Part 2

South America » Chile » Atacama » Caldera
May 3rd 2009

Published: May 3rd 2009

So I meant to write this earlier this week but this week has been hectic. My coteacher was out of school sick so for the first half of the week I had every class to myself. I think I had control for about the first 15 minutes with the good students. What a learning experience! I decided to give myself Thursday off since I had worked over my regular scheduled hours for the whole week by Wednesday. Then Friday was Dia del Trabajador also known as Labor Day. Most of the world actually celebrates it on the first of May I discovered. So I've been enjoying a long weekend.

I've been finding out that the region I'm in has some very unique places within its borders.

Just north of Caldera there is a beach that has a very peculiar characteristic: orbicular granite. After a quick Google search I discovered that there's only 4 places in the world that have this type of rock. There is a short article on Wikipedia about this type of rock. It's quite beautiful. It's also amazing because not only are the occurrences exceedingly rare but when they do occur there are only a few stones. The beach near Caldera only had about 5 boulders of orbicular granite. This picture also from the wikipedia website shows the granite in Caldera. Each of those orbs is roughly the size of the palm of your hand or perhaps a little smaller.
Southwest of Caldera is an area of the desert where one can find many fossils of all different kinds. It is one of 2 places in all of South America where people have found shark tooth fossils. The other place is in Uruguay. I went there with my host parents on Friday, May 1st. We found dozens of sharks teeth ranging in size from about the size of a small fingernail to some the size of your hand! I also found a petrified clam shell, and several petrified bones. I should say that it was highly illegal to even step foot in this part of the desert let alone take these fossils (under threat of a fine of about US$7,000). Oops.
There is also a ton of beautiful, unique geography around the area that hosts interesting wildlife. Within about 2 hours there are 2 different parks: 1 has nonmigratory penguins (they live on a small island just off shore all year) and 1 park has flamingos!
Lastly, I might be so lucky to see El Desierto Florido this year. Every 4 to 5 years this part of the desert gets a few days of rain. During this time the desert bursts into color with fields of flowers . This generally occurs about an hour away from Caldera.

I definitely feel very privileged indeed.

I'm continuing to work on my TEFL certification. My tutor stopped contacting me and I'm not sure what happened with him. I contacted the organization that is certifying me and they gave me a new tutor so now I can keep moving on. It's actually a difficult course and I really wish that I had a classroom or some other people who were going through it at the same pace as me to work together with.

I've also been trying to spend a few hours a week looking into graduate school, potential careers, and other opportunities to work abroad. I'm even considering starting my own international organization to teach English to non-profits around the world who do business with, cooperate with, or are affected by the United States. I have to look into it more but it is exciting because there is a graduate program at Portland State University that would allow me to develop such an organization and teach me how to manage it!

The weather has been getting a little more chilly here. It is Fall after all. Right now its a brisk 18°C (≈64°F)...frigid!!! It's much warmer in Copiapó because its inland. I always forget this when I travel there. I'll be wearing a long-sleeved shirt and long pants and sweat buckets when I arrive. I was there yesterday and went for a great hike with Jason and Anna (the married couple who are volunteering there). While we were hiking we came across a dirt-biker who had fallen over and needed help getting his bike up. It was probably about a 45 minute walk to the edge of town and he didn't actually get hurt so he was pretty lucky! He just couldn't get his bike up alone. He was on a really step hill and the terrain was rocky so it was difficult even with Jason and I helping. But we got him up after his bike poured about a cup of gasoline all over my hands. We stood there and watched as he got on his bike and started sliding down the hill on the wheels. About halfway down he started up the bike and shot up the next hill. Adios amigo!

I have to go to Copiapó again on Tuesday to (hopefully) finish my visa paperwork so I can legally stay in the country for the entire 8 months. There's another day off of class. I actually haven't had a single week were I was on campus all 5 days. I've missed a day here and there but I have made up the hours with my class so don't think that I am slacking! I'm also going to be adding a few extracurricular classes to my schedule: a class teaching English through poetry, a class to help the debate team for the national debates, and I will be helping my coteacher put on Shakespeare's Othello. Whew!

Well, time to go do some lesson planning and TEFL studying!

Besos y Abrazos!

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