Crosby Stills and Nash at 8:30 in the Desert
To get everyone in the mood, please watch and/or listen!!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuLBhxZUkmU. Also shout out to Maria Grant and her faboo blog (http://anothergringa.blogspot.cl/2017/08/when-you-see-southern-cross-for-first.html). It makes me chuckle when we more or less have the same title and hyperlink the same CSN live concert video. It was just too applicable. Stay tuned for an explanation why!
Welcome back! The adventures have continued, and that has caused me to publish this sucker a couple of days late. I apologize greatly, but my lack of wifi and space for my computer on the weekend journey pushed me back a day. "Oooohhh and what journey might that have been, Olivia?" Wow! So happy you asked! 12 of the 15 of us Jumbos en Chile took advantage of the long weekend formed by Tuesday's national holiday and flew up to the Atacama Desert, the driest place on the entire planet. And boy oh boy can I agree with that statement. Have any of you been to Arizona? New Mexico? Nevada? Utah? Death Valley? I don't know, I've actually only been to Arizona out of that group, but they seem to share similar environments. Anyway, for my entire time there, I could always feel how dry and hot it was, just like sitting inside an oven. And because of that, I was hyper conscious about drinking water, putting on sunscreen, and throwing some lotion on at night. But Atacama winter is sneaky. There is so little humidity, but I never felt as though I was losing all of my sweat and baking. And because we were there in the winter, it was never uncomfortably warm in the sense that I felt the need to reapply sunscreen over and over again. And the results? I have never been so crackly! My skin looked like the ground! And to add insult to injury, we lived through not one but two sand storms! Crunchy. But, the extreme lack of humidity will come in handy extremely when we revisit our Crosby Stills and Nash reference from line one.
One might also think... hmmm... desert! So hot! Roasted like a nice peanut! Well friends. That too is what I thought as I packed up my nicely aged grey backpack. Should I bring a second long sleeve? Nah! Winter coat? Funny joke! Oh Olivia. OH OLIVIA. Let this be a public service announcement to you all. Deserts are ice box cold at night. On top of that, there is a large portion of the Atacama Desert that is a part of the Andes cordillera and therefore over 14,000 ft above sea level. In addition, our AirBnB/Hostel/difficult lodging experience was very much not insulated and the heater decided this was a good weekend to not be functional. And when I say "not insulated" I really mean the house was more or less just a frame with some plywood walls. That made our little house drop down to the outdoor temperature which huddled around to what felt as close to 0 degrees as I have experienced since arriving in the southern hemisphere. I spent the first night in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and was freezing. So night two I wore all of my layers top and bottom, which was fabulous minus my ice cube toes. Night three, I put it all together and tucked my feet (with two pairs of hiking socks) into the arms of my coat (that did not fit over all of my layers). Took me long enough to learn my lesson, but I successfully stayed cozy. Just in time to wake up at 4:30 to make our flight home to Santiago. Better learn late than never.
But enough about the complaining! That is 100% the opposite of what I want you to take away from this journey. I meant that more as a PSA because deserts are deceiving! On Thursday morning, we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama, a small desert tourist town that I am convinced has more stray dogs and tour agencies than humans living in it. We checked into our abode and quickly went off into the town center to start exploring our home for the weekend and look into some guided tours. We started that afternoon by heading out to explore the "Valle de la Luna" where we walked through ancient river carved salt caverns, the "Tres Marias" -- rock formations that, with some hefty imagination, look like The Virgin Mary praying in three different forms -- and landscapes that reminded me more of Mars than any other place on Earth.
