Taito Geysers and Valle de la luna

It has been a whirlwind 4 days since I´ve updated.  I´m typing this from an internet cafe in Uyuni, Bolivia right now as I have about 40 minutes to kill and don´t feel like walking around alone.  Although my clothes are worn down, I´m wearing a heat, and I am more tan than normal, I still stick out like a sore thumb as a gringo.

So Monday morning I took the tour of the Taito Geysers.  I was up and ready at 3:50 AM for them to pick me up at 4.  4:00 came, and nothing.  I waited. 4:15, 4:30, nothing.  At 4:50 I was about to head back to bed, figuring the tour company somehow got things mixed up with my location, but then I heard a van pulling up.  As I got onto the bus, there were about 20 others.  It turns out I was the second to last person to be picked up.

Well, I was told to expect it to be cold.  A former student told me that it would get to 25 below zero (celcius), and so I had myself prepared with 3 layers of pants and shirts, gloves, and a hat.  The tour guide even gave everyone a blanket to cover their legs if they wanted.  And we all certainly needed it.  (Our guide later on that day told us that it was 11 below zero celcius).

The geysers were about a 2 hour ride from San Pedro, so we all slept until we arrived there.  When we got there, there were different areas with different geysers.  Some would emit a constant stream of steam, while others would erupt spontaneously and shoot out some water once pressure built up inside.

Then after seeing a few different areas, it was time for some breakfast.  We got tea, instant coffee, a ham and cheese sandwich, and a hard boiled egg.  Apparently all the tour companies cook the eggs over the steam of the geysers, and once they get to us they are still hot and we could use them to keep our hands warm until we decided to eat them.

After that, we got to go to a hot springs area.  Well, I think I disagree with the name hot springs.  It was more like a lukewarm springs.  I wore my bathing suit underneath my jeans and thermal underwear, and so it was freezing getting out of my clothes before getting into the water.  I would say the water was maybe about 75 degrees fahrenheit, and it maybe warmed up to about 35 degrees fahrenheit by this time.  It certainly didn´t stop other people from enjoying it, but I wasn´t impressed.

The tour ended around noon, and by this time it had warmed up to about 65.  Afterwards I decided to grab some lunch with a menu (set price meal) of chicken with rice and tomatoes, and a drink was included too.

Then I was off to Valle de la luna (Moon Valley) later in the afternoon.  It turns out that most of the people staying at my hostel were on the tour, which included a young German couple, a German girl traveling on her own, and an Israeli guy that now lives in New York.  I also met a guy from Philadelphia that is working in Santiago now too.

By this time it was warm and sunny, and it was about 70.  Valle de la luna was formed mostly by wind and water erosion over a period of thousands of years, and it really reminded me of the Grand Canyon minus having a river.  I think the pictures speak for themselves to show the beauty of the area.

At the end of the tour we climbed up the Duna Mayor (Great Dune) and grabbed a seat to see the sunset.  It was a bit steep at parts and I would lie if I said the height didn´t have me a bit scared, but it turned out to be fine.

Then after that it was back to San Pedro and time for some dinner.  The guy from Philly and I chatted over a thin crust pizza and fresh squeezed juice.  As I was telling him about the bueacracy of Chile and the multiple steps involved in doing any type of return in stores in Santiago, the waitress input the amount of our bill wrong into the credit card reader.  I asked her to simply give me cash for the difference, but she wouldn´t listen to me.  She went to consult with another woman working there, and when she came over I told her the same thing.  Then she left and spoke with a man who came over from another store and explained the error she made to her.  (Instead of a tip of 800 pesos she put in 8800 pesos).  He told me that he could return the difference to me or cancel the transaction and do it all over again.  I told him just to give me the difference.  So all in all, it took me 25 minutes to get the difference in cash.

Tomorrow afternoon I´ll be back in San Pedro, and I´ll get the chance to chronicle my adventures traveling through the salt flats of Bolivia.

Good Times, Good Friends, Sensation, and Japan

The weather likes teasing us here in Santiago.  We've had days that have only gone up to 70 and have seemed like autumn, which are then followed by days with a very strong sun and temperatures of almost 95.  I actually prefer the hot weather to the cold, so if mother nature wants to tease me a bit with a cold day every once in a while but still give us nice summer days I'm ok with that.

Last weekend I went to a barbeque with friends on Cerro San Cristobal.  There were about 7 of us there, and it was nice catching up with them.  None of us could believe an entire year had passed since we arrived, and we talked about our summers and plans for staying in Santiago.  Thanks to our genius planning we didn't bring any plates with us, but we improvised and used plastic bags instead.

This weekend was the pancake breakfast that I went to last October.  They were expecting a big crowd this year and opened an hour early, so I got there right when they opened.  A big crowd came around 10, and I met up with some friends when they arrived around then.  After browsing some books we took a leisurely stroll and got drinks and chorillana.

