Gabi Part 2 (Patagonia)

THIS IS GABI!!!

First of all, Sorry for such a long blog!  It covers a total of 13 days.  I understand if you have to take a break and come back to finish it later.  It is a bit of a doozie..  It has actually taken many many hours just to put this blog together.

Someone caused this jump picture to fail... i wonder who it was... (sonja)

Day 6: Ushuaia, Argentina

                We began our descent into the Ushuaia airport a little after 8 in the morning.  Ushuaia is the Southernmost city in the world (not to far from Antartica).  The sun was just beginning to rise and as a looked out the window of the plane, all I could see was “COLD”.  It was snowing and everything was white.  Once of the plane, we got a taxi and made our way to the city center.  It was the first metered taxi I had been in while in South America, and man was it expensive.  We really had no idea of what we were going to do in this part of the continent, so we made our way to the information center to see what our options were.  There seemed to be many interesting things but they all seemed pretty expensive.

So next, we looked for the cheapest hostel that we could find.  We found one named Hostel Cruz del Sur.  It was a pretty cool place to hang out. Free computers to get in the internet, a kitchen, nice beds and oh yea AMAZING SHOWERS with HOT WATER!!  So we began doing some research and figuring out what we would end up doing down here in the south of the south.  We decided that even though we had just gotten here we were going to leave on a bus at 4 in the morning and begin our journey into southern Chile in hopes of making it to Torres Del Paine National Park.  Seemed like a good idea… So for the remainder of the day, we just walked around the harbor and taking some photos while freezing our butts off in the snow.  Then we did a bit of grocery shopping and made dinner before turning in for the night.

So yea there is snow everywhere

Ushuaia, The Edge of The World

Coolest Hostel Ever!!!

Crazy attack birds of the south

I liked this photo, Stranded boat in the harbor

Day 7: Buses – Strait of Magellan

                4am came very early.  We packed our things and went to the bus terminal to catch our bus to Rio Grande, Argentina.  We slept most of the way there and arrived before sunrise.  Me and Matthias were hungry so we walked around the sleepy town looking for something to eat.  Nothing was open.  We were trying our best not to fall down on the icy streets and sidewalk when we noticed a man walking into to a glowing light.  We hurried over in hopes that there might be food.  It was a bakery!  We quickly entered and began buying all kinds of amazing goodies.  We then had to hurry back to the bus terminal because soon our bus would be leaving for Punta Arenas. 

                The bus winded along the Atlantic Coastline for a bit.  Next thing you know we were crossing the Chilean border.  It is a major crime to carry fruits or certain other foods into Chile from other countries….  I asked the guy if my apples were ok and he said no and took them.  Well, Sonja had some pears in her bag and tried to get them through the scanner.  They caught her.  We feared that she was going to get arrested and that we would have to continue the trip without her.  So we pretended not to know her and made our way back to the bus where we could wait and see what happened.  Luckily for Sonja, the person who had to sign off on the situation wasn’t there so the allowed her to get back on the bus where we quickly made our getaway. 

                Next was a huge achievement of my life.  We were about to cross the Strait of Magellan on a ferry.  I think I may have been the most excited person there.  It amazed me to see the guys load all the 18-wheelers and cars and our bus onto the ferry.  We and Matthias pitched some ideas about making a video game about loading a ferry.  Once to the other side, we loaded up in the bus and continued our way to Punta Arenas, Chile.  We quickly booked our next bus trip to Puerto Natales, where we were hoping to figure out more about getting to Torres Del Paine.  Since we had a 2 hour wait, we decided to go to the grocery store and buy some fruit since all of ours was confiscated.  It was dinner time so we then went to a little restaurant and found us some hot bowls of Paila Marina. 

                We finally got on the bus for the final leg of this day long trip to Puerto Natales.  At first the bus was nice and warm.  Then it continued getting warmer and warmer until it had turned into a hot and miserable oven.  There was no way we could get any sleep and if I were to take off anymore clothes I would have been naked.  I was relieved when I could finally see the lights of Puerto Natales off in the distance.  Once in the terminal, we began asking about buses to the Park, but since it was the off season for tourism, there would be no buses for 2 days.  So we walked through the town looking for a cheap hostel.  It was really cold and there was snow everywhere.  Finally we found a room and turned in for the night.