Following a quick breakfast stop in Socaire, we continued to ascend into the base of the Andes. We stopped at both Piedras Rojas (Red Stones) and Lagunas Alitpánicas (High Altitude Lagoons). Though it was cloudy and FREEZING (-12 degrees Celsius without wind chill), these stops introduced me to bodies of water sitting at the base of Andean volcanoes, unlike anything I had ever seen before. The photographs do not capture the ice blue color of both bodies of water, similar to the Glacier Freeze Gatorade flavor. (I promise I am not a cop... https://pics.me.me/posts-malone-boissongazeuse-if-you-ever-meet-someone-who-calls-25478369.png). Even more, I continue to have difficulty describing the beauty and uniqueness of the contrast between the rust colored soft stones against the sharp light blue all sitting beneath a snow capped volcano. Lagunas Alitpánicas reflects perfectly what is directly above it, so going on a cloudy day changed the experience because it is normally a bright blue to match the sky. But the color matched the lips and toes of our group, so I suppose it was meant to be.
On our last day in San Pedro, we slept in and took advantage of the amazing places to explore in the small town itself. We walked 40 minutes (after finding out that all the bike rental locations were either out of bikes or closed on Sundays) to the base of Pukará de Quitor, an indigenous fortress. From there, we hiked up the first trail that brought us along and into the remains of the fortress. Afterward, we hiked a second path up to the top of the hill providing incredible views of the entire Atacama landscape as well as a memorial for the indigenous peoples that were slaughtered by the Spanish upon arrival. There are clay faces decorating a rock wall and, to the right, a massive cross with the Psalm 22 verse in Spanish "Mi Dios, Mi Dios, por qué me has abandonado?" At first we were all confused why a Bible verse and cross was the center of this memorial dedicated to the murders of innocent indigenous peoples protecting their lands from said Catholic invaders, but a carved sign next to the faces said that the Atacameños were reciting this verse as they were killed. As we looked out to the vast land beyond the hill, with the simple yet dominating cross, I thought about how powerful of a final message this was in front of the Spanish, using their own words and religion against them in the a moment of such horrific actions.
And finally, the moment you have all been waiting for since reading the blog title. After hiking down and resting in our little house for the evening, we were picked up at 8:15 for a star tour! I have never seen so many stars in my life. The stargazing conditions in Atacama are some of the best, if not the best, in the world due to its extreme lack of humidity, its high altitude, and the absence of light pollution. Not only did the Milky Way cross over from one horizon to the other, the sky was full of constellations (including ya girl's Capricorn), planets, and nebulae. But the most amazing part of all was seeing the Southern Cross for the first time. And, one could say, I understood now why I came this way. 'Cause the truth I might be runnin' from is so small, but, the more I think about it, it's as biiiiiig as the promise, the promise of a comin' day!!!!!! (I would like to take this moment to give a shout out to Crosby Stills and Nash for this banger of a song and to the men of 2003's Vineyard Sound for bringing to my ears for the first time.) For two hours, I had flashbacks to Mr. Prockop's cosmology class where, for an entire semester, my jaw was dropped as I thought about how wild and infinite the universe really is. What an incredible way to culminate an amazing trip.
Moral of the story, if you have the opportunity to get yourself to Atacama, go! And if not, keep your eyes open to new environments that can change the way you think about your every day routine.
With that, I wish you all a fabulous second half to the week, and I will see you back here on Sunday.
All the best,
Olivia/Liv/Boo
Spanish word of the blog:
rompecabezas = puzzle
Literally means broken head. I think it's genius and literal and it's so fun to say! All in all, I chose it because it's my favorite Spanish word at the moment, and I was advised by Shayna and Maria to make it the word of the blog :)
Welcome back! The adventures have continued, and that has caused me to publish this sucker a couple of days late. I apologize greatly, but my lack of wifi and space for my computer on the weekend journey pushed me back a day. "Oooohhh and what journey might that have been, Olivia?" Wow! So happy you asked! 12 of the 15 of us Jumbos en Chile took advantage of the long weekend formed by Tuesday's national holiday and flew up to the Atacama Desert, the driest place on the entire planet. And boy oh boy can I agree with that statement. Have any of you been to Arizona? New Mexico? Nevada? Utah? Death Valley? I don't know, I've actually only been to Arizona out of that group, but they seem to share similar environments. Anyway, for my entire time there, I could always feel how dry and hot it was, just like sitting inside an oven. And because of that, I was hyper conscious about drinking water, putting on sunscreen, and throwing some lotion on at night. But Atacama winter is sneaky. There is so little humidity, but I never felt as though I was losing all of my sweat and baking. And because we were there in the winter, it was never uncomfortably warm in the sense that I felt the need to reapply sunscreen over and over again. And the results? I have never been so crackly! My skin looked like the ground! And to add insult to injury, we lived through not one but two sand storms! Crunchy. But, the extreme lack of humidity will come in handy extremely when we revisit our Crosby Stills and Nash reference from line one.
