Hey Kids, I´m in the Desert!

I just wanted to write a quickie before I take off for Bolivia tomorrow, I have been told by the tour guides that the accommodations will be ¨rustic¨ and ¨basic¨ and since hot water=luxury here, I am going to infer that the next few days will be internet-free.

So I left Valpo on Sunday, which was super-sad because, although I will be back next week for one day only, I said goodbye to my apartment, had breakfast for the last time there etc. Next Tuesday I´m going to be staying at the boy´s house (yes, there is a boy, come on, of COURSE there is a boy. That´s all I´m saying about it.) so no more Casa Peral for me:((( So, I hopped on a micro to the bus station, bus to Santiago, the subway from the bus station to another station(for some reason, the bus didn´t go to Pajaritos, who knows why)to catch the shuttle to the airport. Got on a plane, landed in Calama, cab to the bus station, another bus to San Pedro de Atacama, goddamn, I am tired just thinking about it! Then I couldn´t find/get in touch with the woman who I´d arranged to stay with so I got to walk around town at 11pm looking for accommodations. Did I mention that I went out the night before in torrential rain and so my coat was still soggy? It was awesome, let me assure you!

I managed to find a slightly overpriced room, but it was mine, all mine, no sharing. No internet or breakfast, which kind of sucks and the water wasn´t working when I wanted to take a shower but these are just small details, right? I walked around town looking for a place in the morning with these ¨luxuries¨ and everything was full or way overpriced. Hotel Puritama turned out to be just fine in the end.

June 29th also happens to be the festival of San Pedro and what better place to be than San Pedro de Atacama? I took some pictures before my camera finally committed suicide (yeah, it´s been working pretty well for the last month or so but I think it took it´s final swan dive yesterday. Fantastic timing. There was mass outside in the plaza, followed by a parade with some decent marching bands, altiplano dancing and men dressed as chickens inexplicably lassoing me. Hmmmm. Then I had a DELICIOUS empanada, one of the best I´ve had in Chile, that was full of olives, egss, onions and meat that I will pretend was llama. By the way, I love llama. I had a llama skewer today in a little town called Machuca, on the way back from seeing the Geisers del Tatio. I thought the geisers were totally overrated and getting up at 3:30am in -15 degree weather even worse. But once the sun came out, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. I´m so pissed I can´t take pictures!!!!!!!

Ok, my time here at the internet cafe is running out, I gotta run, see you soon!