Blogs from Atacama, Chile, South America - page 15

I received sad news from home last Friday, August 14th. My Aunt Diane, who had been struggling with pancreatic cancer for about 2 months, passed away in her home surrounded by family and friends. Needless to say there has been a lot of mourning, phone calls, and late night chat sessions with family in Minnesota. While this news has left me in a bit of shock it has also given me the chance to think about life, family, and future with a new perspective. I think my friend, Heather, was right on when she noticed "that death makes think about life a lot more than birth does." It's unfortunate that often times it takes the loss of a loved one to bring families closer together--I have said "I love you" to many more family members in ... read more

We arrived into San Pedro with only one thing on our minds after two days on the Salt Flats - a long, long hot shower! After we were presentable again we set out to explore the town which didn't take too long. This is a town which seems to exist only for or because of tourists with the main street choc a block full of restaurants, tour agents and well fed dogs. Still, the sun was shining and it was fabulously warm after the extreme cold we had endured on the salt flats so we were happy to relax and enjoy. From here we took a trip out to the Valley of the Moon where we had a superb guide who explained how the strange landscape was formed and led us down to explore an underground ... read more

What a start! We jumped across the Argentinean border and headed into Salta. We got there after sunset and headed straight for a steak restaurant and the steak lived up to it's billing. I was brought a 700g monster that was delicious as well! The following day we got to see a bit of Salta by sunlight before we headed off again and straight away it became one of my favourite cities on the trip. It was very open, sunny and had beautiful backdrops and buildings everywhere, especially around the main plaza. So after one day, Argentina is already jostling with Costa Rica as my favourite country. I am glad I have an extra 2 and a half weeks travelling through here after the tour finishes. So after Salta, it was more celebration as 2 guys ... read more

Hello, It's been awhile since my last blog. I've been quite busy and have decided to take any free time that I have had and spend it relaxing as much as possible. But hear goes my next blog. Lately, I've been going through a lot of self-evaluation. Family, career, education, and the like have been running around inside my head like yuppies running around Whole Foods 5 minutes before it closes. First of all, I've been here in Caldera now for about 2 1/2 months yet I don't feel like I've gotten involved much with my family or the community. So I've made an effort to change that. I go for walks in the center at least 3 times a week and try to spend "once" (pronounced: own-say. It's a late-afternoon/early-evening snack before dinner...at least that's ... read more

Po odjezdu ze Santiaga jsme se zastavili na prohlidku Sereny. Pak vyrazili do Vicuni do planetaria. Bohuzel byl uplnek, takze jsme misto hvezd sledovali mesic. Dalsi den jsme vyrazili smer San Pedro, kde jsme se setkali s Davidem. V San Pedru jsme stravili nekolik dni a dali si par cest do okoli. Prvni den jsme se jeli vykoupat do nedalekych solnych jezer. A pri ceste nazpet jsme si pockali na zapad slunce nad solnou pousti. Druhy den rano jsme vyrazili na prohlidku gejziru a vykoupat se v horkych pramenech. A odpoledne jsme se zajeli podivat na mesicni krajinu a pisecne duny. Dalsi den jsme si pujcili snowboardy a kola a zaserfovali si na pisecnych dunach. Dalsi den jsme jeste zvladli vyjizdku na konich a hvezdarnu. No a po tom vsem hura do Bolivie.... read more