Welcome to the Strait of Magellan

I'm at the Strait of Magellan!!!!

Ferry on The Strait of Magellan

Another Paila Marina!!!

Day 8: Puerto Natales, Chile

                We slept in until about 10:30am.  It was very cold and had gotten down to 18 degrees Fahrenheit last night.  The water in our room froze and had to use a bathroom in someone else’s room down the hall.  After eating some fruits and bread for breakfast, we went out to see what we could plan for our trip.  Everywhere that we went, people told us that there was no transportation to the park since it was the off season and that the roads were covered in snow. Also they said that snow was waist deep in some places around the park.  That’s not what we had been hearing from everyone else southwards who said that there was no snow in the park….  Finally we found someone who was willing to help us plan our trip even though she thought we were crazy.

 We planned out a 6 day loop of hiking around the park.  We rented tents, sleeping mats, and a cooking kit to help us survive.  We almost didn’t rent the cooking set but I was able to talk the others into it.  We scheduled our transportation in a private vehicle and then went to do our grocery shopping for the trip.  We would have to take all of our food with us since there are no stores and most of the facilities on the park were closed for the winter.  The grocery store didn’t have bags, so we talked them into letting us borrow the shopping cart to take everything back to the hostel.  We then relaxed and cooked some dinner before packing our packs and going to sleep.  It would be our last night in a room for 5 nights.  I found myself praying that we would not freeze to death on this trip because, well, IT WAS VERY COLD!!! 

Me and my Shopping cart.  I looked like a hobo walking around

A weeks worth of Camping Supplies

Day 9: Parque National Torres Del Paine, Chile

                We woke up early in the morning and stumbled out of the hostel to meet our driver who was going to give us a lift to the park and hopefully pick us up when we were done.  The ride through the valleys was breath taking.  The sun was beginning to rise behind the mountains and everything was indeed covered by snow.  Even the road was solid white, with no pavement showing at all.  It was about a 2 hour drive but it was amazing because the car had an amazing heater.  Our driver (Guido) was actually a tour guide so he gave us some advice and told us to call him if anything changed.  We had no way to contact him so we just told him we would see him in 6 days.  We left Hosteleria Los Torres around 11am and began our trek towards where we would camp for our first night.  It was a little cold and everything was covered in snow.  The mountains were so beautiful.  Eventually, after trying to stay on the trail, we arrived at Lake Nordenskjold which was full of picture perfect views.  The water was an amazing bluish color and it was surrounded by snow peaked mountains.  I could have stayed there for hours. 

At least the next 6 hours of our journey, involved trekking through the snow alongside the lake.  Oh and did I mention that neither of us were prepared for trekking in the snow. I was wearing a pair of worn out tennis shoes which the soles were coming off and were worn slick on the bottom….  Finally we reached our campsite.  At this time of the year the days were only about 10 hours long, so you had to walk as much as you could in the daylight and then prepare for a blistering cold night.  We were all still in awe of the beauty that we had just witnessed over the past 17km of walking.  Our first night we were going to stay in Campo Italiano.  It was deserted so we decided to pitch our tents inside the cooking shed for some added warmth and protection.  We cooked some tomato soup (Tomato flavored water) for dinner.  Next we were beginning to get very cold, so we took off our wet socks and pants and climbed into our sleeping bags.  It was still snowing a bit outside and it continued to get colder and colder.  I would have to say it was a miserable night.  It was so cold (well below freezing), the ground hurt, and I kept getting woken up by the sound of avalanches.

Road to Parque National Torres Del Paine

Starting our Trek!!

Can't believe the scenery

Action Shot!

