San Pedro & Tours Galore/Yes, Im still alive

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In true reflection of the elevated level of communication at my (now former) university, I found out on Tuesday afternoon that the coming week the classes that I teach would be cancelled because of midterms. Then after moving to Copiapo, the university there went on paro (students dont go to class) for a week, and then plunged into full-on toma (students take over the school, wedge desks into the gates to prohibit anyone from entering, and drink/smoke/par-tay all night long until their demands are met... "demands" in this case covered necessities from toilet paper for all to bigger library to less-ugly curtains in the classroom). So I have had a v. long vacation, beginning May 16th and continuing on until the second week of August....

And about that move ..... a lot has gone on in the last couple months or so, and as some people know Im not even in Antofagasta anymore, but Copiapo (still in the Atacama Desert, not to worry). Im going to defer to private correspondence to address most of that saga due to my foot-in-mouth problem, and even more my overwhelming, unrational fear that something I write will be anonymously submitted to every grad school I apply to, and that one day Ill find myself writhing in angst on my deathbed, lamenting the day I decided to start that cursed blog. So, here and soon to follow are a bunch of pictures of places Ive been and things Ive been doing since early May, sans drama.

For the second long weekend in June my sister and I went up to San Pedro de Atacama to explore a little more of the Atacama Desert, and I went on my first, second, and third organized tour in Chile. They were each experiences unto themselves, especially the third bus ride- a guy we met from Holland hypothesized that the driver had a magic button that he pushed to make dirt come spewing in from the sides of the van and choke us all, which happened often. We also had a bumper that broke and a passenger that sustained a double-concussion (two independent events), but none of this riled the driver up nearly as much as when I spilled the equivalent of 2 tbsp of coffee on the floor of his crusty van. Aside from all that, what happened outside the bus was much more exciting than what happened inside it- see pics!!

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Photos

Spelunk
Cave near Valle de la Luna

Focus, Jacq-
jacqueline takes a break from her position as rear lamp holder to lick the wall of the salt cave... 3 seconds later I bang my head on the ceiling due to lack of sufficient lighting

On top of the salt cave, all covered in salt
Adrienne, Emily and Jacqueline

Valle de la Luna
so much salt

wow
hiking out to see the sunset at Valle de la Luna

Volcan Licancabur
The far half of this volcano is Bolivia, and Argentina is visible to the right on the other side of the Andes.

Flamingos!!!
These flamingos are so cool. They live here in the Atacama Salt Flat reserve and feed on zooplankton in the shallow waters. There were a lot of them there, but apparently there are even more in the summer.

More 'mingos
We couldnt get too close cause they are protected, but this is a little closer shot of one.

You are what you eat
The orangey red stuff in the water is apparently beta carotene, which is what ends up giving the flamingos feather's that pink color.

Fly by
I admit i had no idea they could even do that until they took off over my head

Altiplano Lake
We went high up in the altiplano, which is the flat elevated area on the west side of the Andes. Beautiful lakes with volcanos behind them. Vicuna and llama feed on the yellow grass which is scattered everywhere.

Lake Miniques
Emily and Jacqueline

Vincunas
Formerly endangered, these indigenous cameloids boast the softest natural wool next to cashmere. Thats why they were formerly endangered.

Inca Trail a la Tropic of Capricorn
This is sweet: the vertical path (N/S) is the Inca trail, which the Incas used when uniting (conquering) the indigenous peoples from Cuzco, Peru all down through Chile. The E/W line of the cross is the Tropic of Capricorn. All those little piles of rocks are things the Incas did to mark where they'd been and for protection.

That one looks a little unstable..
the geysers made me kind of nervous. apparently sometimes the ground just breaks and you can fall through and boil to death. awesome.

Natural springs
Natural springs near geyser field, which was soooo nice after 4am bus ride in subzero temps

Bacteria
Special bacteria that can take extreme heat grow in the runoff from the erupting geysers

Van
Van #3, site of many mysterious accidents. Jacqueline and fat elbow man warily eye a potential accident in progress, aka the "air conditioner" hanging on by flimsy piece of bent tin foilish stuff.

Comments

[anonymous]

You're back!
Glad to follow your travels again! I love to read your experiences. Keep it up.

[mdsnuz]

Emily, Thanks for the photos and notes. the pictures are fantastic and your comments make me laugh out loud. Have fun, be careful, be good.

[Fredman]

Good to hear that you weren't the one suffering the double concussion...I wouldn't have let you live down the fact that America's #1 preservative/condiment TKO'd you in that cave with your sister. Chicago is great as expected--I will fill you in next time I see you on AIM -mr. nicholas