Crunchy
One might also think... hmmm... desert! So hot! Roasted like a nice peanut! Well friends. That too is what I thought as I packed up my nicely aged grey backpack. Should I bring a second long sleeve? Nah! Winter coat? Funny joke! Oh Olivia. OH OLIVIA. Let this be a public service announcement to you all. Deserts are ice box cold at night. On top of that, there is a large portion of the Atacama Desert that is a part of the Andes cordillera and therefore over 14,000 ft above sea level. In addition, our AirBnB/Hostel/difficult lodging experience was very much not insulated and the heater decided this was a good weekend to not be functional. And when I say "not insulated" I really mean the house was more or less just a frame with some plywood walls. That made our little house drop down to the outdoor temperature which huddled around to what felt as close to 0 degrees as I have experienced since arriving in the southern hemisphere. I spent the first night in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and was freezing. So night two I wore all of my layers top and bottom, which was fabulous minus my ice cube toes. Night three, I put it all together and tucked my feet (with two pairs of hiking socks) into the arms of my coat (that did not fit over all of my layers). Took me long enough to learn my lesson, but I successfully stayed cozy. Just in time to wake up at 4:30 to make our flight home to Santiago. Better learn late than never.
View walking from our house to town
Purrrrito purrrrito suave suavecito
But enough about the complaining! That is 100% the opposite of what I want you to take away from this journey. I meant that more as a PSA because deserts are deceiving! On Thursday morning, we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama, a small desert tourist town that I am convinced has more stray dogs and tour agencies than humans living in it. We checked into our abode and quickly went off into the town center to start exploring our home for the weekend and look into some guided tours. We started that afternoon by heading out to explore the "Valle de la Luna" where we walked through ancient river carved salt caverns, the "Tres Marias" -- rock formations that, with some hefty imagination, look like The Virgin Mary praying in three different forms -- and landscapes that reminded me more of Mars than any other place on Earth.
Some gringos in a salt cavern
"Tres Marias"
The only thing better than Tres Marias is Cuatro Marias!
No way this is Earth
We started day two with an early rise and departure. We headed southeast away from San Pedro de Atacama towards Socaire, a small town home to Incan ruins and one of the first Catholic churches in Northern Chile. We made a quick stop at the Tropic of Capricorn, which, as a January 17th baby, threw a smile on my overly bundled face. Though the photographs do not do the landscapes justice, I hope you can get a sense of how vast and deserted (pun intended) this part of the world is. I kept on having to convince myself I had not left the atmosphere, but above all, this trip reminded me of how vast and diverse our planet is. Just in the Atacama region of Chile alone, you can find yourself in the desert, the salt flats, canyons, the Andean plateau, and the second highest mountain range in the world. I was both clothing and semi-emotionally unprepared for the environment we spent the weekend in, but it only reinforced how lucky I am to explore a place so different than anything I have seen before.
Brutal Atacama traffic
My favorite latitude!