So Beautiful

Some Trails were solid ice

Day 10: Torres Del Paine

                I was so happy to finally see daylight because there was no way I could lay there in that tent any longer.  We got up and had pan con queso for breakfast before beginning our trek into Valle Frances.  We heard that the valley was closed but Guido said it would be ok.  We began our walk up the valley and were automatically taken by the views of the sun rising.  The snow began to get deeper and deeper as we trekked on.  Some places were over knee deep but it typically averaged around 10 inches deep.  My knee had began hurting me early on and I knew it was a matter of time before I would be hobbling along.  The deep snow really took it out of me.  Pero, Vale la pena!  It was extremely beautiful and we managed to see quite a few avalanches coming down the other side of the valley.  Good thing we weren’t on that side…  the further we trekked on the more difficult it got and we knew that we would have to turn around eventually and make our way back down so that we could make I t the next camp where we would stay the night.  So after about 2.5 hours of walking we decided to turn back because the trail was becoming harder and harder to find and it was too difficult without the proper gear.

                My sneakers were pretty much the worst shoes for the hike.  Basically I had no traction whatsoever and fell about a bajillion times.  With my knee hurting every step I took, it was actually easier to fall down and slide down certain parts of the mountain on my back.  I was in agony basically.  Eventually, I caught up with the rest back at Campo Italiano where we sat down and had lunch.  We collected our gear and then made our way around the lake to the next camp at Paine Grande, where we set up our tent for another freezing cold night.  It was a pretty nice place and they allowed us to use their kitchen for cooking some food and heating up some water for tea.  Also we got pretty lucky because they allowed us to chill in a room that had a wood stove to warm up and dry out all our soggy shoes and clothes.  We walked about 18km this day.

                There were actually a handful of people staying at the camp this night.  There were 2 Americans from California who came down to do a bit of trekking.  Also there was 2 Chileans, an Asian guy with his guide, and Jorge a park ranger.  We all sat around talking about traveling and about life for a long time.  I think we were all avoiding going back out into the cold for as long as possible.  So we finally made our way back out to the tent around 10 or 11 and settled in hoping we wouldn’t freeze.

Sun rising, lighting up mountain peaks

Canned Clams  SO GOOD!!!!

All i could think was WOWWW

Camping arrangements 

Day 11:  Torres Del Paine

                We got up in the morning and made our way into the lounge where I immediately began working on getting a fire started.  We scrounged a little breakfast together and began to eat.  The others slowly began to make their way into the room.  The Asian fella and his guide decided to give us their leftovers because they had too much.  We pounced like wild dogs.  After eating our fill, we prepared for a long hike to Glacier Grey.  It was about a 24km hike there and back.  We left our belongings at the camp and only packed our day packe because we would be returning to the same campsite for that night as well.  We made a quick pace since we didn’t have our heavy packs, which was a great relief for my knee.  After a bit of walking we came along side a lake and in this lake there were many blue icebergs floating about.  I had never seen an iceberg before and I was shocked at how blue these were.  I mean like a deep dark blue.

                We continued hiking until we could see Glacier Grey off in the distance.  We weren’t there yeyt but we could already tell how massive it was.  It seemed as if there was no end.  It took us about 2 more hours of walking before we actually reached the face of the glacier and man was it blue.  SO BLUE.  We climbed up onto a small cliff where we could sit and stare at this marvelous piece of ice and sit on some warm tea.  The clouds above slowly lifted and it was possible to see all the mountains that bordered the glacier and to see how full they were of snow.  Fue muy Impressionante!!!! So with the day halfway over we turned around and made the 4 hour hike back to camp.  I ended up with a few blisters but nothing major.  Just drained them and I was ready to keep going. 

                We made our way back inside by the fire where we ate dinner and sat around with our fellow travelers talking about everything under the sun.  It was pretty amazing to sit around and talk to total strangers in the middle of nowhere.  I think that may have been one of the best things about the trip.  Other than all the amazingly beautiful nature.  Eventually, we went back out into the cold and crawled into our tents.  We knew we had a short hike the following day so we had no rush to get going in the morning.

My first Icebergs

Glacier Grey. SO BLUE!!

