san pedro de atacama

since our last update, we have had very sporadic internet services, and it looks like for the next week or so, this will be the same case. so an update since the last time.....

after our last update, easter island got extremely extremely rainy. so much so that as soon as you stepped out, it soaked through even the most waterproof of materials. in addition to that, it was so damp that everything was wet or damp. even my passport!

to pass the time, we played a TON of games of yanif (yaniv? according to bossmat), an israeli card game that kavitha and i picked up from the two young germans in ilha do mel. the interesting part of the game is, you rack up points over time, but if you hit a multiple of 50 in your score, then you go back down to zero. as it stands right now, kavitha is in the lead, while i am lagging behind everyone at something like 470 points. brutal!

with the games of yaniv, we drank a lot of cheap chilean wine to pass the time. $2400 pesos per bottle, which works out to about $5. we are certainly a classy bunch. and unfortunately, we also broke two of oscar´s wine glasses. eeeeeek.

overall, while the dampness sort of got to us, we enjoyed oscar´s breakfasts. there was always toast, eggs, and fruit, which i really enjoyed. near the end of our stay there, oscar´s niece (the daughter of miss chile) was there, as well as a random kitten named sofia. sofia was CRAZY - she climbed screen doors and was constantly seeking attention. what a ham!

similarly, because things were so expensive in easter island, we ate at the same empenada stand EVERY DAY. $1300 pesos for a pino empenada (or an empiñata as cheryl would call it), which was an empenada filled with beef and onions. the other popular empenada amongst our group was the napolitana, which was basically ham, cheese and tomatoes.

kavitha and i lucked out with our room, because it seemed that smutty and cheryl had a very unfortunate room with a terribly musty smell and a broken toilet that made random ¨PHOOOOOOOOOOOSH¨ sound every two minutes. it caused them intense insomnia, as well as extensive plumbing issues when they had to stick their hand in the tank and drain it. on that note, toilet water in the tank is like tap water!!!!! don´t think negatively of them!

the flight back to santiago was great of course, with the wonderful in-flight entertainment. however, sleeping overnight in the santiago airport was not so pleasant. first of all, people were super rude there. second of all, we did not check in in time and we had to sleep on the cold metal benches in the area before check-in. i managed to get in a couple of power naps (as the team can attest) however others were not so lucky. bossmat could not sleep and ended up being the ¨night supervisor¨ and the others amused themselves with the candy machine which had very stale fruit candy. also, there was some very loud music playing, probably so people would not sleep in the airport. but nothing could stop us!! (side note: some of the music was actually good. i was amazed to see that they were playing videos for lily allen and portishead...?)

we ate dinner at a diner called gatsby´s that was open 24h! the food was ok, and i seemed to enjoy the fries. i was also able to call my dad, whose birthday it was. the phone cards at the airport were ridiculously expensive (2000 pesos for 10 minutes! sheesh!)

in the morning, we were able to check in and go to the gates, where there was a starbucks with REALLY COMFY couches where most were able to doze off. when it came time to check in, we realized that everyone on the flight, very nearly, were MEN! WTF! we kind of inferred that calama is a mining town. (this is our guess)

when we got to calama, the airport was tiny. smutty says, ¨they get smaller and smaller!¨ we crushed into a cab to get into town, then took a bus over to san pedro de atacama, which took about an hour. they played a spanish version of schindler´s list.

when we finally got into san pedro de atacama, it was super tiny. the town has a population of under 5000, and it is made up of low, mud adobe buildings. very cute! we were able to locate the HI hostel, which was also very cute, and it turns out it is the first time that we have all been able to share a room! keith is the only guy in our room.

our first day we were exhausted due to our long night in the santiago airport, and we spent the day looking for tours and eating out. surprisingly, the food here is AMAZING! probably the best meal we have had in chile has been at a restaurant called la casona. i had a wonderful zucchini garlic soup that was out of this world! similarly, we are all very fond of the fact that they give customers salsa and bread at the beginning of the meal. so good!

the climate here has also been super sunny and dry, a very welcome change from easter island. bossi, cheryl and keith have been tanning as much as possible, while keith has been perfecting his v neck farmer´s tan. MUY attractive. however, at night, it gets insanely cold - it doesn´t help that there is a big hole in our wall. to the point that we wear about 5 layers. the cold weather, however, is great for sleeping - there are about 3 blankets on our beds. last night we went to bed at 10, and got up at 8 this morning - solid!!! this was probably one of the best sleeps, if not THE best sleep, we have all had.

