Visiting the Atacama Desert and Turning 23!
Well if you read my blog post from a few weeks ago, you'd know that I made the arrangements to take a short trip to the north of Chile to simultaneously explore the country bit before my time here comes to a close and to do something special for my birthday this year. Luckily, to make this happen, I just had to take a long weekend, asking not to be scheduled to have any conversations or visit any family rooms on the Friday and subsequent Monday. I'm so pleased that I decided to do this because it was one of the coolest experiences that I have had and it was a great way to reset and recharge a bit in the middle of doing some taxing work lately.
Before I get into that, though, I realize that I have had some more adventures that the blog hasn't been updated on yet! So, a quick recap of those exciting activities (through pictures) before I talk about my birthday trip.
Cajón del Maipo
With the language school, I took an amazing weekend trip to Cajón de Maipo. Day 1 was spent rafting down the rapids in the river. Our group had to split into two boats and one of which was going to be lead by an English-speaking tour guide. I wanted to be in the Spanish boat, but no one else volunteered so I joined 3 German students and 3 buddies visiting Chile from Seattle. I ended up having a lovely chat with my fellow United States citizens before we parted ways at the end of the afternoon.
The next day, we took the bus back to the same area but a bit further out to get a stunning view of the mountains and water. We then made our way to thermal hot pools to relax for a while before checking out a gorgeous waterfall on our way back to Providencia.
Atacama
To get to San Pedro de Atacama, I had to take an hour and a half plane ride to a town called Calama and from there catch an almost 2-hour shuttle into town. Once there, my first stop after checking into my hostel (with a private room!) was to head to a market to buy a big bottle of water (since the tap water there is not advisable to drink if you are not used to it) and some grocery essentials to fuel my days of adventure.
Valle de la Lune
Moon Valley
My first tour was to Moon Valley - which was breathtaking to say the least. It was also extremely dry, dusty, and sandy! San Pedro de Atacama gets less than an inch of rain a year. Surprisingly, for a desert, it was not all that hot. In many of my pictures, you will notice that I am wearing a jacket or long-sleeves. This was not only to protect my skin from getting burnt to a crisp by the sun, but because generally it was a bit chilly, especially with the wind.
The valley is surrounded by three mountain ranges and the formations are created by salt, clay, and plaster. At some points during the day, I had to tell myself to simply put my cameras down because I would not be able to capture what I was looking at with my lens. Plus, I didn't really want to sort through 5 billion photos that all look relatively similar.
To end the tour, we stopped at a gorgeous overlook to watch the sunset. I don't think I could have designed a better way to finish off this day.
Lagunas Escondidas de Baltinache
Hidden Lagoons of Baltinache
When I planned my trip to Chile, I was not anticipating how much I was going to use my last-minute packing decision: a swimsuit. I'm so glad that I included it in my luggage! It has allowed me to have quite a few really awesome experiences. This morning the tour left around 8am and took us to a spectacularly vast lookout over the valley to have a quick breakfast. I tried to capture some daring pictures here, but only having a backpack as a tripod and my Apple Watch-controlled remote camera, I wasn't quite able to achieve the desired photo effects. While we were there, I was asked to switch from the tour group with an English/Spanish bilingual guide to the just Spanish one. I agreed as a means of pushing myself and having more of a unique and special experience. It turned out to be great and I didn't have an issue with comprehension at all!
We drove out to these lagoons before most tours do so. This meant that we could get the best views and the best pictures. At the end of touring the area, we were allowed to get in for an hour of swimming, or should I say floating, in the salt-water lagoon. This was genuinely one of the coolest and most relaxing experiences that I've ever had! And, I am happy to report that the high-levels of salt in the water did not disturb my Dexcom functionning, either. Funny enough, I met a fellow diabetic from Spain in the group and so we could both share in this relief together. In Spanish! :)
Visiting the San Pedro de Atacama Cemetery
The lagoon tour was a half-day tour, so I spent the rest of the afternoon resting, relaxing, and enjoying the views. I stopped at a spa that boasted good wifi and vegan smoothies so I treated myself to a drink and downloaded some podcasts to listen to on my flight back to Santiago at the end of my trip. After taking advantage of a bit of needed air-conditioning in the city center, I wandered my way to a beautiful cemetery I had seen on a drive the day before. Even on my trip away, I still find ways to work on my project! I found it so interesting to compare how this cemetery was set-up and functioned to others I've visited in different parts of the world, but especially the one in Santiago. There were so many aspects that felt distinct. Much seemed to do with climate, but others due to a different culture. Check out my previous post with information about the cemetery that I visited in Santiago here to see what differences you notice.