The big event of the weekend, however was Sensation.  It's basically a huge dance party with electronic and techno music, and in order to get in you have to dress completely in white.  I got my ticket back in December, and it was an amazing event.  The theme was Wicked Wonderland, and so there were things throughout the night related to Alice in Wonderland.  There were videos of her wearing all white and going through various scenes of the story projected on huge screens around the area, white flashes of fire and fireworks, huge butterfly wings opening up after the lyrics of "spread your wings and fly" people dressed up like dolls with white hair, white balloons with lights inside of them, the list goes on and on.  In an outside area there was food and drinks as well as different companies with entertainment booths to promote their products.  I found it ironic that a cigarrette company had a booth which had large signs about the dangers of smoking was giving out lighters which also had a warning on the front of it with the same warning.  El Mercurio (a newspaper here) had a booth set up with Just Dance on the Wii, and after having played it at my brother and sister in law's house when I was home for Christmas I played a round dancing to Walk Like an Egytian.

I would be remiss to not bring up the tragedy in Japan.  I woke up last Friday morning and booted up my laptop while getting breakfast, and I went to cnn.com to see what was happening in the world.  The pictures of the tsunami sweeping over Japan seemed surreal.  The images of houses on fire while being swept along with the tsunami seemed right out of a blockbuster apocolyptic movie, not like something that was happening in real life.  I know a few people that were exchange students from Japan, and luckily they are all ok.  I also have a coworker here in Santiago who lived and taught English in Japan for three years, and he has understandably been deeply affected by it.  As the news gets worse and worse, I find myself torn between wanting to know what is happening but not wanting to since the news is so horrific there.  I also can't help but feel a bit guilty that I am living in a place that experienced an earthquake but did not suffer a fraction of the destruction and mayhem that is currently going on in Japan.  I want to make a donation to the relief efforts, but the cynical side of me fears that scammers use this as the perfect opportunity to make a quick buck.

To end on a positive note, here is the view of the Estadio Nacional from the window of my apartment.

Success!

So I'm sitting in the airport in Fort Lauderdale.  My flight from Philadelphia was smooth, and I arrived here at 10:40.  My flight only leaves at 4:20 this afternoon, and the ticket counter only opens at 1.  Luckily they have free wifi here and lots of outlets to plug in electronics.

And the ironic part of all this is that they didn't cancel or even delay my original flight from Philly to Fort Lauderdale.

1 flight down, 2 more to go!

Preparations...

So I started writing this in Panera Bread in Vorhees, but they have limited their internet access to 30 minutes during the lunch hours.  I didn't get to finish let alone post this when I was there so I'm now awake at 2:40 AM at home, monitoring the weather to be sure I make it out on time due to a few feet of snow in Detroit where my flight originates.  I'm finding it hard to believe that it was a year ago that I started my adventures and that I will once again return to Chile in (hopefully) two days.

Even though I may not show it, it's a stressful time for me as I prepare to return to Santiago.  My time has been busy with saying goodbyes to family and friends, buying anything I would possibly need and not have readily available in Santiago, changing over currency to have Argentinean and Uruguayan pesos, and preparing my dad for his visit.  I've been putting off packing due to laziness and unwillingness to create a detailed packing list of each piece of luggage, but I know that it is the best thing to do to prevent things from getting stolen from my luggage. 

Written on Monday afternoon at Panera:
The weather forecast has had me nervous too, but it looks like it will be fine in the end.  Snow (we're expecting a few inches) is forecast for Tuesday, which will then change over to sleet/freezing rain and then rain on Wednesday.  By the time I fly on Thursday morning everything should be fine, so that's a relief.

I'm also doing research for my trip to Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and Iguazu Falls, as I will be traveling there for 9 days before work starts up again in early March.  Wikitravel is a good (and free!) source of information, and after googling "iguazu falls hostel" I was surprised to see that there are hostels there.  I wil be staying with a friend from my exchange year in Germany who lives in Buenos Aires, so it will be great to catch up with him and have a bit of a personal tour guide while I am there.

Written at 2:40 AM Wednesday morning:


My dad woke me up a little after 1 AM, telling me that my flight Thursday morning from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale originates in Detroit, which is currently under a few feet of snow. Basically that flight will inevitably get cancelled, so I've started doing research on changing my ticket. US Airways is awesome in that they waive all change fees in the case of a flight advisory (which this situation is), just like what I had to do last week when coming back from Los Angeles. But the problem is that I got my ticket through cheaptickets.com The US Airways rep on the phone told me I'd have to go through them to make changes. So what does cheaptickets.com charge to change my ticket? 225 bucks. Yeah.
Plan B? Let's call up Avianca, who has the authority to change my ticket since 2 of the 3 flight segments are through them. So how much do they want to get me on a flight from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale 2 hours earlier that originates in Philadelphia? 843 bucks. Hmmm.

