Location: Santiago, Chile
Date: November 9, 2009
...all names of food I´ve had the pleasure of eating over the past few days :)
Unfortunately, the last hour here in Santiago has been spent trying to recover the 6000 photos I may have lost in the last internet cafe. I still don´t know the whole story, but even after summoning my technologically brilliant friends to help me out, it seems the photos are still gone from my USB drive. So I´m a bit upset but will try my best to put my best face forward in this unfortunate situation. Alas, no photos at this point but I´ll see what I can do because the highlights to come are best seen through pictures.
I am now in Chile, after spending 3 days traveling through the Salt Flats of Bolivia to get to the Chilean border . The trip started in Uyuni, Bolivia, and the first day was spent at the Railroad Graveyward and then driving over the salt flats, which are just as they sound, white flat salt ground for miles and miles. Since the landscape is so flat, it is good for taking perspective pictures since it is hard to see dimensions in the landscape. So our crew took lots of staged pictures of people being pulled out of hats and people eating each other. It was a fun, salty experience.
Date: November 9, 2009
...all names of food I´ve had the pleasure of eating over the past few days :)
Unfortunately, the last hour here in Santiago has been spent trying to recover the 6000 photos I may have lost in the last internet cafe. I still don´t know the whole story, but even after summoning my technologically brilliant friends to help me out, it seems the photos are still gone from my USB drive. So I´m a bit upset but will try my best to put my best face forward in this unfortunate situation. Alas, no photos at this point but I´ll see what I can do because the highlights to come are best seen through pictures.
I am now in Chile, after spending 3 days traveling through the Salt Flats of Bolivia to get to the Chilean border . The trip started in Uyuni, Bolivia, and the first day was spent at the Railroad Graveyward and then driving over the salt flats, which are just as they sound, white flat salt ground for miles and miles. Since the landscape is so flat, it is good for taking perspective pictures since it is hard to see dimensions in the landscape. So our crew took lots of staged pictures of people being pulled out of hats and people eating each other. It was a fun, salty experience.
Train Graveyard
This is Isla del Pescado. All the white stuff is salt- for as far as you can see- salt, salt, salt!
Trippy....
We also went to La Isla de Pescado, an island that appears to be floating on the salt flats from far away. When you get there, the island is covered in cacti and is quite amazing. We continued our journey and slept the night in a hostal made entirely of salt. The next day we went to a series of colored lakes, some of which were filled with flamingos. I also saw lots of vicuñas, which took my breath away. Vicuñas are part of the llama family, and they are the most rare, and had previously been on the endangered species list, but have since recovered. They have fine, golden hair and are rather mystical looking creatures. The final day we got up at 4am and headed to geysers and then the hot springs for an early morning dip. Our beloved driver, Freddy, left us at the immigration office in Bolivia (a tiny dirt building outside in the middle of nowhere) , dumped our stuff off the roof, and shouted, ¨Adios amigos¨ and took off... I got on the bus to Chile and after one minute of driving, the roads became paved- I hadn´t seen paved roads for quite some time and it was quite startling to have such a smooth ride. I arrived in Chile about an hour later and we all got in line to get our passports stamped. As I stepped up the window, the immigration officer handed me the phone, so I said Hola, and started talking to the man. Apparently, it was his drunken friend and he just needed to stamp my passport and couldn´t hold the phone at the same time so he wanted me to entertain him. Imagine that kind of thing happening in America!!!
Sunrise on the hot springs
Celebrated getting out of the car with a little yoga!
Reflections of mountains in water
Some of the colored lakes- this one is Lago Colorado
Pretty white llama blowing in the crazy wind in front of a colored lake
Vicuñas! Ethan, look!
I entered Chile in San Pedro de Atacama, a small hippie town full of ex-pats and kind people. Although the town looked a lot like Bolivia, the feel was completely different, and it definitely felt more modern. From San Pedro, I took a 24 hour bus to Santiago, a bustling, modern city. The culture shock of being here is still prevalent, since I am not yet used to being in such a city. Amazing how you can cross a border and the world just changes before your eyes.
Happy (late) Birthday to Eben!
Happy Bar Mitzvah to Johnny- so sorry I missed it!!!
Trippy....
We also went to La Isla de Pescado, an island that appears to be floating on the salt flats from far away. When you get there, the island is covered in cacti and is quite amazing. We continued our journey and slept the night in a hostal made entirely of salt. The next day we went to a series of colored lakes, some of which were filled with flamingos. I also saw lots of vicuñas, which took my breath away. Vicuñas are part of the llama family, and they are the most rare, and had previously been on the endangered species list, but have since recovered. They have fine, golden hair and are rather mystical looking creatures. The final day we got up at 4am and headed to geysers and then the hot springs for an early morning dip. Our beloved driver, Freddy, left us at the immigration office in Bolivia (a tiny dirt building outside in the middle of nowhere) , dumped our stuff off the roof, and shouted, ¨Adios amigos¨ and took off... I got on the bus to Chile and after one minute of driving, the roads became paved- I hadn´t seen paved roads for quite some time and it was quite startling to have such a smooth ride. I arrived in Chile about an hour later and we all got in line to get our passports stamped. As I stepped up the window, the immigration officer handed me the phone, so I said Hola, and started talking to the man. Apparently, it was his drunken friend and he just needed to stamp my passport and couldn´t hold the phone at the same time so he wanted me to entertain him. Imagine that kind of thing happening in America!!!
Sunrise on the hot springs
Celebrated getting out of the car with a little yoga!
Reflections of mountains in water
Some of the colored lakes- this one is Lago Colorado
Pretty white llama blowing in the crazy wind in front of a colored lake
Vicuñas! Ethan, look!I entered Chile in San Pedro de Atacama, a small hippie town full of ex-pats and kind people. Although the town looked a lot like Bolivia, the feel was completely different, and it definitely felt more modern. From San Pedro, I took a 24 hour bus to Santiago, a bustling, modern city. The culture shock of being here is still prevalent, since I am not yet used to being in such a city. Amazing how you can cross a border and the world just changes before your eyes.
Happy (late) Birthday to Eben!
Happy Bar Mitzvah to Johnny- so sorry I missed it!!!
