San Pedro, the Atacam Desert

Hi!!
So, beginning on Thursday and returning on Tuesday, I traveled to the driest desert in the world. There are some parts of the desert that have never seen rain. Incredible. It was such a nice change to go to some really warm days where I could get a little tan, and warm my soul. The most economic way to travel in Chile is taking the bus, so three of my friends and I traveled 24 hours each way on a "half-bed" bus. This meant you could stretch your legs out really far, on a little platform and lean the back of your chair back so it was like laying down, half way. The bus ride was an adventure, very long, but worth it!!
In the desert, my friends and I took two tours. On was to the "Valley of the Moon", where we made many scenic stops on our way, and the other began at 4 in the morning, and was to the "Geysers of Tatio". Each tour was spectacular. At the Valley tour, we climbed up a big hill to watch the sunset. In the desert you can see the moon before the sun sets. However, we got to watch the sunset. The colors in the sky of the ocean sunset was actually reflected on the sand. The mountains were pink, the ground was orange and it was beautiful. It then turns to a white/purple sky, with black mountains and shining stars. The white purple and black was my favorite part of the sunset. Also on this tour, we got to see many volcanoes, however didn't hike up any.
At the Geyser tour, I learned how these Geysers function. There is magma underneath the earth as well as cold water. When the pressure is high, the pressure is highest when the days are coldest, the geysers go off. They spout boiling water and it looks like the entire ground is steaming. Really cool however, FREEZING! I promise you it was -10 degrees. After we got our fill of taking pictures in front of the smoke, the tour guide fed us breakfast, bread and cheese, coffee and tea, and cookies. He then took us to the natural warm swimming pool where my friends and I hopped in. The pool was pretty warm, and quite a few people were swimming. It was horrible getting out considering it was freezing. However, our guide did inform us we were the most beautiful girls swimming in the pool. Haha. We left the geyser park and on our way home saw, a decedent of the llama as well as green rabbits that blend in with their surrounding. We stopped at a little town, population 15, and ate llama, cheese empenadas and sopapilla. I'm not sure if it was the sauce, but, llama is tasty!! After our little stop, we continued our 2 hour drive home and saw flamingos, birds, cactus, volcano, and more desert scenery. We got back to the small desert town at 11, and were impressed with all we had done since the time we got up.
My friends and I rented a bike and rode around for 2 hours. This was also very very fun! We stumbled upon Incan ruins, but didn't want to pay to visit them so we observed from afar.
During my stay, we first stayed in a room, making 7 friends, in hostel Florida. The hostel was fairly dirty, had dusty floors and a dirty bathroom. But it was worth it for the adventure! Two girls split off to go to Machu Pichu, but my friends and I stayed in San Pedro.
Later, three girls from our program stayed in the same hostel. They went to visit a salt lake where you have no choice but to float. The lake is composed of 80% salt. They informed us, the top of the lake is freezing, but your feet are almost burning.
Okay, so we ate some good food (pizza, pasta, huge sandwiches, steak with eggs, 1/4 of a chicken with french fries, ice cream, fresh fruit juice) and met a crazy crazy guy named Claudio. He informed us Nocturnal dancing was illegal (dancing illegal?!) but also told us they Atacamans have secret parties where they can dance in peace. The Atacaman kids spread the word where the party will be held, and all show up at different times. We ventured to one of these parties the night before we left.
Before we knew it, we hopped on to the 24 hour bus ride, and all were extremely dirty when we got home. Don't worry, I worked on speaking Spanish, and watched four Spanish movies on the bus ride so i worked on listening too.
I don't have school Wed, Thur or Fri because it is the Fiestas Patrias, or the Chilean, fourth of July.
Un Abrazo
xoxo... Kati