Plan C? Call a friend who works for US Airways. Apparently if I go to the airport in person I might be able to get on the flight originating in Philadelphia a few hours earlier.

Plan D? I could fly out at 8:40 PM tonight (what a way to spend the night of my birthday) and then spend the night in the airport until my flight at 1 PM.

On a happier and less anxious note, I got to see Linkin Park in concert last night.  It was quite a different venue than where I normally see them in a few different ways:

1. It was winter. 
2. It was an inside venue.
3. We had assigned seats.

Prior to this I had always seen them in summer or spring, and with the exception of Las Vegas it was always an outdoor venue.  Dana and I arrived plenty early since we weren't sure what to expect with traffic and parking. 

This was my first time to the Wells Fargo Center, and it was huge.  There were 3 huge tiers of seating and then standing room for VIP ticketholders.  We got Wawa sandwiches to eat in the car and just got funnel cake before the concert started. 

We ended up sitting behind a group of guys speaking Spanish, and after striking up a conversation with them I found out that they were from Peru, with one guy from Mexico City.  It was cool talking with them about areas of Peru I had been to, and the guy from Mexico City knew Tepoztlan (a town outside of Mexico City where I took language classes for 2 weeks back in 2008).  We talked after the concert too, and it was cool getting to talk to them.

The concert was great, as I expected.  I wasn't anywhere near as close to the stage as I was in Santiago or Las Vegas, but I didn't mind.  I didn't even recognize the first cover band and only a few songs of the second one, but when Linkin Park took the stage the place exploded.  They played pretty much all of the same songs that I heard in Santiago.

Now that I can't sleep, I have a good reason to finish my packing and packing lists and finishing up the mundane details I've been putting off.  The weather will certainly make my last 24 hours or so at home(and my birthday) more adventurous than I was expecting.

Hopefully my next update will be from the Fort Lauderdale airport or Santiago.  Everyone reading please wish me luck!

Visiting California

So my week in California has come and gone.
It was a great visit, full of friends, good food, warm sunny weather, and all in all good times.

My first stop after taking the Flyaway from LAX was Union Station and Olvera Street. 

With lots of architecture and historical buildings dating back to the founding of Los Angeles, I always enjoy hanging out at Olvera Street. The Mexican food is delicious, and the strolling musicians and shops bring back fond memories from going there in college and bringing my Spanish students there for a field trip using public transportation from Woodland Hills.  I was surprised to see Mr. Churro (which has delicious churros with a variety of fillings) had moved, and there was also a new cafe on the corner which was really nice.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The next part of my trip was spending time in Pasadena and Eagle Rock.  I stayed with friends in Pasadena, and they only live three blocks from the school where I taught kindergarten.  I'm still in contact with some of the teachers there, and so I visited my students that are fourth graders now.  They've grown so much (go figure) and it was rewarding to seeing how they are doing and catching up a bit with my former colleagues. 
 
After that it was off to Eagle Rock via the Metro Rapid bus.  I got to see the familar places: Swork coffee shop, Jamba Juice, Senor Fish, and of course Occidental.  It was warm and sunny, and the walking around made me feel nostalgic. 
 
The other highlights of the trip were visiting the Rose Bowl, the Americana in Glendale, hiking in Eaton Canyon, the good food, and just catching up with friends.  It was so refreshing to be somewhere familiar and reconnect with the people that I haven't seen in a long time.  Some people I saw during my last visit to California in November 2009, but one of my friends I hadn't seen since we both left Germany in July 2001.
 

My trip wouldn't have been complete without complications due to an impending snow storm.  Around 9 at night I started putting two and two together, and I realized that US Airways allows you to change your ticket without any fees if there's a weather advisory.  My flight was scheduled to leave at 11 in the morning and arrive at 7 at night, which was right in the middle of the heaviest forecast snow.  I was too late to catch the redeyes that night, but luckily I was able to get on the 6:30 AM flight. 

The next challenge was finding a way to the airport.  One of my friends was working near LAX the following morning, but he only had to get in by 7 and couldn't get me there early enough to check in.  After calling up multiple shuttle services and finding many without any availablity, I lucked out and found one, and it picked me up at 3 AM.  I was at the airport by 4:15, and after waiting for security to open I got checked in and camped out at my gate.

The flight was surprisingly empty, and they needed to shift people from the front of the plane to the back in order to balance out the weight distribution.  At first people were reluctant to move their seats, but there were plenty of empty window and aisle seats with empty seats next to them.  Besides that the flight was uneventful.

 
I was so grateful to have had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles.  I didn't get to catch up with everyone I wanted to or visit every place I wanted to, but it was such a wondeful feeling spending time with such great friends and being able to stay in contact with them. 
 
Now I have one week until my return to Santiago on February 3rd.