From the Desert to an Island

It’s beginning to get cliché that I keep starting my blog posts saying how incredible my past 2 weeks were, but it’s just the truth.

I left off promising to tell you about the Halloween party that we had 3 weeks before Halloween. And now that it is the day after the real Halloween I am very glad we had that party. People in Chile really do not know how to celebrate that holiday.

but the Americans do

However, Siena, who lives with my host sister’s boyfriend, had the party at her house so lots of Chileans came as well. These Chileans dressed up and it was a great night. We even introduced the Chileans to beer pong.

So the Halloween party was on Saturday and that following Thursday night I flew out of Santiago to Calama. A 2 and a half hour flight to the north of Chile.

And of course, here begins more transportation problems. We booked our flight so that we would land around 10 pm. Then we needed to take a 2 hour bus ride to San Pedro de Atacama, the desert where we were staying. Unfortunately, buses at Calama airport (which by the way looks like a little lodge more than an airport) stop working around 9 pm. Our only other choice was to take a private van for about $25 a person.

Woops.

So I was frantically emailing companies for the 2 days before our flight and luckily our hostel owner decided to help us out. She sent her brother to pick us up for only $14 a person. Much better.

And as we walked out of our airplane, we looked around and didn’t really realize where we were until one of my friends just says, “Holy shit guys, we’re in the desert!” And that’s when it really hit us.

During the ride to our hostel, I felt like I was in a planetarium. There were so many stars in the sky, it was incredible. Not something I get to see often, or ever for that matter.

So after passing out right away in our beds, we woke up the next morning ready to start our adventure. And when I say beds, I mean that the 4 other girls on the trip got really nice and comfortable  beds while I got the bunk bed to myself which felt like I was sleeping on rocks and also squeaked any time I moved half an inch…

Anyway, the town was adorable. All the signs were made of wood and there was sand everywhere. We really were in the desert. We walked around trying to find tours for the next few days. Little did we know, we found the perfect one for that same day.

At 4pm, we went sandboarding. One of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Now I understand why snowboarders think they are cooler than skiers.

It was really difficult climbing up that hill

I obviously fell a bunch of times but it was so much fun. Except for the fact that I had sand absolutely everywhere for the next few days…

I was doing really well...

then I got scared of going too fast...

so I made myself fall.

After sanboarding we were taken to Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). We hiked up for about 5 minutes and came to the most beautiful, and windiest, spot. It was there that our guide decided to give us Pisco Sours (typical Chilean alcoholic drink) as we waited for the sunset.

The sunset was beautiful. Valle de la Luna is known for the fact that the sunset turns the mountains a mix of blue and red.

After that, we thought the tour was over…and the official tour was. So off we went to the salt caves.

We climbed in the salt caves for about 20 minutes. Since we didn’t know that this was part of the tour, my friend very kindly said “Where the fuck is he taking us?!” and the guide just responded saying that he knew English.

At one point he just took off some of the salt crystals on the cave wall and gave them to us to eat. Best salt I have ever had.

We kept climbing (it got kind of small at some points) until we came to a clearing. We climbed up to it and just layed down and looked up.

Remember that feeling I got of being in a planetarium while we were driving in a van? This completely surpassed that feeling. We were in a snowglobe of stars.  

Then we went to go “listen” to the salt. I was obviously a skeptic but even I could hear the salt forming within the rocks!

Overall incredible day. That ended around 10pm. Good thing we were going to get lots of sleep before our tour the next day… that started at 4 in the morning!

5 cranky girls got up at 3:45 in the morning and were in a tour bus 15 minutes later.

5 cranky girls were bundled up and still freezing on the ride on this tour bus that lasted 2 hours.

We were going to the Geysers del Tatio. We were told it was going to be cold, but none of us were prepared for how cold it was really going to be.

But the site was beautiful. 

We just didn’t stay for too long because it was so so cold. So the 5 cranky gringas got back on the bus to wait for it to warm up outside.

I sat on them for warmth

It finally got sunnier and we ventured back outside.

Since our tour started so early, we got back early in the afternoon.

So what do 5 gringas do with the rest of their day? Shop, obviously.

We all bought lots of llama gear because we were so cold that day and had another tour the next morning (but later, at 7am instead of 4).

Since we were in the desert, water was scarce and expensive. It cost $2 for a bottle for water that cost about 85 cents back in Santiago. And food was expensive too. So what did the 5 gringas do?

We ate pasta for every single meal. Cheap and delicious… at least the first few times.

And again, since we were in the desert, water was scarce and expensive. So when we tried to go shower that night, we had 2 options: freezing cold, or boiling hot. We chose neither.

So the next day we were up early again and bundled up more than the day before.

Our first stop were salt flats that were also a flamingo reserve. Normally people see hundreds of flamingos, we saw about 6.

4 more flamingos?

But it was still beautiful regardless.

Then we were off to the mountains to see beautiful lagoons.

and some snowmen?

Oh, and what do 5 gringas do when they are in the midst of such beauty? …

JUMP!

