Team Chile- post 12

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Que tal mis amigos?

Looks like Team Chile is on its last legs and heading home to Toronto/Guelph on Tuesday. We have arrived back in Santiago after a gruelling 23-hour bus ride from San Pedro de Atacama. We were sad to leave the laid-back and relaxing atmosphere (as well as the sun), but we are also happy to not have to use a bottle of moisturizer and sunscreen every day! The Atacama desert is the highest and driest desert in the entire world and our skin, throats and fingernails sure did feel it!

We are now wrapping up our time in Chile by reconnecting with a few last contacts in Santiago. This will likely be our last entry until we land safely in Canada, so we thought we´d dedicate this to ¨Top Things we´ve learned about Chile¨. We hope you enjoy them!

1-Seatbelts are just a decoration
2- Salt officially replaces Fruits and Vegetables as the 4th food group
3- It is perfectly normal to have strangers wash your dirty underwear
4- When a road has 4 marked lanes, it really means that you can drive in 5 lanes
5- There´s only one kind of bread in Chile
6- For those who thought that South America was hot, Southern Chile is even too cold for penguins in the winter!
7- Chileans love to complain about the cold (kind of like Canadians) but they don´t actually do anything about it!
8- ¨Night Club¨doesn´t actually mean ´Night Club´... trust us!
9- ¨Fostering international relations¨can be made difficult when Canadian police decide to use tasers on the Chilean pride and joy: the FIFA soccer team
10- Hard-boiled eggs and olives find their way into every food!
11- Vet clinics may not traditionally close for lunch like other businesses do, but ´futball´tournaments are a different story
12-Dogs are to Chile as squirrels are to Guelph
13- There are only 4 street names that you need to know in every city: O´Higgins, Pinto, Pratt, Independencia
14- Wine and beer are actually cheaper than water
15- An empanada is a balanced meal
16-Coffee with milk literally means coffee with milk (ie no water)
17- Who needs a backpack when you´re wearing all your clothes?

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Photos

Horseback Riding in the Atacama
Rob, Emma and I riding down the sand dunes of Death Valley. I think it´s safe to say that it was one of the most beautiful moments in our entire lives (except for the fact that we couldn´t walk the next day).

Sunset in the desert
Emma and I hiking along the sand dunes of the Moon Valley, trying to catch the setting sun.

Flamingoes in the Atacama Salt Flat
James and Chileno flamingoes feeding at sunset in the salt flats. Flamingoes are a protected species in Chile as they only lay 1 egg a year, starting at sexual maturity at the age of 15.

¨Wild llamas¨
This watering hole is the only one around so it´s often filled with wildlife and ´wild llamas´, which are technically owned by farmers who let their llamas wander around in search of grass.

Black-necked swan in La Serena
Black-necked swans are very popular in Chile and live all the way from Punta Arenas up to the North of Chile.