Following a quick breakfast stop in Socaire, we continued to ascend into the base of the Andes. We stopped at both Piedras Rojas (Red Stones) and Lagunas Alitpánicas (High Altitude Lagoons). Though it was cloudy and FREEZING (-12 degrees Celsius without wind chill), these stops introduced me to bodies of water sitting at the base of Andean volcanoes, unlike anything I had ever seen before. The photographs do not capture the ice blue color of both bodies of water, similar to the Glacier Freeze Gatorade flavor. (I promise I am not a cop... https://pics.me.me/posts-malone-boissongazeuse-if-you-ever-meet-someone-who-calls-25478369.png). Even more, I continue to have difficulty describing the beauty and uniqueness of the contrast between the rust colored soft stones against the sharp light blue all sitting beneath a snow capped volcano. Lagunas Alitpánicas reflects perfectly what is directly above it, so going on a cloudy day changed the experience because it is normally a bright blue to match the sky. But the color matched the lips and toes of our group, so I suppose it was meant to be.
Piedras Rojas
Lagunas Altiplánicas
After stopping back in Socaire on the way home for lunch, we continued our decent to the famous salt flats of Atacama. Created by extremely rapid evaporation of water traveling down from mountain rivers, the flats are entirely barren and sharp with the exception of small brine pools. These keep life going in the harshest conditions by containing small krill and other shrimps. And these little organisms draw the main attraction: flamingos! Three different types of flamingos can be found in the nationally protected salt flats as they come to feast on the beta-carotene containing crustaceans which turn them pink. The unprotected portions of the large salt land archipelago that travels through the heart of the Atacama region are home to the world's most prominent salt and lithium mines. In the picture below, you can just make out the sand storm in the background which entirely surrounded the salt flat while we were there.
Salt flats (flamingos in that puddle in the distance!)
Day three started with a 4:30 wake up call and a 5 o'clock departure heading directly up into the Andean plateau to visit the Geysers del Tatio. Though no large eruptions (unlike Old Faithful or Iceland) take place, the geysers constantly bubble due to the cold mountain water coming in contact with volcanically heated stones and then quickly rising due to the rapid temperature change. One of my favorite portions of this tour was learning about the origin of the name Tatio, which, in an Atacameño indigenous language means "tears of the grandfather." I was struck by how beautiful this image was. So much so that I am going to investigate it further for my Folklore Chileno homework due tomorrow!
Geysers del Tatio
Shayna, two in place knees, and Maria
Arch of Pukará de Quitor
Summit of Pukará de Quitor
And finally, the moment you have all been waiting for since reading the blog title. After hiking down and resting in our little house for the evening, we were picked up at 8:15 for a star tour! I have never seen so many stars in my life. The stargazing conditions in Atacama are some of the best, if not the best, in the world due to its extreme lack of humidity, its high altitude, and the absence of light pollution. Not only did the Milky Way cross over from one horizon to the other, the sky was full of constellations (including ya girl's Capricorn), planets, and nebulae. But the most amazing part of all was seeing the Southern Cross for the first time. And, one could say, I understood now why I came this way. 'Cause the truth I might be runnin' from is so small, but, the more I think about it, it's as biiiiiig as the promise, the promise of a comin' day!!!!!! (I would like to take this moment to give a shout out to Crosby Stills and Nash for this banger of a song and to the men of 2003's Vineyard Sound for bringing to my ears for the first time.) For two hours, I had flashbacks to Mr. Prockop's cosmology class where, for an entire semester, my jaw was dropped as I thought about how wild and infinite the universe really is. What an incredible way to culminate an amazing trip.
Moral of the story, if you have the opportunity to get yourself to Atacama, go! And if not, keep your eyes open to new environments that can change the way you think about your every day routine.
With that, I wish you all a fabulous second half to the week, and I will see you back here on Sunday.
All the best,
Olivia/Liv/Boo
Spanish word of the blog:
rompecabezas = puzzle
Literally means broken head. I think it's genius and literal and it's so fun to say! All in all, I chose it because it's my favorite Spanish word at the moment, and I was advised by Shayna and Maria to make it the word of the blog :)
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