This just caught my eye on the way back

Day 12: Torres Del Paine

                The night was extremely windy and it rained a bit.  It woke me up many times during the night.  I felt like I barely slept at all any of this trip so far.  We finally came out of the tents around 8am and made our way in to start up the fire.  There was no wood so I made my way outside to find some firewood and get it going.  So we again prepared breakfast and again were invited to have some of the Asian guys breakfast.  Turns out he was from Singapore.  He was a pretty interesting guy and I wish I could have gotten to know him a bit more but he kept more to himself.  We started the day off very lazily and just relaxed and slept on the table by the fire until noon.  We then packed up our tents and belongings and said farewell to all of our new friends.

                We began our hike up a steep mountain alongside the lake on our way to the campsite called Carretas, which was only about a 3 hour 10km hike.  We saw a very rare deer and also many wild horses in the meadows.  Once we arrived to camp we were again the only ones there.  So we prepared our tents and relaxed before it got dark.  We took out our little stove and made some mushroom soup. This day marked the one year anniversary of the day when I first met all the Germans at our house in La Paz.  It was sad knowing that soon it would all be over.

Chillin' in the common room after breakfast

Patagonia Flag with a Patagonian Backdrop

Rare Deer

Wild Horses, Notice the ones far off to the left...

Day 13: Torres Del Paine

                The night had been another freezing cold night, but by then had just been another normal night.  I realized that I hadn’t had a shower in over a week now and I was beginning to smell funky.  We had a quick breakfast and packed up our gear before trudging out another 18km before bedding down at Camping Pehóe where we would camp that night.  By now the scenery was their but we didn’t notice as much since we were just focused on getting to our next checkpoint and taking our heavy packs off.  Turns out it was very expensive to camp there but it was the only place around to camp.  We set up camp and then hiked up to Mirrador Condor.  There were no condors like we had hoped but it was an amazingly beautiful panorama of what we had already hiked the days before.  This day was the official half day of our GABI trip, so once on top, we celebrated with a snickers bar.  After soaking it all in, we made our way back down to the campsite.  I attempted to start a fire in the pit hoping it would put off some heat but the wood was damp and it began to drizzle.  So it seemed as if we would spend our final night in the wilderness freezing again.  So we again warmed up some soup under our shelter and then went to sleep.

Standing atop of mirrador condor. to my right is a lodge on the island

Day 14: Torres Del Paine

                This sounds like a reoccurring theme but the night was freezing cold.  At some point during the night, the drizzle turned into snow and everything was covered in a light white dusting.  We ate a little bit of bread and set off on the final leg of our hike. Our goal was Pudeto where Guido would meet us at 2 in the evening.  We arrived in about 2 hours but the whole time it was snowing and drizzling rain.  We set our things under an awning and began to hike up a trail towards the waterfall because we had plenty of time before Guido would show up.  The waterfall was very powerful and it got me wondering how amazing Iguazu Falls in Brazil would be.  We would be there in just under a week.  After staring at the waterfall we made our way back to Pudeto to wait on Guido.  On the way back we saw a grey fox hunting mice.  I’m not sure if he noticed us but we basically just watched him hunt for about 15 minutes.

                We got back to Pudeto and sat around waiting for Guido.  This day we walked 11km, so in total for the 6 days we did right around 100km.  A guy who was there invited us in to have coffee.  It was funny because just 10 minutes earlier Sonja had said that she wished he would invite us in for coffee.  So we went in and had coffee with the nice old guy and got warm.  Eventually, Guido showed up and we said farewell to the old man and went to load up our gear.  We slept the whole way back to Puerto Natales.  Once back, we said so long to Guido and went to return our gear that we had rented.  We then purchased some bus tickets to Punta Arenas and grabbed some groceries.  While in the bus station I decided it was timed to retire the pants I was wearing because I had been wearing them for the past 15 days and they were getting a bit holy, not to mention they stunk.  So I took them off, rolled them up, and gently tucked them into a trashcan.  We arrived late night to Punta Arenas and walked to a hostel where we would stay a couple nights.  It was a nice little place but the best part was I finally was able to shower.  And man was I dirty.  I had to wash myself multiple times to get clean.

