The many ways to kill a gringo…

Alright, so Chile won’t be killing me, but there are a few things that may play a part in my future death. These are some of the thoughts I had while on our trip to San Pedro de Atacama (not the beach in Iquique, but an amazingly small resort town in the desert...higher and drier than the high desert I am used to!)

First, my loving mama…who wants nothing more from me than to fatten me like Hansel and Gretl (or maybe Hector...en español). In any event, after a long weekend trip Rosalinda took us to see some great sights in Antofagasta: La Portada (the arch) in the north, and then all the way to Coloso in the south which is a fishing spot and has apparently the best empanadas mariscos in the city (which might kill me if I lived on them alone). So not only did she keep offering us more empanadas which I optimistically thought might be our dinner. No such luck, upon return at 10 pm, she reminded us not to fall asleep because she is making dinner. God bless her, but I was surprised Doss made it through the night…we both thought we were going to explode after all that food.

Second, the water. After sampling a few bottles of free water from the tap in our hostel at San Pedro I thought, “this sure tastes good…none of that gross arsenic tasting junk like in Antofagasta.” Upon return, I braced myself for gagging like usual when I brush my teeth in the nasty arsenic water, and nothing. I am now immune to awful tasting water, and it’s a good thing cause I’m headed back to Spokane water soon (gross).

Lastly, and this will lead into some good stuff about my weekend ventures I promise, the stupid gringos tried to appropriately kill themselves in the Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley). Just in case you didn’t know, the Atacama desert is the driest deserts in the world (as wikipedia puts it...100 times drier than Death Valley of the US!) and we went on a 4 hour trip in the afternoon without more than a half a litre to split between 4 of us. Yes, we were rushed to get there, but a new rule was enforced: water – never leave home without it. So, after Katie and Gina flirted out a bottle of water from another Chilean tour guide (¡Dios te bendiga!, God Bless you!) we made it to an amazing sunset over the Valle de la Luna near some salt flats and amazing geological formations in the desert.

So, the weekend trip was a desperately needed break from…well…having a different kind of fun. We sat around a got burned in the desert sun, walked through the market and plaza in this amazingly small town, and had a near death experience. So, we decided to live up the nightlife and try and left the bus ticket buying until the last minute (Chilean Standard Time). I am thinking that the pictures should just speak for themselves, so I’ll include lots. Hope you enjoy them: