The facts

It's been unbelievable this past week. I feel bad talking about it since it will only make the rest of you jealous...

We FINALLY left Santiago - the land-of-nothing as far as I'm concerned - and eventually made it to the fabulous town of San Pedro de Atacama. This is the launching grounds for all tours Atacameños... Atacama also happens to be the driest desert in the world, so you can imagine the risk for skin cancer (that one's for you Ma). The first day was supposed to be a relax-and-do-nothing day since we spent a really tough day at the beach the day before in La Serena (another land-of-nothing --- except beach). Instead we decided to shop around for tours of the desert. This amazing place is full of saltplains, volcanoes, sand dunes the size of Tijuana (that one's for you Mel), and the Valley of the Moon was like something of a dream at sunset. Our guide told us that it would be romantic, but since I forgot the recommended chaqueta I was unable to think of much more than hiding from the sand blowing hard on my skin like little pinpoint needles and just before the sun actually set, the temp dropped a whopping 5 degrees (which is a lot in celsius degreezes) and I in fact decided to run like a crazy monkey for the tour van. Not sure how crazy monkeys run, but I'll stick with the analogy.

The next day was ... nearly indescribable (since I possess such awesome talent I will try my best). We booked a tour for the next day at 4AM.

___________________

Sidebar: We thought it would be smart to go out the night before. We met a couple of Brazileros on the tour from that day and a couple of Chilenos from our hostel. So we gathered at our hostel at the early hour of 11PM and took some wine together. We decided San Pedro was a great place to try and go out at around Midnight and found that the city (or province?) has issues with serving customers after dark. So, we ordered a round of drinks, waited 15 minutes, and were told to leave.

Because I am who I am, I insisted we follow one of the many large groups of people who were also dumped out onto the street and see where the fun would lead. The best tip I got was from one abnormally young-looking Chilena who said, "Vamos al arbol." Since sitting at a tree didn't sound like the makings of such a great time to me, I decided to take matters into my own hands.... We ended up in some guy's relatively clean room in a boarding house drinking wine from a box and listening to Manu Chau until 3ish when Mel and I had to pack up and run to the tourist office to catch the van.

___________________

The good news is we caught the van and "slept" through the 3 hour ride that could not have been more bumpy while rattling metal somewhere under the van made sure that conversation or true rest would be impossible. Our destination - the Tatio Geysers - was worth the suffering. We arrived just before sunrise and the Geysers were bubbling, sraying and steaming like something from a horror film (I only took a thousand fotos so when I am able I will post them).

That was amazing...ly cold. It is incredible to me that in the same region it can be so arid and hot and when it is dark it can be so incredibly and ridiculously freezing cold.

The tour didn't end there. We got our freezing butts back into the van and drove another half-hour to the real treat: the Tatio hotsprings. It was definately a challenge with the freezing weather, layers and layers of clothes and trying to change into the swimsuit where there was no place to change. I changed (relatively) carefully and dipped my freezing arse into the warm, salty liquid, and squished my toes in the muddy, hot poolbed (burned my foot a little).

One nice thing about a bunch of strangers bathing together in a natural wonder is that it is a fabulous conversation-starter and a great place to meet new friends. I met a small group of "porteños" (people who live in Buenos Aires, Argentina) and struck up convo about my plans to study in their great city in March and learned their life and travel plans. Mel and I will likely hook up with them again in Cuzco (they left a couple days ago).

Soon after that, we drove another 40 minutes through the desert until we came to the oddest little oasis - if you can call it that. It was green, but I'm unsure if it was "real" vegetation or just moss and algae. Anyway, there was water and green stuff surrounded by mud surrounded by desert. In the middle of this gigantic puddle were hundreds of basking pink flamingos. We enjoyed the view, got a little muddy trying to get the best angle for our fotos and then made our way for another hour in the van to a Pueblo (village) where we would essentially buy empanadas and give our money to the adorable little sister standing at the adorable little church at the top of the... adorable little hill. Again, I made sure to take pictures that I won't have posted until March.

Day 3 was a much needed beach day in Iquique, which also served as a good get-yourselves-organized-you-fools day. We made reservations for the next day for the most amazing, once in a life-time tour: paragliding.

We arrived at the top of the desert mountain at around 11AM. I looked down over the cliff and couldn't breath for a second. The well-intentioned guide tried to explain the procedure in english, but I got more confused and asked for spanish, which worked our perfectly. I was to stay straight in my seat - no squirming, stay balanced while still on the ground since the wind was very strong and could yank us and our chute off the cliff if it so desired, and hang on to my seat when we take off. I got to wear a silly suit and the take off was exhilerating... the 40 minute flight was so amazing and tranquil and peaceful. It felt like the only people in existence was me and my tandem pilot. All I could see for miles on one side was endless ocean and on the other endless rolling beautiful desert and the sprawling, solitary city below us. I am a little jealous that these people get to do this everyday for a living. Again, the fotos are coming!


Again, a million and-a-half fotos are on the way.