The Desert: San Pedro de Atacama

At the end of October I took an optional trip the the far north of Chile which took us to San Pedro de Atacama. The landscape up there is just so overwhelming... So much space, breathtaking mountains, hidden caves, salt fields and so much more. This is gonna sound really lame and immature but one of my favorite parts of the trip was that the "Hosteria" where we stayed had a pool. So after spending a long day out in the desert exploring, we could always head to the pol to hang out for a few hours.

The first day we managed to rally and rent bikes for the day to explore some of the closer natural wonders. I say "rally" because our flight left Santiago at 5am and got in San Pedro at 7am. We had to meet at 3:15am at common location in Santiago to go to the airport together. So needless to say we were all a bit tired. But cruising around bikes was a great day to spend the day and it was an activity we did outside of the tour so we set our own schedule. The picture to the left was taken in a river that we forged in our bikes... tons of fun.

The next day we explored this cool prehispanic fort called Pucará de Quitor which was strategically located on a really big hill right by an oasis. And in the afternoon we we the Vall de la Luna for sunset. Seriously there are no words - it's just so beautiful and immense and literally overwhelming.


On Sunday we decided to wake up ridiculously early to go see the geisers de Tatia. We had to be ready is front of the Hosteria at 4am! I would say it was definitely worth it. The geisers were so powerful and plentiful. Luckily I had enough layers but a lot of my friends were absolutley freezing: 17 deg F weather will do that to you. And on the way back I got to try llama meat. It was pretty good but I don't think I need to eat it again...

Monday included more group time. We went out to the National Flamingo Reserve in the Salar de Atacama. I don't remember the exact geophysics of it but something about how the water flows from the cordillera, these massive salt fields arise. Muy bonita y también muy interesante!

Our last day in San Pedro was pretty relaxing: we traveled out the termas or hot springs de Puritama. The springs were at the bottom of this big canyon and there were about 10 different pools in all. We also to the Valle de los cactus where we got to cactuses easily 7-10 ft tall. Unreal.

Surf Trip!!

I'm a little delayed BUT, 2 weekends ago I went to one of the best surf spots in Chile - Pichilemu. I went with two girlfriends of mine from the program and we had such an amazing and relaxing trip out there. We arrived Friday but didn't rush into too much. Saturday we had our first surf lesson of the weekend. The instructors were very patient and helpful too. My the end of the lesson the 3 of us could all stand if only for a minute.

That night we were invited to an asado by our surf instructors to watch the soccer game - Chile needed to win to qualify for the world cup. And they won! So of course everyone was in good spirits. We had a great time eating tons and tons of meat and chatting it up in Spanish.


The next day we took the bus out to Santa Cruz, an area well known in Chile for great wine. We took a tour of the vineyard Viu Manent and if was absolutely gorgeuos. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We got back to Pichilemu late that night and immediately crashed out.



On our last day in Pichilemu we had one last surf lesson in the morning - amazing, again. After eating, more, (we love to eat...) we hopped on a bus back to Santiago. Definitely a weekend well spent.

And tonight I leave for San Pedro de Atacama, the far north of Chile, for 5 days. I come back the night of the 27th with just enough time to come home, get more clean clothes and then leave again for La Serena for a few days. Wish me luck!

The pacific... 6000 miles south...

As I'm getting ready for my next trip, I realized that I never posted anything about last weekend....

I took a day trip to Viña del Mar with my friend Angela and our Chilean friend Rafa. Even though it wasn't exactly "beach" weather, we still had a great time cruising through Viña and of course hanging out at the playa (beach).


Also, this past week, my friend Sara and I played with the Andrés Bello soccer team in a big game against La Universidad de Chile (also known as "La U"). Even though we tied 2-2 Sara and I had a great time. I took a picture to prove it of course...


So tomorrow I leave for the beach town of Pichilemu which a well known surf spot in Chile. We've been having really really hot weather here in Santiago so hopefully it holds out for a few days longer. After 2 days at the beach, we're going to head a bit inland to Santa Cruz which is well known area for vineyards. Hopefully it'll be another 4 day weekend well spent!

Wine Touring like a champ!

This past weekend my friends and I cruised out to one of the most well known vineyards in Chile: Concha y Toro. Apparently it's sold around the world so next time you're looking for a new wine to try, check out Concha y Toro - it's delish.

It was pretty easy to get out there - about an hour or so on the metro and the bus. Although the vineyard really wasn't too far from the city center, it felt like a world away. Before our tour, we decided to eat lunch at the vineyard restaurant. Also delish. I got a seafood soup with, I swear, everytime of seafood imaginable and a glassy of Chardonnay that was recommended to accompany the seafood.

I between the food, the wine and a few desserts we ended up spening over 2 hours at that table chatting away the day. Such a good time. We finally managed to drag ourselves away from the table to go on our tour of the Vineyard and the cellars within. The day was kinda drab and it was too early in the season to see any grapes so in my opinion, the lunch was the highlight.

