San Pedro de Atacama...wonder of wonders.

Cavernas de sal, Valle de la Luna, Atacama Desert

I don't even know where to start.  We got on a plane and have been transported to an alien landscape. One that is stunning and stark and beautiful all at once.

What's new, but I slept terrible since I was worried about Quinn, so what did I do but think about earthquakes because somehow my mind wandered from Quinn's weak voice (she says she is feeling better now, a little...Jeff will update on that) to whether or not we will get to feel an earthquake while we are here.

landing in Calama

Did you know that your phone is useful for even finding out how many earthquakes there are in Chile today? Of course, I found a tracker page and noted that two (5.1 and 5.2)  had already occurred by 4am (when I was up) in the area we were going to be going later today...AND 555 earthquakes have happened in the last year. Yup.  There are hundreds of active volcanoes, too, so wowzers, the people seem so oddly unconcerned about it all.  Which, actually, is a good sign if I thought about it.

I'll report back.

More importantly, we left Valparaìso this morning at 8:30 and spent the first half of the day getting here first by car then by plane and then car again.

So, now we are in San Pedro de Atacama in an oasis in the middle of the driest desert in the world.  For the first 40 minutes of our drive from the airport here, there wasn't a shrub, cacti, even a bird in view, then slowly a small bit of scrub were scattered on the ground until we came down by the San Pedro river where there is a burst of green bounded by sand.

"Drink water."  That's the phrase we've heard the most.  Over the next few days we will be between 8,000 and 12,000 ft. and added to that, the air is so dry you can feel it in the back of your eyelids.  Actually, I'm thirsty now.

We dropped off our stuff and right away explored this beautiful place.  We walked around this theresort a bit, said hello to sheep and cows and then a llama or two when we decided to check into the reception and see if we could go on a hike to watch the sunset.  We signed up with a guide and were on our way with four friends from New York and a couple from Maryland.  We (I am even including myself in this!) are by far the youngest people here except for one other family who have brought their two young (10 and 12) year old sons from Chicago.

And, the only reason I mention that is that we should have had a little fitness test before we all trekked to the Valley of the Moon to catch the views of the salt flats and the jagged sand and rock formations.  Did I mention we are at high altitude?  Did I mention the dry air?  Did I mention Gillian and I were the youngest?

the white in the background...salt!

It was a grind for our group to make it over even the first little hill and then, Gillian and I knew we wouldn't make it to the sunset spot the guide had promised us.  And then, we decided it was going to be more fun to focus on the pictures, while we waited for the group to catch up...a million times.  But...who cares if we got to see the other spot...this place was indescribable (but, I'll try).  The ground is covered in white salt that our guide explained comes up through the ground during rains (which obviously, don't happen all that often) making it look like it is covered in snow.

After a delicious dinner (first fresh veggies we've seen in a while), we laid under the stars.  We are way, way out in the middle of nowhere, really in this little oasis of a place.  Also, the hotel has no outdoor lighting to obscure one single view of the night sky and there is no moon either...so I've never seen the Milky Way as such a bright swath of light across the sky...ever.  Also, the Southern Cross...saw that in its brilliance, and had to sing a little Crosby, Stills and Nash to Gill...she totally loved that.

We love it here.  I am so glad we went to Valpo first, because I am pretty sure we would never have wanted to leave here.  One of the couples from our group today said they just came back from Patagonia, and he promises it is even better than here...I can't wait.

But, until then, we get up early tomorrow and start new adventures.  There will be lots more.  This is an amazing trip.

I'll let Gillian tell you more about it...

Gillian:

Waking up early this morning was tough. I don't think we are quite used to the time change yet. The drives and airplane ride weren't too bad though, all felt pretty short. We were pretty hungry before the plane ride, but the itinerary said we would be getting lunch on the plane. The flight attendant handed us a 'menu' with four options on it: A biscuit, a chocolate muffin, a granola bar, and a dried fruit/nut combo. Mom and I both got the biscuit and fruit/nut mix. Saying that was a mistake may not be entirely true, because we don't know if the other food was any better, but neither of us ate the mix, and the dry biscuits tasted like something taken from the trash can of the county jail. We were starving though, so we ate them.

one of the hotel pools

Arriving at the hotel in Atacama was amazing. It kind of reminded me of the hotels in Hawaii, because they immediately offered us fruit drinks as we got out of the shuttle. The room is cute, with a perfect bathroom, no TV, and, my personal favorite, a cute outdoor patio that has a little furniture. There is this big bench with pillows and a cushion that is super comfortable, and when you sit out there, you can look out at the mountains and the nature that this entire hotel is surrounded by. It was pure bliss, and I know I could lay out there for hours.

At first, I just wanted to relax by the pool or something during the afternoon, but after talking to the adventure planner, and going on the hike to the salt flats, I'm so glad we chose to go out. Mom and I had such a good time on the hike, and took a ton of pictures and videos. And since we were the only people in shape apparently, we had plenty of time to stop and take it in while we were waiting for our group to catch up.

Dinner was really, really, really good. That might be because we didn't really eat lunch, but even so, there was a huge variety of foods, and it was all so colorful, and all tasted amazing. Both Mom and I tried almost everything. Mom really loved the lamb, and I loved the steak. All of it was perfect though, and definitely hit the spot after our hike.

finally, some fresh vegetables

After eating, we noticed the stars in the sky, and I took out my star app so we could see what the names of all of the were. We could see the Milky Way very clearly, and also Orion and the Southern Cross. All of it was breathtaking. It's a bummer that the stars don't really show up in photos, not even on my nice camera. But witnessing it was incredible, and even the best camera couldn't do that justice.