Geysers del Tatio
El Tatio Geysers
I'm very glad that I had a laid-back afternoon the day before, because this tour picked all of the participants up from our hostels at 4:30am. Being the prepared and nervous person that I am, I was ready and waiting outside at about 4:05am, since I didn't want a repeat missed-tour-bus-incident like what happened in Queenstown, NZ. The tour instructions advised to dress warmly, with a coat, hat, gloves, etc. I didn't listen since I thought they exaggerated the cold. I did put on both my leggings and jeans and I had two long-sleeve shirts and jacket. I figured that would be good enough. As I waited outside, and the minutes ticked away, the woman who lives above the hostel where I stayed out popped on her lights and poked her head out the door. She said that most people just wait in the rooms and when they hear the bus pull up they come out. I responded by simply saying "Oh...", especially since it was now moments away from being 4:30, there seemed to be little point for me to go back inside. But, she then asked where I was going. After I told her, she looked shocked at my attire. She informed me that I was underdressed severely. I shared that this was all I had so it would have to work. She went back in and came out several minutes later with a coat, ear warmers, and gloves for me to borrow for the day. She was right. I needed those, desperately. It was freezing at the geysers!
After our early morning viewing of the geysers, we drove back down a winding mountain and stopped at a spot to view vicunas (wild alpaca), a variety of cool seagull-like birds, and FLAMINGOS! It was very exciting!
Cabalgata Valle de la Luna
Moon Valley Horseback Riding
To finish off my trip, I was supposed to take part in an astrophotography tour in the middle of the night. Originally it was scheduled for the same day as the lagoons, but the weather was not great that night so it was cancelled. I moved my time to the next night. But, I had a feeling it would not take place. In a last minute decision, while walking through the town, I stopped in to one of the tour company locations and asked what they had available that afternoon or evening. Turns out that this was a great idea and my experience horseback riding in the Moon Valley was the highlight of my trip. It was just me, my guide, our horses, and his dog. It was such a unique way to experience the scenery and landscape. Plus, I got to fulfill an unknown dream of becoming a cowboy.
Flight back to Santiago
To head back to Santiago, I had to catch the almost-2-hour-long shuttle at 9:30am for my flight scheduled to leave around 1pm. I made my way to the airport on a fairly relaxing drive and got through the smallest airport security department I have ever seen. The people working were very kind and accommodating for my needs with all my diabetes devices and I had no issues. At first.
After a while, I looked down at the backpack I had with me for the trip and I realized that the pin that was attached to the front since I left Cleveland is no longer there. It was, however, on my bag when I was in the shuttle... I recall opening the front pocket to grab an item and securing the back to the peg a bit more tightly as I do often when I open that section of the bag. I walked through the small airport, eyes trained on the ground, searching for the fallen pin. When I couldn't find it, I pulled up a picture of the pin on my phone and asked all of the workers if they had seen it. I walked back to security to see if they had it. No luck. I left the airport and walked along the drop of bay to see if it fell of there. Nope.
Once I was back up and through security again, it is announced that my flight is now delayed by 3-hours. So, since I can't find the pin in the airport, I email the shuttle company and ask if they driver or another passenger on the return trip happened to see it and if they could drop it off on the next cycle of shuttles. After some back and forth they agree that they could. About 20 minutes later, I get an email saying the driver searched the van and could not find the pin and so I was, yet again, out of luck.
Timing is everything folks! Just then, another announcement came on stating that they did not know when my flight would leave that afternoon or if it would be leaving at all. Great. They did kindly let everyone know that they would have meals available at the check-in desk due to the extreme delays and the fact that it was now dinner time. To get them, though, we had to leave the gate and security area and then re-enter. I went down, again, out of the airport. I grabbed my food, but before walking away, I asked about the gluten-free options in the bag. Turns out there was none and none available. I set the bag back on the desk and made my way back to security for the third time.
Inside the main airport again, I popped into a shop to get a snack so that I didn't go an entire day fasting. I got a small protein bar and a packaged smoothie -- the only two gluten-free items in the entire store. And, it only cost me $8 for a toddler-size snack.
Eventually, they let us board a plane and I got back to my place in Santiago at about 10pm. It was an experience to say the least. And, I had to be up before 6am the next day to commute to work for another full week. I can safely say my final day undid the majority of the trip's relaxation benefits - ha! Luckily my week after was very fulfilling and enlightening, so it all evens out.
Other Cool Pictures from the Trip!!
What I Did on my Actual Birthday
I got back on the evening of December 5th. My 23rd birthday took place two days later on December 7th. That day, I was scheduled to take a bus 2-hours away to visit Valparaiso and the Ronald McDonald Family House there. While I was there, the supervisor I have been working with at the charity surprised me with a mini birthday celebration! Unfortunately, she did find out that morning that I have Celiac Disease and Diabetes, which was after the plans for the celebration were made. Those plans included a fruit tart with candles, special Chilean empanadas, and full-sugar Coke to wash it down. So, I could not participate in that aspect of the celebration but the community around me mattered more! It was such a kind and thoughtful gesture and made my birthday abroad really special!
Now please ignore my awkwardness in this video, but I wanted to share a snippet of the celebration in video form here too!
If you want to stay up to date on my blog, consider subscribing to be notified when I post!
コメント