Large Waterfall. I stood at the edge so you could get a size reference

Grey fox hunting mice. See the tail hanging out his mouth?

Yep its and Emu

This is called a "Guanaco".  very common in Patagonia

Day 15: Punta Arenas, Chile

                After breakfast, we went to the harbor to find penguins.  Matthias really wanted to see penguins while we were in the south and after a while I was eager to see them as well.  So we went out in search but were without luck.  We did see this interesting bird that resembled a penguin but it wasn’t an actual penguin.  So we continued to walk around the city until we stumbled across the main square.  We were trying to figure out why there were so many military people and police around.  Apparently it was some special day and the military was having a special march with music and formations.  It was interesting to watch as they raised the flag and sung the Chilean National Anthem before marching out of the square and down the street. 

                Afterwards, we walked across the city and went to the same restaurant we had been to before to eat another Paila Marina with clams.  I was definitely taking advantage of all the fresh seafood I could manage to eat while we were near the sea and could get it fresh.  After eating we went to find a internet café where we could inform our families that we were still alive and also let the hostel in Ushuaia know we would be back the next evening.  We went and did a bit of grocery shopping and then returned to the hostel to get some sleep.

Old piers in the Harbor

Raising the flag

The Military

Day 16: Punta Arenas, Chile – Ushuaia, Argentina

                We woke up and had breakfast before getting on to our bus that would take us to Rio Grande and then finally Ushuaia.  I’ll spare you many of the details since this day was basically the same as day 7 but in reverse.  We crossed the Strait of Magellan again and then the border of Chile into Argentina.  We arrived back in Ushuaia around 9:30pm and directly headed to Hostel Cruz del Sur to get our rooms for the night.  We then went out and walked around the city looking at what it had to offer before heading back to our beds.

Day 17: Ushuaia, Argentina

                In the morning we took a short bus ride to “Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego”.  It was only 12 kilometers from the city so it didn’t take long at all.  After arriving, we soon realized that it didn’t even compare to Torres del Paine.  We walked around following some interesting tourists for a while, but it wasn’t very exciting.  But then, we took a trail alongside the lake that goes towards the Chilean Border.  It was an old untouched forest with many dead trees laying and decomposing on the forest floor covered in mosses.  It was a little ERIE, but pretty cool to experience.  Eventually, Felix and I arrived to the border of Chile where there was a sign that said not to cross.  So, like responsible people, we crossed to take some cool photos.  We then went back to catch the bus on its way to the city.  Matthias stayed in the park a little longer so we used the opportunity to go around and look for a birthday present that we could give him the following week.  Afterwards, we made our way back to the hostel and hung out before going to sleep.

Cool Forest in Tierra del Fuego

Same Forest

Strattling the Chilean-Argentinean border

What does it say???

Day 18: Ushuaia, Argentina

                This would be our final full day in Southern South America.  Our goal was to conserve a little bit of our money so that we would be able to have some when we arrived in Brazil.  Plus, we were pretty exhausted from all the traveling we had been doing lately, so a nice chill day was within reason.  Basically, we did just that. After breakfast, we just chilled around the hostel preparing for Brazil and getting our packs ready to leave in the morning.  I began getting a little bored, so I began working in the hostel, varnishing new beds for the other hostel they were planning on opening up soon.  In return, they gave me a discount on my room expenses.  I kept receiving job offers to stay and work for a while but it was all of a sudden.  I felt like I needed more time to think about it, and now after thinking about it I ask myself why I didn’t just stay for a while longer… 

                 At 1pm, we went down to the harbor to catch the boat for our harbor and Beagle Channel tour.  It was really fun.  First on the tour, we went to see the Sea lions, which was epic because the males are HUGE and have like 12 babies mamas.  But they did smell pretty rank!  Next, we cruised over to see the lighthouse (farro), which was extremely beautiful.  We then went to an island in the channel where we were able to get off and walk around for a bit and take photos.  The first mate, who I think may have had a crush on Sonja, let her drive the boat.  Everyone feared for their lives!!!  We were scrambling around the boat searching for life jackets and safety equipment preparing for the inevitable.  Thankfully, we finally made it back safely to shore.