But really, it was absolutely beautiful there. A perfect oasis.

And then came my favorite part of the trip, there was a surprise waiting for us…

showing off our llama gear

We got to pet LLAMAS! While wearing our llama socks! And yes, I have cultivated a not-so-little obsession with llamas while I’ve been here…

he really liked potato chips...

And then it was time to go back to the hostel after another perfect day.

When we got there, we met another group of gringos that actually go to our University in Santiago and who we ended up talking to for hours. 

And that was the end of our amazing trip to the desert. We decided to take an early bus back to the airport because we all had lots of work to do. The bus put on the movie “The Pianist” which is an incredibly sad movie. And in the middle of it the bus had to stop so that the police could check our bags. I was thoroughly freaked out because I was so drawn into the movie at the moment.

But anyway, we made it to the airport at 12:30 and our flight was at 4:30. We decided to try to get on an earlier flight and we made it onto the 1 o’clock flight. Finally one time that our transportation worked in our favor!

But we weren’t in Santiago for very long. We got back on Monday. On Wednesday I took one of the hardest tests I’ve ever had to take (in my Chilean class which I sleep through so that could be why…). And then that very same night, my friend Annie and I were off to the south.

I was so tired from the past week that I passed out on the bus. It was a 12 hour bus ride. My bad knee just became even worse.

I woke up in a lot of pain, but there was nothing I could do. Anyway, we got to Puerto Varas in the morning and walked to our hostel. It was a very rich town and it was beautiful.

There was nothing much to do besides walk around and enjoy the view, and that’s exactly what Annie and I did.

We were hungry so we decided to try to find a pizza place. Terrible, terrible pizza. But while we were sitting there, it started to rain. So we sat and chatted for a couple of hours, the perfect rainy day.

We found a giant chess board... I was clearly a knight

Then we went back and watched a movie and worked on our papers that were due the next day.

The next morning we were off to Ancud which is on the island of Chiloe. Our bus got on a ferry to get there.

Our hostel was a 3 minute walk from the bus terminal. On our walk there, I called our friends that we were supposed to be meeting there to see where they were. They said they had already gone on a tour of the island without us, how considerate. This wasn’t a big deal but it frustrated me a little bit. So when we got to our hostel and the gate was locked I had a mini freak out. Very silly, considering the old man across the street came and just pushed it a little harder than we did and it unlocked…

The hostel was just what we needed – a private little room for 2.

I forgot to mention (and this will freak my mom out as she is reading this) but there was a third person in our room in our previous day’s hostel.

We booked a room for 3 because it was cheaper, thinking that no one else would be in that room. Well, we were wrong. A German backpacker was assigned to our room as well.

It was an interesting experience. He was a really nice guy, just graduated from college and backpacking through South America for a few months. Just a little strange. Especially when he started making inappropriate noises at night as he was getting into bed. We were watching our movie at that point and I timidly asked him if the movie was bothering him. It turns out he had a skiing accident a few days earlier and was just in a lot of pain.

So mom, nothing bad happened by having a random person stay in the same room as us, but I wish I could have seen your reaction as you read this!

Anyway, back to Ancud. We got there around 11 and our hostel owner helped us book a tour for 3pm. The tour was to a penguin reserve!

The drive there was absolutely beautiful.

We stopped at a lookout of the beach.

And then finally we arrived at the penguin reserve, just as it started to rain. So we put on ponchos of course

And then we were rolled out onto the boat.

And then finally we got to see some penguins!

But first we saw some adorable sea otters!

Can you spot the penguins?

Our guide made fun of me for taking too many pictures so I'll spare you the rest.

So then, just as we stepped off the boat, it stopped raining. So we went to another lookout.

maybe I do take too many pictures

We went back to our hostel around 7pm very content. Only to remember that we still hadn’t finish our essays and they were due that night at midnight. I finally finished around 11pm.

The next day we were off to Castro, another island in Chiloe. This is where we were going to meet our friends for sure because we were staying in the same hostel for the next 2 nights. So as we are approaching the island, we asked them where they are and they told us that they already left for the national park. Great. Still just Annie and me.

So we follow them to the park. And of course we took a bus so there were issues.

There weren’t enough seats for everyone so Annie let me sit while she had to stand. But I sat next to a mom and her toddler. She fed him a sandwhich, yogurt, and juice. I remember watching that and thinking the combination of foods would make me want to throw up. Apparently the toddler agreed with me.

He threw up about halfway through the trip. Luckily, somehow none got on me.

Finally we made it to the national park only to realize that we were hungry. But the food was outrageously expensive. So we ordered a fruit salad. And while we waited 30 minutes for this salad, our friends walked by! They were extremely shocked to see us there.

Anyway, we went with one of them on this little hike that we were told would last an hour but really lasted about half an hour. It was nice nonetheless.

intricate spiderweb

He really likes his Tims...

Then we all went on a hike to the beach.

We saw some sheep...

and some cows on the way.