today has been insanely busy with various tours. in the morning, we went sandboarding in death valley (thankfully this name was not as bad as it sounded, although at times i thought so), and it was actually kind of fun! it involved hiking up a giant 50 degree incline sand dune, and going down a hill on a board with socked feet only. i am insanely afraid of going down slopes at high speeds, so it was perhaps not the best thing for me to do. unfortunately, kavitha was having eye problems so she didn´t come. :(

keith, who snowboards, was super good at sandboarding. bossi and i were struggling a bit - i think i spent more time getting up off my butt then actually going down a hill. cheryl was quite the prostar!

afterwards, we got back, showered (some colder than others), then got some snacks and had lunch at a different restaurant than la casona (note we had gone there for lunch and dinner the day before). thankfully they still had bread and salsa! PHEW!

after lunch, we went on a tour to valle de luna, or valley of the moon. our first stop was death valley, which was somewhat disappointing because we had already survived it in the morning. afterwards, we stopped at various lookout points, and then another one where we had to hike up a giant sand dune/mountain. the girls and keith (KD from this point forward) walked on a very uneven surface to check out the sunset, while i meandered off to another lookout point that had a view of a giant sand dune that someone had written ¨I HEART P¨ in it. we were all petrified of the uneven surfaced area because there was a lot of loose gravel and there was a huge, steep, about 100m plunge below into some sharp rocks. not so good. but we all survived!

we got back in the evening, and we found that cheryl had been kicked out of her bed by a minnesotan - only because she made her bed so nicely (note: mr. and mrs. hooper, your daughter makes a real good bed). then we did some grocery shopping for our 3 day bolivia trip (including about 9 super 8 chocolate bars.... more on that later), purchased some crackers, and the like.

i have to add that super 8 chocolate bars are MUY GOOD. they are made by nestle, and are essentially crispy wafers covered in chocolate. not too sweet! not as sweet as a kitkat. and they are very cost effective. in santiago, i got them for 250 pesos (about 50 cents) while in san pedro they have only been 100 pesos! BARGOONS!

for dinner we went to a cute little restaurant where we ordered the menu del dia. for 2990 pesos, we got a great salad, salmon with rice and cucumber, and this amazing fruit salad, syrup and cereal on it. so good!!!

we also want to add that we have been on a mcdonald´s cono famine strike. we have not had ANY dulce de leche y vainilla conos since my birthday in buenos aires! HOLY! well, except for cheryl (which she yells ¨IT WAS ONLY VANILLA!! don´t add that!¨) we are hoping that in la paz they have these conos.

in san pedro de atacama, i have found that ATMs are very hard to come by. and if you do find them, they do not have any money in them!!!! sheesh!

to end our blog, we need to profile a couple of people.

our latest traveller to replace arti :( is keith. he is a virgo, and if he was an animal, he would be a cougar, however, i thought he more closely resembled a meerkat. keith is actually the most high maintenance traveller on the trip, demanding hot showers daily and having a highly regimented baseball cap and hair gel technique. he has the least amount of clothing and the most amount of first aid supplies. he even has iodine!!!

we would like to add that keith´s manliness has come in handy, including changing tires, driving standard, getting wine in the rain, carrying heavy bags, and helping us step down cliffs. however, he has been getting a little bit cocky, saying today that ¨you girls needed a man on this trip!¨ the four of us were dismayed and then proceeded to air punch him accompanied by a loud ¨DOOOOOOSH!¨

other people we have met on this trip in the douche category has been an australian chef who seemed to have a chip on his shoulder about him being a chef. he was also travelling with his ex-fiancee, who was perceivably more successful than he was. eeek.

similarly, we met a spaniard who knew about 7 different languages, but lived in toronto in a homeless shelter for a month, lying about losing his wallet!!!! the homeless shelter gave him free room and board (including a big screen tv in a common room) as well as money every wednesday and he even begged for money. the homeless shelter even paid for his ticket back to colombia!!!! i could not believe that our canadian tax system paid for this shit. the four of us girls were COMPLETELY unimpressed, while keith tried to maintain the peace.

anyhoo, we are off on a 4x4 trek tomorrow to bolivia, and will hopefully blog soon. until then!!!

ps. we are expecting a mattress on the second night of our trip and a shower. can´t wait!