Big poppa with his babie's mamas

I think they are ugly.  Cool... but ugly....

NOT PENGUINS

Light House in the Beagle Channel

Sun going down behind Ushuaia

S.O.S.... Sonja is driving!!!!

                For dinner we went out in search of a restaurant that had King Crab.  We found one that had a tank in the front with live crabs that you could pick just like at Red Lobster.  These crabs were GIGANTIC!  I had never seen crabs of this size in my life. They were bigger than most household cats or small dogs.  I ordered the Cetolla al Parmeseano.  It was very delightful and I was stuffed to the brim.  We ended the evening with a slow walk around the city and then back to the hostel where we settled in for our final night in Patagonia.

King Crabs

Gabi Part 1 (Northern Chile)

                So I am finally sitting down and beginning my 3 part blog about my trip around South America.  As I am writing this, I am beginning to realize that maybe it took me so long to begin this blog because beginning the blog meant the trip was indeed over, something that has been hard for me to grasp.  You may wonder what or who is “GABI”.  We decided that the trip we were planning was worthy of a name.  The “we” I am speaking of is Felix, Matthias, Sonja and I.  Three of the amazingly crazy Germans that I was able to spend the last year of my life with.   But we couldn’t choose just any name! We needed a name that you could say awesomely… So we chose G-A-B-I!  Planning our trip was not the easiest feat.  First we had to figure out how much time we would have and when we could leave.  Then we had to figure out where as a group we wanted to do.  After that it was a matter of finding plane tickets to the areas we wanted to go.  After that we stopped planning.  We kind of had no real clue of what we were doing but we had the tickets and we would figure it out when we got there….

Day 1:  La Paz to Arica, Chile

The crew and I standing on the Beach with the Pacific Ocean Behind us. "THIS IS GABI"

We loaded up on a bus leaving La Paz heading for Arica in northern Chile.  The bus was to leave the station at 5:30am.  I had barely gotten any sleep the night before.  We were trying to finish cleaning up and packing our stuff since it was our very last night in the house where we lived together the past year.  I may have gotten 2 hours of sleep which was plenty.  I had to say farewell to the rest of the people in the house that were not going on the trip because this would be the last time that I would see them until I go visit in Germany.  I woke them up one by one saying farewell and giving them final hugs.  It was so hard leaving behind the people who were in your life for everyday of the past year.  I hate saying goodbye….

After a nine hour bus ride we finally arrived in Arica, Chile.  Upon arriving, we immediately scheduled our tickets to go to San Pedro de Atacama.  We were not able to get tickets for that day so we had to stay the night.  We went and found a hostel across the street and claimed a room.  Arica is on the Pacific Coast so we made our way down to the beach to watch the sunset as we ate some tomato and spam sandwiches.  It was a great time to reflect on the year that had past and that our time in Bolivia was over.  We all were struggling with the issue that after this trip we would be going home and that our life in South America had run its course.  Once the sun had set, we walked around a bit and sampled some of the fresh juices that they had to offer.

Day 2:  Arica, Chile

                This day was a chill day in Arica.  Our bus was to leave around 8pm, so we had the whole day to enjoy the city.  We finally got up and out of the hostel around 9:30am.  We found a minibus that took us to the other side of the city and made our way up to overlook where the Christ stood above the city.  It was a beautiful view up the coastline and of the city.  We sat up there enjoying our brunch (Sandwiches) and figuring out the plan for the day. We decided to make our way down to an island where we watched the waves crash in and some people managing to surf without hitting the rocks.  Next we walked about 30-45 minutes down the coastline to a nice sandy beach where we chilled in the sun and went swimming a bit out in the pacific.  After swimming we were visited by some random dogs who joined us in digging in the sand. It turned out to be quite amusing. 

