Saturday, July 9, 2011
After a long night in the bus, I was so happy to see a familiar face when my friend Otto came to pick me up and take me to my friend's place I'd be staying at while in Santiago. Unfortunately, I didn't have a computer and I couldn't figure out how to make the TV work to even watch movies. Don't think I'd enjoy living by myself much if I didn't at least have a dog to keep me company. On the other hand, having time to myself was great for thinking and spending time with God.
My friend from the program, Vanessa came over later in the day so we went over to the restaurant over at the W Hotel for lunch and ice cream. That night, Laura and Bri came over so we could leave in the morning for San Pedro de Atacama. It was so interesting hearing about their experiences in the program. Yet again, I felt so appreciative for how amazing my entire time was. I couldn't think of one thing to complain about. We quickly did some grocery shopping for our trip and then went to bed.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
The three of us girls got up early in the morning to be ready for our 6:45 pick up. Little did we know we'd be sitting and waiting for our delayed flight for over 2 hours. As we sat on the flight, I prayed thanks for how easy it was to get along with the girls.
We were all so happy go enter into the sun when we got off of the airplane. The drive was incredible as we watched the snowy mountains on one side and the never-ending desert on the other. Being so exhausted made the trip very entertaining as we were all quite slap happy.
Our hotel was named Hostal Don Raul, and I highly recommend it if you ever end up there! The entire city was made of adobe. First stop was to the tour place to fix all the dates that somehow got mixed up. Desert Adventures (the tour place) was such a great company to go through and they were so great ad getting us all organized. We took a nice long walk around the city to see the cemetery, plaza, and an adobe igloo. Then, we enjoyed dinner at a cute little pizza place with a nice cozy fire pit. Completely exhausted, we put ourselves to bed at 7:30pm.
Monday, July 11, 2011
After going to bed super early, we were up and ready to go pretty quickly in the morning. Breakfast was surprisingly delicious and then we were off to explore the city some more. We walked through one of the most gorgeous churches I've seen in all of Chile.
Then it was time for our first tour in San Pedro: Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley). The first stop on the trip was Valle de Dinosaurio (Dinosaur Valley). It was named for the beautiful rock formations that looked like dinosaurs walking away from the road (you have to use your imagination). Second, we headed to the Mirador (lookout). We were so fortunate to see the beautiful mountains with snow on them. This is very unusual, but due to the rare snow storm we were more blessed than you'd imagine! Third was Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley). It is told that between 25-300 indigenous people were killed in the battle there. They say that the burial is what gives away that killed by the Spaniards. Two mummies were found and are stored in the museum but not put on display due to the claim by the indigenous people saying how disrespectful it would be to dsplay them. Fourth on the list was the Tres Marias (3 Marias) which was a rock formation. Unfortunately, some stupid tourist thought that standing on the arms of one of the Marias for a picture would be a good idea and ended up breaking off her arms. The girls and I decided that it looked more like 2 Marias and a frog. This formation is in the middle of the Valley of the Moon. There was another formation next to it that looked like a dinosaur coming out of the earth. We talked about the fact that the Mars Rover was tested there before being sent up into space. Lastly, we headed to the mountains to watch the sunset and the snowy mountains change colors. I thought I was going to die walking up the path with the high altitude. Finally up on top and sitting with lots of new friends, we watched as the majestic mountains sparkled while the sun sank below the horizon.
Our next tour was the Astronomical Tour where we learned a lot about the stars, moon, and galaxies. The observatory was owned by a guy from France who married a Chilean woman. I was so excited when the whole thing was done in Spanish and I was able to understand it all. Through telescopes, we saw the rings around Saturn, the Moon up close, the “Jewelry Box” (a collection of very colorful and sparkly stars), the Southern Cross, and several other constellations. We all went inside for some delicious hot chocolate and more information from the French guy.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Our first stop of the day was the archeological museum in the city. We spent some time enjoying the artifacts and learning all about the history of Chile.Then, we took off for our next tour of the trip: Salar de Atacama. First we went to un pueblito (little town) with a realy cute church. The guide told us that the steeple was separate from the church because the steeple represented the man and fire, the church represents the woman/earth. We took a nice hike/trek along a river to get to the second stop, Valley de Jarez where there were houses carved out of the stone. Third, we went to the Salar where we got to explore the National Reserve of Flamingos (Laguna Chaxa en el gran Salar de Atacama). Again, we were blessed to watch the incredible sunset and the snowy mountains light up with colors. The pictures I took honestly look like paintings. On our bus was a very funny British woman who just made it that much more entertaining. Poor Bri had been chosen by one of our awkward tour companions as his interest. Some of the hysterical quotes that remained after that were “yesterday...I saw an owl” “what does your grandma do for a living?” “do you like the moon?” “did you learn to write novels in school?” And so many more!
When we got back, we made sure that everything was in order for the next day. Unfortunately, they canceled gieser trip we had expected due to the snow, but we planned to other trips for the day that we were pretty excited about. Then we headed into the doorway of a random very full bar to watch the end of the Chile vs. Peru game. It was such a pleasure to yell and scream and sing the anthem with all of the other Chileans in the bar! I can't tell you the excitement we all felt seeing Chile beat Peru 1-0 in the last 2 minutes!!!!
The girls and I headed to a locally recommended place for dinner for some over priced fettuccine alfredo and watched Mexico vs. Uruguay. Our water was from Ecuador and just beyond silly!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Our first tour of the day was Valle de Arcoiris (Rainbow Valley). We began with a walk in Hierbas Buenas (Good Herbs) looking at the petroglyphics made by the indigenous people that lived their thousands of years before. There were dogs (known by their skinny tails that pointed upwards), foxes (bushy tails pointing straight out), monkeys, and lots of llamas! It got me thinking about my reasoning for coming to Chile. One thing I think everyone wants is to leave an impression in the world that lasts for the generations to come. As I saw the literal impression left by people thousands of years ago, I prayed about the impact I've been able to have here in Chile and that I was able to leave something more than just better English behind. What a blessing to be part of something so much bigger than just myself. The next part of our tour was the actual Valle de Arcoiris where the mountains were green (copper), silver (white), and red (iron). We learned about the oxidation process and the different colors. We took a walk in a river bed and the surrounding landscape looked straight out of “Land Before Time”. Towards the end of the tour, I jumped off of a 4 foot ledge in order to get a jumping picture with the mountains behind me. I landed wrong and ended up breaking my toe. Talk about bad timing!! It quickly swelled up and turned colors..not fun!
We headed back to the hostel to change and pack up our things before the last tour of our trip. Everone in the streets that we had seen and talked with the past few days asked me what happened as I hobbled around. I felt like a famous person =D
Our last tour, Salt Lake Lagoons was made interesting with my broken toe as I had to be very careful with how I walked. We first went to the Ojos del Salar (Eyes of Salt) where we had to walk out across crystallized salt mounds to the middle in order to float in the icy water. After a short moment of floating/freezing, we headed in to dry off in the sun. Note to all, salt water (I believe it was 45%) in your eyes is very painful. Next, we headed to the freshwater lagoons. There was no way to climb out with only one foot after jumping in so I decided to just enjoy the view and relax outside. The last stop was Cejas Lagoon where we were going to watch the sunset for the last time of our trip. Again, my pictures looked as though they just couldn't be real.
After arriving back at the hotel, we were quickly picked up by our transfer to the airport. We were so beyond exhausted and slap happy that we just laughed the whole way. It's funny how in only 4 days you can become such great friends with people when you open yourself up.
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