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Published: January 11th 2008
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First look at the Atacama
This is the whole Furman group (minus a few kids who were in a different van), posing in front of the beautiful view that welcomed us to the San Pedro area. I can´t believe it has only been a week. Seriously.
We just got back from the Atacama desert in the northern part of the country. It was incredible. I have to confess that I totally had the stereotype of a desert in my mind--miles of boring, flat sand--but the Atacama was SO much more than that.
*Getting up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the airport was
not so much fun, but sleeping on the plane and bus to Atacama
was. The best part of the drive into the desert was the thing that woke me up from my nap--our bus driver had to slam on brakes to avoid hitting a family of llamas that were crossing the road! Awesome! A little later, he pulled over so we could look at the view and take some pictures. At that point, we took our first group picture, which of course meant that we were officially on study abroad!
*Our first hike was through Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death), and it was
windy!! Due to the recent application of SPF 50 sunscreen, the sand had no problem plowing into the backs of our legs and stinging
San Pedro streets
This is the main street of San Pedro de Atacama. There were stray dogs everywhere! pretty badly. Um, ¿exfoliation? At one point I lost my hat and had to chase it down! The hike was incredible, though. Huge mountains of sand and salt on all sides, unbearable wind, and laughs with friends. I only wish that Megan had been feeling better (she had sinus infection issues) so she could have enjoyed it more! Later the same day, we went to Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon), and hiked up a huge sand dune to watch the sun set. It was beautiful. I don´t think I´ve ever been to a place where you can do a complete 360-degree turn and be completely astounded by the view anywhere you look.
*The next day we did some more hiking, in the morning around the ruins of Tulor (early atacameñan village--¡thatched roof cottages!) and Pukará del Quitor, and in the afternoon through a small pueblo called Toconao and the nearby Valle del Jerez. Some of us took a dip in the river during one of the hikes, and ¡wow! it was COLD! Having a damp suit on under my clothes for the rest of the afternoon was a pleasant experience. That night we walked through the Salar
Cemetary
The San Pedro cemetary was beautiful, and very colorful. I was amazed at the amount of flowers and trinkets covering all of the graves. de Atacama (a huge salt flat slash flamingo reserve), which looked like the surface of another planet. There were Chilean flamingos there that we got to photograph and hang out with while we watched the sunset. ¡Que romántico! I´m corny, but two nights of unbelievable sunsets really made me miss my Jordan...
*Our third day in the Atacama was perhaps my favorite. We took our longest trek, about 3 hours or so, through the area around the Puritama river. It was my kind of hike, with tons of big rocks and steep paths, and desert cacti. At one point, some of us lost the trail and ended up plowing our way through the reeds down by the river, but luckily we all eventually ended up at the
termas, or warm springs. After such a long and exciting hike, we got to relax for quite a while in the pools, talking and laughing with our awesome tour guide, Salvador.
*We were given free time on Thursday, which a large number of us used to take a trip to a nearby salt lake. Apparently, this one is even saltier than the Dead Sea, and the depth is unknown because at 2 miles
Tres Marías
Rock formations of what looks like two virgin mothers holding their children, and the sad stumpy one on the right that fell down. Womp womp. they ran out of the means to measure! The water was
freezing, but being able to float around leisurely without having to move or tread water at all was
awesome! Lazily drifting around a crystal-clear lake, chatting with friends, with a backdrop of desert plants and the volcanoes of Argentina and Bolivia... ¡This is the life! Even more fun was emerging from the lake, drying off, and being encrusted with a layer of white. Mmm, extreme dandruff! Luckily, our bus driver had a small tank of fresh water and a hose, so we didn´t have to go to the airport and fly back to Santiago in our salty condition. The fresh water was freezing too. ¡Refreshing!
Now, we´re back in our apartment in Santiago, with a free weekend in the city ahead of us before classes start on Monday. Since Megan and I don´t have keys yet, we can´t leave until our Nena returns; hopefully she will come back soon so we can go out exploring! Perhaps a movie tonight, and a visit to the Concha y Toro vineyard tomorrow if we can organize it! What fun!
¡Love to everyone back home! ¡I miss all of you!
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