I just realized my journal smells like campfire. Hm.

My last week in Chile was up in the Atacama Desert, followed by an interesting trip back to the capital, Santiago, as well as a night in Valparaiso on the coast.

In the desert, I camped again. One morning, I awoke at the crack of dawn to embark on a 50km mountain bike ride through the “Valley of the Moon” to see the sunrise, completely alone. It was fantastic, and quiet. Somehow I also ended up going up an unanticipated giant hill. I was off route. By that point, it was well into the sizzling day. My original 30km became about 50km, with only one bottle of water. Pretty exhausting, but worth it! Afterward, I ate a massive lunch in a pizzeria with a crusty old French cook and a friendly Uruguayan waiter.

Biking in the Atacama Desert

On the road again, Atacama Desert

Self portrait. Previous photo was taken in the valley below, left. Yeah, it was a big hill.

In the afternoon I randomly decided that *sandboarding* sounded like a great idea (this is the Uruguayan’s fault), and hopped back on another bike to ride out to some sand hills. Oh, it was a blast. :) Would have been easier with a chairlift… All in all, a very active day.

Sandboarding

Met a couple of Argentines that are chefs at the Four Seasons in Buenos Aires. They kindly cooked up a feast for me that night, of which I puked the entirety around 2am, and 5am, and 7am…  I also managed to puke through our salt flat tour the next day. I’m sure the other tourists loved it. And the NEXT day, same tour group, had diarrhea. In the desert… in other words, no vegetation behind which to hide. It was interesting finding sudden moments of privacy among rocks and boiling geysers, but luckily nothing terrible happened, and though I was so sick I could hardly stand, I got some pictures that will remind me forever of the amazing scenery. I didn’t really eat for a few days after that. I’m still not sure what caused it, but am wondering if perhaps all that excercise in the super-dry desert might have shocked my system enough to set it off?

Am so ill here, but enjoying the scenery

Be it the sickness or the incredible touristy-ness of San Pedro de Atacama, I wasn’t as impressed with the place as I’d expected. I think it would have been more enjoyable with my own transportation. My favorite excursion was the bicycle ride, which was also the cheapest… Anyway, I think either a bicycle or a motorcycle/car would be the best way to explore the area. The tourist herds were a little too much, not to mention expensive.

Next, I headed back to Santiago. This involved several loooong bus rides,as well as a day hitching in a semi truck with a guy that’s been driving trucks for 25 years, 6 days a week. Showed me pics of his kids and we had an interesting conversation. (He’s never left Chile!) I appreciated the ride and he appreciated the company. I tried to pass myself off as an Argentine for the first hour, and somehow managed (though he later admitted something seemed a bit strange). It was a good challenge, but I couldn’t keep it up, for my own sanity, and had to confess that I was actually American but wanted to see if I could pull it off. He was amused. I think. See, Chileans dislike Americans almost as much as they dislike Argentines. I’m not really a very good combo in these parts.

I briefly headed to the coast to check out the historical city of Valparaiso, older than San Francisco but very similar in many ways. The first night, fresh off the bus, a guy wearing an extremely bright orange hoodie ran up to me, grabbed the purse hanging off my neck with both hands and yanked as hard as he could. (It made a mark.) I screamed at him and tried futiley to kick him – I had way too much luggage hanging off of me to do anything. I Unfortunately for him, the straps on the bag did not break. I almost with they had – the only things he would have won were a chess board and a deck of cards. I could imagine his face as he opened it up. And really, What self respecting street criminal wears a bright orange top? I wanted to pull the young buck aside and give him a few tips, not to mention a good punch in the face… but before I knew it he was sprinting away, no doubt disappointed. The whole street was watching… looks like I’ve got some good lungs. ;) A couple of nice, older tourists offered to walk me to my hostel.

Valparaiso, Chile

Anyway, Valparaiso proved to be an interesting city. Many people don’t like it, preferring the cleaner beach-resort towns nearby. It was exactly the kind of place in which I enjoy walking around, though. Every turn brought a new surprise. It has twisted hills with colorful old buildings where I lost myself, was told I looked like a Chilean college student so needn’t worry about pickpockets (uh huh), and had a fantastic lunch in a very elegant restaurant where the waiters were obviously surprised at a “table for one, please.” The lunch was so tasty I took a picture. ;)

Lunch in Valparaiso, Chile (with my campfire-smelling companion at right)

Finally, it was on a plane back to Seattle to finish up my UK work visa. Tomorrow I head back to South America for a few more months before going to look for work in London.

Today, it’s been a year since I started this adventure. Hard to believe how fast time flies. Life keeps changing and that’s the only thing that remains constant.