Vinya

I can´t believe it, but 3 weeks from today I will be home. I´m of course excited to see those of you I get to see, but I´m not ready to go! Things at the hospital are awesome. I´m now shadowing an internist which is great since it´s a bit closer to our primary care (emphasis on a bit, however). He is an awesome teacher. He takes the time to explain everything to me, quizzes me on what he has already told me, and lets me take all the basic vitals and histories. I´m no longer with a med student but in some ways that´s better because it means he is only teaching me and I don´t feel bad asking simple questions. Plus I have become friends with the med students who, as it turns out ... read more

That´s right ladies and gentlemen, I have officially reached my half way point down here. Crazy how time flies. Since my last blog, my roommate Jessica and friend´s Rachel, Amanda and I did the horse riding/ziplining outside of Con Con. When we arrived we were all very skeptical. The zipline tour was in these skinny rickety trees off the highway, and we were like ¨Canopy tour? Really? Or just playing in some trees¨. But, it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was something like 8 or 10 ziplines plus several other obstacles. Which were horrifying. There were some tree limbs we had to climb up that were wrapped in roap and therefore ¨ladders¨, then a net we had to shimmy across, but worst of all some freaking swings we had to sing between. ... read more

Hey ya´ll! I am officially living in Viña. Unfortunately I don´t think pictures are going to be possible after all, because the computers here are painfully slow and old, but I´ll try and get at least a couple up at some point. San Pedro was incredible. The people were awesome, and every tour we did was awesome. We went to the salt flats which were very cool, though apparently the 3rd biggest of the world, the 2nd biggest being in the states. They were multicolored however which was pretty amazing. It was freaking cold though. We went up to 4800 meters and arrived around 7am. We spent the entire day driving and walking around the flats and mountains. I think my favorite part of that one though was actually the froze lake. It freezes in a ... read more

Today we went out on a boat tour of the Islas Ballestas and then drove/walked aroundthe national reserve. It was awesome. On the boat portion we saw dolpins, sea lions and birds all feeding on a school of fish. We even got to see adorable penguins just waddling and hoppin' along! The park was incredible. Apparently they mine salt there, and half of the dunes are salt not sand. It gives the whole thing this incredible sparkle, but looks like you're in the middle of a desert. Then, to make it even more awesome, the whole thing is surrounded by bays and oceans. Depending on where you are you can see nothing but salty sand, or water on every side. A very neat effect. Now we're waiting in our hostal to catch our bus to Nazca. ... read more

Ok so I haven't technically started my traveling yet, but visiting friends and family is always a fantastic way to start an adventure. This entry is really just to test the waters and get it out there that I have in fact succumbed to the world of blogging, at least for the next three months. The plan: June 21st fly from LA to Lima Peru. June 22-July 4 mosey down the coast with my bro, and I mean that in the literal sense. July 4-September 12 live and be awesome in Vinya del mar (my computer here doesn't have the proper lettering, I'll work on it). September 13 get to Santiago September 14 fly home Details to come. Stay posted. Love Me... read more