San Pedro de Atacama

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Hello Again! Ok, I know I promised you all pictures this time, BUT as is most things in this country, I can´t figure out how to get my camera to work on my house´s computer. And no one is around to ask. However, I wanted to write to you all and let you know about my past week. When I finally figure out how to use technology I PROMISE I´ll put up tons of pictures of beautiful sandy sunsets and the likes.
Ok, where to begin. So much has happened. Sunday before we left my family had another huge get together at a country club. I didn´t realize that family was visiting from out of the country, so I was a little confused why every meal had to be eaten with 20 people. But now I know why. Anyways, it was nice, but a little awkward. I got to meet Cristobal´s (my brother) friend. His name was Alex and and everyone calls him ¨blanco¨ (whitey) because he has very light skin and every single hair is bleached blond. I felt really awkward at first cause he sat in between Emily and I at lunch and would try to talk to both of us at the same time and I couldn´t understand a word he said. I felt like an idiot. Later that afternoon we all went to Alex´s pool to swim. It was fun, but I all f Cristobal´s friends are a good 8 years older than me; not to mention I can´t understand what they are saying. haha.
Anyways, the next morning we left at 4:30 in the morning for the desert to fly to Calama. From there we had to take an hour bus ride to San Pedro de Atacama where we spent 3 nights and four days. I had been feeling better this past weekend, but Monday my cold got worse. I hadn´t thought about buying more medicine till after we left cause I´d been feeling so much better. Well, we get to this tiny desert town around one on Monday and I am feeling like crap. We had a nice lunch and then a tour guide took us hiking through the desert. Our first stop was the Valley of Death. I wanted to go on the hikes, even though I wasn´t feeling well, because I didn´t want to miss out. Bad idea. We start hiking through this beautiful desert and the wind is blowing all around us and making the sand sting against our legs. All of the sand in my face, plus the altitude, was making me feel terrible. But I kept going, crying behind my sunglasses cause I didn´t want anyone to know. haha. How íronic that I´m bawling my eyes out thinking I´m going to die alone in the desert in a place called the Valley of Death. The worst part was, when we got back to town, the one pharmacy was closed. haha. oh foreign travel. Luckily another student had some medicine and was kind enough to give it to me. I used the whole pack and was lucky enough to feel better and enjoy myself on the rest of the trip.
Tuesday morning we took a bus to Pukara. It is a fort on the side of a mountain where the Atacamenas used for their armies. It was a steep hike up, but so cool. It was in this small little oasis where there are lots of trees growing around the base of the hill, then you hike up to the top and can see out across the desert. There are tons of volcanoes surrounding San Pedro de Atacama. Chile is the most active place for volcanoes in the whole world. Our tour guide told us that at least one erupts every year. Another interesting thing about the fort was that hundreds of years ago, the natives had built this entire irrigation system to bring water from small rivers to their fort. It was really cool to see water streaming along side the fort in little cannals. On the other side of this mountain was a cave where the Atacamena priests used to go and plan for wars and talk to the gods. It has giant faces carved into the rock. Awesome! Tuesday afternoon after lunch we got a new tour guide named Salvador. He was so cool and knew so much. He took us hiking through some small towns and their surroundings and then we ended the day going to Salcar de Atacama. Long ago, the desert used to be the ocean, but then the volcanoes formed over millins of years because of the Pacific Rim, and sooner or later the water trapped between these new volcanoes and the old coast dried up. When it dried, it left these huge salt beds in what came to be the Atacama Desert. Salcar es literally just ground full of salt with a few places of water. There´s a little path you can take to walk through the salt plains. The coolest thing about this place were the animals. Because brine shrimp live in what little salty water is left, the flamingos love living in this spot!! Can you believe that? Flamingos in the desert! I never thought flamingos lived anywhere except thr tropics, but here they were poking around the middle of a barren desert. We got to stay and watch the sun set here too. It was so cool!!
On Wednesday we went on another hike in the morning with Salvador. Our usual schedule for this trip was leaving at nine the morning. Hiking till lunchtime (which in Chile is around 2 o´clock). After lunch take a little nap and be back on the trails at 4. We´d see and do more stuff till about 8 o´clock at night and then have dinner around 9:30. Exhausting days, but fun. Anyways, on Wednesday we went on a 3 mile hike up and down this cliff in the desert. It was so cool cause there is a river that runs through the bottom. When we reached the end of the hike, we´d made it to these thermal pools. All down the end of the river where these little pools that were warm. Not steaming hot, but they felt great after hiking for three hours. It was so great. That afternoon we went exploring around the town and did a little tourist shopping.
On Thursday before we left in the afternoon, we had free time to what we wanted. Dr. Cass, however, had heard about this Salt Lake and invited people to go with him to see it. Emily and I decided to go and I´m so glad we did. We had to ride in this tour bus for about 45 minutes to nowhere. I´m pretty sure the guy was making up the road as he drove. But, lo and behold, somewhere in the middle of nowhere yet again we arrived at our destination. It was about three or four pools of water. The water was really clear and green. The coolest part was that you could swim in it. BUT, because the water was 8 times as salty as the ocean, you could float without even trying. Not even kidding. I jumped in with my shoes on (because the ground surrounding it is sharp, dried crystalized salt) and when I came to the top, I was just floating. Sometimes, your feet would just float to the top of the water and you couldn´t even get them to stay under. It was the neatest thing I think I´ve ever seen. Also, the water there is SO deep that they had to stop measuring it at 11,000 feet because they didn´t have the right tools. Ah!! Don´t worry, i didn´t get eaten by a salt monster. I´m pretty sure that place was way too salty to sustain life. We flew back to Santiago Thursday night and didn´t get home to really late. Before I went to bed though, I had to shower because when the salt water dried on my skin, it left white, salty residue over my entir body. Even my pigtails were stiff white. It was hilarious.
Friday we spent the day in Santiago. I finally got a cell phone and the keys to my apartment, so I am feeling like I have a lot more freedom. Last night was a little confusing though, because Emily and I tried to get in touch with people, but no one could go out. We ended up going and seeing a movie. Funny story though (ok, i know this blog is ridiculously long) Our mama dropped us off at the apartment to change our clothes for the movie. We thought she told us to call her when we got to the movies because we were going to be taking the metro for the first time. But, what she really said was ¨I´m going to pick up my mom and I´ll come right back for you¨ Don´t ask. I didn´t hear the conversation. Anyways, so we change and leave for the metro and are walking through the streets when Nena calls me. I answer and she says, ¨Hola. I´m outside if you are ready.¨ I said,¨ umm, ok¨ and hung up. I looked at Emily, said a bad word, and then began to yell ¨corre, corre (run, run)¨ as we ran back through the streets to our apartment. Needless to say, everyone was laughing by the time we got to our mom´s car.
Today we went to the zoo with our friend Lauren and walked through the Bellavista neighborhood of Santiago. It was really fun. Well, that´s all for now. ( I know, that´s all?) I start classes on Monday! Wish me luck! I miss you all so much! And i promise there will be pictures soon!
Chao!
Megan

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