San Pedro de Atacama

On Friday, October 12, the day of our long-awaited group trip had finally come.  So we dragged ourselves out of bed at 6 am, loaded onto a bus to the Santiago airport, and boarded our plane for the driest desert in the world:  THE ATACAMA!!

Some say that the Atacama is the closest environment to Mars on earth.  Scenes from movies such as James Bond have been shot there.  And now Chile study abroad group 2012 has left their mark their too!

Plane ride entertainment of MASH and my friend drawing out caricatures.

The flight took about two hours and I had wonderful seat buddies, Allison and Caitlin, to keep me laughing the whole time.  As we flew, I could look out to both sides and sea snow-peaked mountains surrounded by desert.  It was beautiful!

Our plane after we landed in Calama.

We landed in the small city of Calama and I could immediately feel the dry air that seemed to cracked my lips immediately as I stepped off the plane.  We stopped at the grocery store to get snacks (some Mac n´Cheese that ended up having blue cheese and tasting very strange - I miss Kraft! - was my selection), and then we were off on another beautiful bus ride to the tiny town of San Pedro de Atacama.

Our bedroom at the hostel.

Immediately upon arriving at the hostel (which was wonderful) I saw a dead, bloody sheep carcass behind one of the cabins... and we ate sheep´s meat that night at dinner!  So that was a fun experience.  However, the hostel was wonderful with a big group space to eat and have parties and several smaller cabins.  Mine had it´s own kitchen, 2-two person rooms, and a bathroom.  My roommate was my gemilla (mix of gemela, which means twin in Spanish, and Miller, our shared last name) Caitlin.  One of my favorite things about the hostel was all of the hammocks in the back.  I loved hanging out there!

Our cabin at the hostel.

That afternoon we just meandered through the town, went to ferias to shop at which I got an alpaca sweater and pencil case, and watched some of the Chile-Ecuador fútbol game at a local bar.  I liked the atmosphere of the town a lot better because it was more laid back, rural, and there were a lot of tourists around so I felt like I blended in better.  One night I walked around in yoga pants and didn´t feel weird or unsafe at all, which would never happen in Viña!

The central plaza in San Pedro.

Saturday was full of buses and tours, but it was one of the most scenic days of my life!  That morning, about half of our group chose to do the salt lakes tours, which took us to three lakes: a salty lake where we could just fall back and float, los Ojos de Salar, and a salt-bottom, very shallow lake.  The first was gorgeous and freezing, but my favorite of the three because I love swimming.  It was definitely worth braving the cold to experience the feeling of being weightless as the salt held us up.  At the second, which was chilly as well, we had the chance to do do a mini cliff jump (only about 10 feet haha).  They are called los Ojos de Salar because there are two small round lakes that look like eyes in the middle of the salar, a big salt flat in the middle of the desert.  At the third lake, we saw even more beautiful scenery and limped around because the cracked and sharp salty bottom of the lake hurt.  It was a beautiful experience.

Lake 1: Laguna Miscanti

Lake 2: Ojos de Salar

Lake 3

That afternoon was filled with even more driving and taking in the most breathtaking views.  We went to two well-know valleys in Atacama, Valle de la Luna y Valle de la Muerte.  At the former, we all took turns taking a picture on the overhanging rock below.  At the second, there were more photos, and we got to run/jump down a sand dune!

Valle de la Luna

Pride Rock in Chile!

Sunset over Valle de la Luna

Valle de la Muerte

The next day we got up at 4:30 am to take a bus to the geysers of El Tatio.  These are a couple hours outside of San Pedro and are formed by heat from the nearby volcano.  It was fun to wander through the varies geysers and just take in the general awesomeness of the place.

The drive back was beautiful, filled with desert landscapes, volcanoes, and llama sightings.  In the bus we jammed out and had a sing-a-long session to Michael Jackson and other classics. We also stopped in a small town where I bought an empanada.

We only had about an hour after arriving back at the hostel, and then another group of us were off for another adventure.  This time, we went to one of the highest lakes in the world.  It was freezing and windy, which we were not prepared for, but it was worth every penny and shiver.

The next part of this tour was a trip to la Salar de Atacama, or the Salt Flat.  It is a huge open space where the ground is literally covered in salt formations.  It was simply beautiful and an amazing sight to see.  I tried to capture it on camera below.  However, the best part was experiencing the sunset on the Salar with a mountain in the background and clouds causing a stunning array of colors.  It was the prettiest sunset I´ve ever seen.

Vivid colors.

Our last stop on the tour was to a church in a tiny town on our way back to San Pedro.  It was a beautiful and comfortable little church that I would love to call my home parish.  Every 15 minutes a nun comes out and rings the bell in the tower.  There were several nuns there, attending to the church and ringing the bell.  We asked them if we could take a picture with them and we are going to share it with the nuns at my college!

The next day we had time to wander around the town, went to more ferias, and found a playground where I swung for a while :)  Then, sadly, it was time to take the bus back to the airport :(
I had one minor setback where I thought that I lost my iPod for the whole plane ride back.  I was so worried I felt sick.  However, it was just in my pocket.  Silly me.

Overall, an amazing experience and I am so so thankful for my time here and every that has made it possible.  More posts to come soon!