The water was so fierce that it created a huge “puddle” that prevented us from getting to the actual ocean. And by us, I mean the girls.

It wasn’t a problem for the guys…

Henry dove right in and was fine...

Mike was a little cold...

and Alex just hopped on through.

Happy boys

Apparently coming back they weren't even cold at all

caveman Alex

We went back very satisfied from the day. We quickly went to dinner after getting back. Annie’s friend from Syracuse who is working in Concepcion for the semester was coming up to stay with us. We decided, being the nice people that we are, to play a prank on her. We would all come up with different personalities.  

My name was Ariel and I lived on a boathouse in the Hudson River. Get it…Ariel, living in the water…

Anyway, we finally told her the truth, but not after getting a few (and I mean a lot) of good laughs out of it.

The next day were went to a market so I decided not to bring my camera. What a bad idea that was. It was absolutely beautiful! The water was so blue and everything was so green all around it. So much vegetation on the island of Chiloe!

I guess I’ll just save those memories for myself for once and not have pictures of them.

That day we tried the typical dish of Chiloe called “curanto.” The ingredients are sausage, chicken, pork, potatoes, mussels, and clams. It was absolutely disgusting to me, but everyone else seemed to like it. I thought I hated mussels, clams, and pork, and now I know for sure. Oh well, it was all for the experience.

The next day we were leaving. Our bus left from a town called Puerto Monnt which is about 15 minutes away from Puerto Varas, where Annie and I stayed on our first day. We thought it took 2.5 hours to get there from Castro. Apparently it takes closer to 4 hours.

Our bus was scheduled to leave at 4:45 so we decided to buy tickets for 12:40, giving us what we thought would be about an hour to relax before the next bus ride.

So that morning we went to another market closer to us. There we all bought ceviche (I bought it with salmon, never eating mussels or clams ever again). It was delicious and the day was gorgeous. How could that great morning turn into such a bad afternoon?

Well, by the fact that our bus to Puerto Montt broke down about half an hour away from Castro. Remind you of anything *cough* our trip to Mendoza *cough*.

 It occurred to us that maybe we wouldn’t make it to Puerto Montt on time for our bus. I went out to talk to the bus driver and he confirmed our suspicion. Great.

It’s a good thing that people in the south of Chile are so friendly. The lady in front of us tried to help us by calling the bus company. Meanwhile, I talked to her 6-year-old daughter. Or more like she talked to me (6 year old's never stop talking apparently). The mom was also furious at the bus driver for letting people get on a broken bus, although of course it’s not his fault. He ended up getting another bus to come out and pick up everyone from the broken bus. But by this time we were all freaking out.  

However, the nice bus driver came up to us and told us that we would reach our next bus on time. How?

Well, by driving super fast on the roads. And then getting the ferry to use a shortcut…

Just some sea lions enjoying the sun

After we get off the ferry there was still some more to go. Then all of a sudden the bus driver tells us to get off the bus. We thought we were going to meet up with our bus that we missed, and we were right…partially.

There was a grey van and 2 men waiting for us. They took our stuff into the van, as we were all nervously laughing at the situation. They drove us for about 5 minutes to another destination where we actually were supposed to wait for the bus this time. So we waited and waited and finally it came.

But our problems weren’t over yet. Annie and I had seats close to the back of the bus, but 2 of our other friends had the very last seats on the bus.

A family with 2 young boys and a baby got on at the next stop. They had the seats in front of our friends. But just the parents and the baby. They placed their 2 boys on a ledge behind the seats of our friends.

Our friends graciously switched seats with the parents. Then all we had left to ponder was how awful the parents were to let their kids sit on a ledge for a 12 hour bus ride through the night. But we didn’t think about those 2 boys as much as about their little baby brother. Who cried and smelled like poop.

Not to mention their seats were not directly next to the bathroom…

Luckily, the family got off about 2 hours later. If they didn’t, I think my friends would have gone crazy throughout that bus ride.

So of course Annie and I brought lots of snacks on the bus and even loaded 2 movies onto our laptops. Around 11:30 we passed out. I woke up about an hour from Santiago because I was in excruciating pain. If the rest of the ride would have been longer than an hour I don’t know what I would have done. My knee felt like it was on fire.

So we got back to our homes at 6 am on Tuesday morning. And now I have 2 days of rest until we all leave for our University sponsored trip to Pucón on Thursday night. That is also about 10 hours away by bus. My knee is not going to get any rest. And while at Pucón, we are going to climb a volano. But we’ve known for a while now that the climb is really difficult. I really shouldn’t do it with the way my knee has been feeling. Obviously I am going to though.

This is word for word the exact email I sent today to my friend’s mom who is a pharmacist and who I always ask for medicinal advice:

“so some things never change, obviously I have a question about medicine for you. Remember my stupid knee problem here? Well two 15 hour bus rides really didn’t help it… and I have to climb a really difficult volcano in 3 days. So what’s the maximum amount of Advil I can be taking each day before it constitutes an overdose :)”

My life.