And completely unrelated to the vineyard... Sunday was my host Dad's birthday. We had a bunch of family and friends over for the asado and I would say a good time was had for all. At the vineyard I bought him a small bottle of "Late Harvest" which was really sweet so I thought he'd like it (I think all Chileans like sweet things). He was thrilled with the gift and I hope had a great day.


This last picture is of Omar and his 2 Grandaughters. I have quite a few pictures of the cake because they lit the candles a couple times due to the fact that the younger girl (Josefa) was having too much fun blowing out the candles!

Pucón...

This past weekend I traveled about 9 hours south to the small town of Pucón. In Pucón, you can climb a volcano, go river rafting, relax in thermal pools and take boats out on the lake. In four days I felt like I did just about everything.

My friends, Tasha, Angela and I arrived Friday morning after spending the night on the bus. We had about an hour or so to recuperate and the we were off to go see the parade because Friday was Chile's independence day. After exploring the downtown and taking in a bit of the beautiful breath taking scenery we headed back to the house. By the way, the house we stayed at belongs to Tasha's "Chilean" aunt and it was a gorgeous wood cottage about 10 minutes from the city center.

Next we went to an asado at Tasha's "Chilean" Uncle's house. We ate so much delicious meat and pretty much had a great time hanging out with the uncle, his two sons, Tasha's "Chilean" brother and the aunt's boyfriend. Apparently a very typical and chilean diesiocho.

On Saturday we walked out to Carburga pretty much just to see Lake Carburga. It was definitely on eof those "lost in translation" sort of situations because we thought we were going to some waterfalls that were in reasonable walking distance. Instead we ended up walking for 3 hours with our new friends out to this "beach" and by "beach" they meant lake. We still had a good time but were pretty confused for a while.

Sunday was rafting day. My first rafting trip and I loved it. I think I'm hooked... The water was such a clear turquoise and all around us was this amazing landscape. Mountains, volcanos and clear blue sky. We couldn't have asked for better.

And on Monday, our last day in Pucón, we climbed Villarrica Volcano. Wow. What a trek that was. The company we went with equipped us with 2 leathered Chilean guides, ice picks, cramp-ons, ski pants, helmet and boots to name a few. The climb was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done. The volcano just goes up and up and up and you have to switch back in order to get anywhere. Your feet weigh a ton plus you're constantly trying to remember that if you fall, you need to swing your ice pick into the mountain and lift your feet up so you don't roll down the volcano. Definitely a lot to deal with.


Unfortunately we couldn't go to the mouth of the volcano because there was too much sulfur smoke but I was pretty happy with the altitude we did get to. And the best part is that after climbing for hours and hours, you get to slide down the volcano on you butt! So fun!

By the time we got back to Santiago at 7am Tuesday morning Tasha, Angela were beat. But it was a weekend entirely well spent. I would love to go back to Pucón but I think I'll just have to wait and see where the rest of my travels in Chile take me.

Mi casa chilena

I finally took some pictures of my neighborhood and house. In San Diego I always oriented myself by remembering that the ocean is to the west. Well in Chile, the Andes mountains are to the east. I still haven't gotten used to having this massive and beautiful mountains so close. And it's quite a contrast when you look down a busy street in Santiago and you see the mountains in the distance. Of course some days you can barely see them at all because of the smog but since it rained this week they were pretty clear.



So this next picture is my house. It's 2 floors with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. That's right, four of us share a bathroom. It's difficult at times (especially when I get a cold shower) but it works out. My bedroom is the only on the first floor with the sitting room, kitchen (which is very small) and the comedor (dinning room). We have a locked gate and wall that goes around the house and then we also share a larger driveway with 5 or 6 other houses. This also have a gate but it's only sometimes locked.



And this is Tomi, his full name is Tomás. He is the regalon (pampered king) of the house. I think he's ony 4 or 5 years old. He's very friend;y and loves to play and I'm pretty sure he likes me cuz I give him tons of attention. I forgot how much I miss having a furry friend around.

And lastly this is a picture of my room. Even though I make my bed before I leave every morning. My host mom always comes and cleans up the room after I leave. And I get pretty good natural light which is always a plus. Some of my friends have said that they pretty much live in a large walk in closet. So I guess I'm pretty lucky.

I hope this gives you an idea of my life here. Pretty plush I must say.

The newest embarrasment

On Saturday I went to the super market with my host mom and went through the hassle of buying a sim card and minutes for my new phone. Well yesterday I got a little lost with my friend and we ended up taking a taxi home instead of wandering around the streets of Santiago for a hour. And I'm pretty sure that as I was getting out of the taxi my phone jumped of my pocket. Unfortunately I didn't notice until I got home and my then the taxi was long gone.

I felt like such an idiot telling my host mom that I had lost my phone after only 3 days... Today at the university I had to tell all my friends, "You know that number I gave you the other day? Yeah, don't call it. I lost my phone." And the first question out of everyone's mouth was "Were you drunk?" I had to respond with the truth: I didn't drink anything with any sort of alcohol content yesterday.

So tomorrow I will buy yet another sim card and more mintues and hopefully this phone stays in my possession longer than the last. All I can say is that I have "mala suerte" (bad luck) with cell phones and "ojalá" (God willing) my luck changes real soon.