Wednesday 23 July 2008

Dry Desert

After five weeks of various teaching experiences we reached the end of first term. As hoards of excited alumnos left the schools on Friday, us teachers embarked on an adventure ourselves.

A 7am departure from Coquimbo took us to one of the world´s most famous observatories, Tololo. Kelsey´s school was incredibly generous in organising a day at the observatory, followed by an amazing lunch in Vicuña, part of the Elqui Valley. The telescopes were pretty cool but it was the astounding view of the Andes that made the winding roads and dizzying altitude worthwhile. That evening we braved our first overnight semi-cama bus. The fifteen hours into the desert seemed daunting but with the help of Spanish Titanic, a plethora of snacks, and a wonderful guide Jorge (that´s the name we gave him anyway), the trip was surprisingly tolerable.
We arrived in the gringo gathering point of Chile, San Pedro de Atacama and found a place to stay. Per usual we lost no time looking for as many excursions as possible. Our first day we strapped some sandboards to our backs and biked out into the abyss of sand in search of the perfect dune. After following a river bank to a dead end for a while, we finally stumbled upon Death Valley. The cavernous winding roads were worth every wrong turn. It didn´t take long for our 5 hours to go by as we picked up the new sport, marvelled at the view and played some Euchre atop the dune, of course. More than a week later we are all still finding sand...
4am came rather quickly on our second morning as we piled on layers, mitts and hats to head to the Tatio Geysers. After a 2 hour washboard bus-ride, it was amazing to see boiling water shoot from the geysers and freeze instantly in the -12º air. We felt a little bit like cattle as we were coralled about amongst hundreds of tourists to feeding time. By the time we reached the hot springs we had no problem stripping down and jumping in. Climate fluctuations in the desert really are unique. When we were re-herded into the van with some Lion King - singing French tourists we joined them with the English version of In the Jungle. Our next stop was a hamlet that probably shouldn´t be labelled on a map, but the llama shish-kabobs were worth it. Liza was busy taking pictures of the animals while Kelsey and Vianna ate them.
Over lunch we took a look at a map and realized we were a stone´s throw from Bolivia, so why not go? Within 24 hours we had planned and executed a lovely breakfast in Bolivia. The ice-covered lagoons and picturesque hot springs were lovely but it´s the passport stamps we´ll always remember. We have successfully renewed our 90 day tourist visas in Chile. We may or may not be home on August 21st... just joking. Our morning in Bolivia was topped off with a beautiful sunset in Moon Valley. San Pedro was amazing but the tourists and prices made us long for the ¨real¨Chile again.
The next afternoon we got a call from the ministry and our sole male team member Colin volunteered to spend the next week of English Winter Camp on the magical southern island of Chiloé. I bet he misses us. The rest of us hopped on our second overnight bus in transit to Vallenar where we will spend the remainder of our winter vacation running a camp full of wonderful English nerds.

-Vianna, Liza, Kelsey.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved to read the stories of sand, Andes and geysers ...sounds unbelievable to this closeted Northerner! Can't wait for the photos!

I hope 'Winter' Camp is a great success too.

Crazy intense tennis news here: Federer just got upset in his first round at Roger's Cup by Gilles Simon,23 yrs, of France...Oh my...not what Tennis Canda had bargonned on at all!!!

Miss you all,
Love, Mum/Jennifer

Anonymous said...

sounds like you're having a blast:)
miss you girls!
-charity

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