Visiting the Christ of Arica

Patrick

Once bored of the beach, we went in search of the market to find some dinner.  We wanted to find something typical of that area.  We stumbled across many stands selling Pailia Marinas.  To me, it is very similar to Clam Chowder.  It was really tasty.  It was a thick substance with clams (in the shells), pieces of fish, some other things, and a crawfish on top.  Next, me and Matthias were still a bit hungry, so we split a ceviche.  We then found a fresh juice stand and then made our way back to the hostel to shower and pack.  We walked to the station and got on a bus headed to Calama and then to San Pedro.

 

Swimming in the Chilly Pacific

Chillin' wit' my DAWGS.

Pailia Marina YUM

Day 3:  San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

                We arrived to the San Pedro bus terminal in the morning and right away booked our return trip back to Calama because that was where we were to get on the plain for the next portion of our journey after the Atacama.  It’s always important to book your next bus upon arrival if you know when you have to leave because they tend to fill up unexpectedly and also you are already there and don’t have to return to the terminal until it is time to leave.  We then made our way to the city center and began looking for a tour that seemed appealing to book for the Atacama Desert.  The Atacama is one of the world’s highest deserts and is said to be the most arid desert on the Planet.  After searching for a bit we decided that the tours were all too expensive and so were the hostels.  So we rented some bicycles, packed what we thought we needed in our small day packs, and headed off into the desert.  We had a well drawn map (NOT) and we routed our way through the desert towards Laguna Cejar.  Laguna Cejar is a place with 2 small lakes in the middle of the desert.  One lake has flamingos and the other has such a high salt concentration that it is possible to float in the water (like in the dead sea). 

We had a flat tire within 5 minutes of leaving the city.

Beating the Block

Just riding around in the desert....

                We walked around the first lake and saw the flamingos, which was cool but we had already seen so many flamingos earlier in the year in Uyuni.  We actually were not too far from there, just basically across the border (if you don’t count the few hundred miles).  But basically the same thing.  We were walking towards the other lake when we decided to sit down and have a snack which actually ended up turning into a naptime in the desert.  We had nowhere to be.  Nothing but time…  So after napping for about an hour we got up and made our way towards the salty lake.  Felix, Matthias and I got into our bathing suits and took a couple of steps into the water.  IT WAS SO COLD!!!!  No one said it would be cold.  Being men we decided to tough it out and see how far we could wade into the water.  We got about to our knees before we couldn’t take it anymore.  We couldn’t bring ourselves to seeing if we could float of not.  So we snapped some photos and got out and dried off.  We then hoped on our bikes making our way back towards the city looking for a nice place to bed down for the night.  A little ways down the road we found a nice clump of bushes a little ways off the road where we unrolled our sleeping bags and sat down for dinner.  We had bread and cheese and maybe some fruit.  The sunset was one of the most beautiful I had seen up to this point in my life.  After sunset, we got in our sleeping bags behind the bush and slowly drifted off to sleep.  It really got cold once the sun was gone.

Nap Time

Walking on Water

|The View from our Bush

Our Sleeping arrangements

Sunset WOWWWWWWWWWWWW

We be Desert Peoples.

Day 4:  San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

                I woke up a few times in the middle of the night.  Since I was laying on the outside of the group I was getting bombarded by a strong COLD wind that woke me up.  But when I opened my eyes I was greeted by a breathtaking view of the stars.  The Atacama Desert is one of the best places in the world to see the stars.  There were so many of them and they were so clear.  I managed to see many shooting stars.  I also was able to see satellites circling the planet!  Finally I was able to drift back off to sleep but it wasn’t easy with the cold.  I found myself wishing the sun would hurry up and rise.

                Finally we woke up with the sun.  It was amazing to wake up in the middle of a desert.  I was grateful that I didn’t have frostbite on my toes.  With the sunlight things began to warm up and we had breakfast (bread and cheese).  After packing up our sleeping bags, we jumped back on our bikes and started making our way towards San Pedro.  The wind was becoming stronger and stronger as we continued on.  We were peddling against the wind which proved to be extremely difficult because many times it would blow us completely off the road.

