us "Tía Rachel" and "Tía Nallely" and they all run to kiss us on the cheek before and after each class. A few of them asked if they can follow me home and live with me, which seemed cute at the time, but it's sad to think that they were serious. I've worked with kids for almost 5 years now, and I've never had such a sweet, well-behaved group. They're so excited for everything we do, and the language barrier hasn't been a problem at all. Just goes to show that I have the Spanish vocabulary of a 3rd grader!!! Haha maybe that explains why we get along so well. 

Also, I went to my first soccer game in South America! I was actually kinda disappointed that it wasn't as crazy as people warned me it would be...I wanted some fights and tear gas! C'MON!!! Anywho, it was still really exciting, and the fans didn't sit down or stop cheering the entire game. Wish I knew the chants though! The game was between 2 of the 3 major teams in Chile - La Católica (my school) and La Chile (our rival). And...drumroll....................we TIED! Haha. But everyone still went crazy, because it meant that La Católica got to keep their #1 spot and La Chile got bumped out of the running for the title. WOOO!!! Here are some pics!

The crowd...rowdy bunch.

TIE! This all happened in the 1st half...

And some pics from an afternoon in the sculpture garden down the street from my apartment: 

Rolling down the hill.

Fall :)

So while all this has been fun, I've been pretty stressed lately. Since when is study abroad supposed to be hard??? I have a ridiculous amount of work for class, including 2 huge group research projects that are due at the same time as my 3 finals (keep in mind, all of this is EN ESPAÑOL). Basically, homework is consuming my life right now but I'm trying not to let it get in the way of me enjoying my time here. Also, it's starting to get colddd! During the day, it's still in the low 60s but it gets down to the 30s in the mornings and at night. And everyone keeps telling us this is nothing compared to what's coming. AHHHHHH!!! At least it's not miserably hot anymore...I'll take being cold over that any day. 

Leaving tonight to go to Mendoza, Argentina for the weekend! Wine country :) 

¡Chau!

Isla Los Uros

After Machu Picchu, we got on yet another bus (yay...) up to Puno, a town on the edge of Lake Titicaca (trying to hold it in, tryinggg...BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA okay I couldn't do it, that name is just too good). While the lake itself was really cool, Puno did NOT make the list of my favorite places. There were multiple reasons for this other than it being plain and boring, but I won't go into that (except that when you offer someone a free cup of coffee, you should probably let them know that adding milk to it makes it full price; that would've been a useful little tidbit - especially when the coffee itself is squirted out of a Gatorade bottle).

Anyway, after a morning that went nothing like planned, we boarded a tour boat to Isla Los Uros, a set of man-made floating reed islands on the lake. The ancestry of the Uro people goes back before the Incans arrived in the region, and they speak a language called Aymara (but also Spanish). They make the islands themselves and somehow anchor them down so they don't keep floating all over the lake when it's windy. EVERYTHING is made of reeds - the islands, their boats, their houses and furniture, and the handicrafts that they sell. Most of the islands also have lookout towers (made of reeds, of course) but I'm not sure what they're supposed to be looking out for? Even if they saw something coming, what would they do.......? Interesante.

On the island, we listened to a joint presentation by our tour guide and the island's headman, who explained their customs and demonstrated how they make the islands. After that, the people on the island (there are about 6-8 families on most of them) invited us into their huts and talked to us, and then asked us what we wanted to buy, those tricksters!!! But besides that, going to Isla Los Uros was an amazing experience, and I loved being able to visit with people who's culture was so unbelievably different than mine. Plus now I can say I've been on the highest navigable lake in the world!

Being welcomed onto the island.

The harbor. Peruvian and Bolivian flags.

Isla Los Uros!

Random side note: our friend at the bus station in Tacna thought he was so funny when he told us that Titi was the Peruvian side and Caca was the Bolivian side. Until we explained why Titi wasn't much better.

That's it for Peru! Other than the 50-hour journey back to Santiago...I had such an amazing trip (made more amazing by the fact that Peru actually has spicy food). I WANNA GO BACKKK.