San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

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It's the tired old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make Lemonaide." So cliche, yet so true. If I hadn't been forced to reroute my trip--which at the time before I left was a little worrisome considering the locals were burning down immigration offices--I would never have had the idea to route my way through Chile. What luck!

It is another world here. I've seen such works of natural beauty as I never could have before imagined. Places with names like Valley of the Moon. Places where the sky is so incredibly clear, major power players of the world send their best telescopes to view the night skies. (The Atacama Desert is the driest desert on Earth, and has a very high altitude. I guess that combination makes astronomers giddy.) Best yet, I think was meeting Sarah, an absolutely crazy Brit that by far is one of my favorite humans ever. I'll be giggling about her for years to come. I made her promise to come visit us in Istanbul one summer.

It's really cold here (altitude, altitude), and you kind of huff and puff around to catch some oxygen (did I mention altitude?) Thank goodness for the mummy sleeping bag I carry around in my backpack, it has gotten some good use here.

More than words can write about this place, I'll just attach photos. Although, photos can never portray the true beauty of it. These particular photos are of a place called Valley of the Moon. The name describes where you feel you are, when there.

By the way, it's always the Andes Mountains in the background.

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