  Once in town we decided that we would find a hostel to stay in that night so that we would be close to the bus terminal in the morning and not miss the bus.  We then had some lunch and decided to go to Valle de la Luna with our bikes. It didn’t seem too far on the map.  So, we figured out which direction to go and we started pedaling.  Again we were going against the wind.  We made it to the turn off the main road which made it a bit easier since we were not going against the wind but we did have to deal with extremely strong cross-winds.  Soon, after we started getting pinned down by random sand storms.  It was a little painful in the storms because you were constantly being blasted with sand.  Many times we would have to get off the bike and lay down behind some rocks on the side of the road because it was so bad.  It was crazy because with the air being so dry that as the sand created so much friction on my body that I was being statically charged and every second sparks were shooting out of my fingers into the bicycle.  We finally decided to turn around because even if we made it to the Valle, we wouldn’t be able to see anything with the sandstorms.  Luckily, we had the winds to our backs and barely had to pedal to get back to the town.

Being wind blown.  The wind is actually holding me up..

Day 5: Buses and Planes and problems

                So we woke up early in the morning and made our way down to the bus terminal to catch our bus to Calama.  Once in the airport, we prepared for a day’s worth of flying and airports.  Well we made our first flight from Calama, Chile to Santiago, Chile.  We were just chilling in the airport for a few hours then we were boarding our second flight when we hit our first snag…  As I was boarding, the attendant told me that I was not able to board the flight because I hadn’t paid the tax.  I told him, “ but why can my friends get on and I can’t because they hadn’t paid it either.”  He told me that Americans have to pay a tax to go to Argentina and that I had to go pay the tax but there was no way I was getting on this flight.  I told the others to just go ahead and I’ll meet them in the other airport in Buenos Aires.  “I’ll catch the next one.” I watched them and my luggage take off, leaving me behind.  So I walked around for about 20 minutes looking for the place to pay this tax.  Finally I found it.  It couldn’t cost much I thought but boy was I wrong.  The lady was very helpful though and she let me come behind the desk and fill out everything on the computer to pay my 160 dollar tax.  At least it is good for the next 10 years. 

After getting that payed, she helped me to change my ticket.  But there was a problem with that as well.  The next flight wasn’t for a few hours (around 9:30p) and there was no guarantee I would have a seat.  But there was another option.  I could fly to the other airport in Buenos Aires and the flight would leave in an hour.  Though the problem was that I told the others to wait for me in the other airport and we had no means of communication.  So I asked them if it was possible to send my friends a message to retrieve my luggage and meet me at the other airport.  She said “SURE, we can send them a message that they can receive once they land.” That sounded a little unpromising but I had no other option.  I eventually boarded my plane and began my way to Argentina hoping that the others had gotten the message and that we would be reunited. 

The plane landed in Buenos Aires and I immediately went to find a representative of the airline to see if the others had gotten the message and my luggage.  As she was trying to figure it out, I heard some say Matteo in a slightly confused tone.  It was Matthias! I jumped over the divider and gave him again.  I told him that I thought I’d never see him again.  He told me that they had just gotten there and weren’t expecting me for a few more minutes so he was looking for a McDonalds.  We went back to where Felix and Sonja were and celebrated that after five hours we were reunited again in a totally different country from where we were separated.  I said, “So you guys got my message!”  They looked at me confused because they never got a message.  They had retrieved my luggage in the other airport and asked if they could take it.  A lady told them No.  They explained to her that we were separated, but she wouldn’t give them any information about where I was.  Finally they pried some information from her and she told them that I was going to the other airport.  So it ended up working out, but I was super stressed out.  Since our next flight was early in the morning, we found a quiet corner in the airport and fell asleep.  We were only to awake surrounded by a crew of cleaners buffing the floor around us.  We went and finally boarded our plane heading for Ushuaia, Argentina. 

Reunited in the airport.  

Not so comfortable place to sleep....