Nos perdimos.

This is the Salt Lake where all the flamingos were at sunset, it´s so beautiful!

"We lost ourselves." Okay, in the middle of a blistering desert with no water in sight, this might sound really bad. But...it was actually kind of fun.

We arrived in San Pedro at a way too early noon-ish. I mean, we did leave at 6:00 a.m. and we road an extremely rocky bus to our hotel. I also had an encounter with a not-so-nice air line lady who wasn´t going to let me on the plane without my passport. She was not very nice. I tried my driver´s liscence, apparently not as effective as in the U.S. Luckily, Dr. Cass, our Furman professor, brought photocopies.

Disclaimer to my mother:
Our Chilean professor told us we didn´t need them and we were flying national.

...Back to San Pedro. So the actual town wasn´t that great. Kind of like a desert town, but they had a really old church and some cool buildings. So..Alex being the architecture buff that he is and me just trying to take cool pictures, we have lots of cool pictures. We went to this place called Valle de la Muerte. There was lots of cool mountains and rock formations. However, we endured a little bit of a sand/rock/windstorm. Alex almost lost his hat that I gave him for Christmas (for the 2nd time). Everything else was wonderful though. We then went to Valle de la Luna and watched the sunset. It was BEAUTIFUL!! I thought a lot about God and how big and powerful He is to have created everything with a purpose. Then I thought about how if we don´t praise God, the rocks will do it for us. Then I thought, "These rocks are so awesome, I´d probably prefer them to me." Then I just kept thinking about the lilies and birds and how Jesus says that we are way more important than they are to Him. I thought about how God loves us so much more than anything in creation. Hard to swallow and challenging to the lifestyle.

Then we also saw some cool caves. That afternoon we went to a dried up salt lake that´s now a reserve for flamingos. How random. I never knew they actually flew until I saw about 5 billion of them. I took this really funny picture with me and my friend standing on one leg in front of them. We didn´t get to get so close to them. We got to see the sunset there and it was incredible! The salt looks like ice, and the sunset is unforgettable. I also stepped in flamingo poop by accident. Oh the clumsiness will never leave me.

On the same day we saw this ancient fort called Púkara. Really cool with an awesome view. We then went to some archaelogical museum where we thought would be mummies...no mummies. Kinda boring, but still fun. Later we went to a place were there was supposed to be like a river or lake to swim in. We then realized it was like a small piece of a river of freezing cold water, but we swam in it anyway.

Next day...we lost ourselves. We went on a super long trek to these hot springs. Literally, the guide said, let´s go, and I saw no trail. For you Dora fans...he said, VAMOS. Anyway there were no bathrooms, so you just had to wait for the group to go ahead and catch up with them later. So...in perfect timing...i really had to pee. So, Alex and Dr. Cass waited out of sight until I was done. (yes embarassing) Then, the group was way gone. So we caught up with one of the girls who was having a hard time keeping up. We´re walking by a river, then didn´t see a path, then just walked straight. We walked for so long and so high. Yep, Alex and Dr. Cass found the highway. Unfortunately, the group was way the opposite direction. So we climbed a mountain for nothing. But, when we caught up with everyone we realized we only missed like 5 minutes of swimming. The hot springs were great!!

Last story I promise: The next day 6 of us diverted from the group to go do our own thing. We wanted to go to what we thought was a desert oasis with no tourists. It was the guide´s favorite thing. So we rented bikes, rode out there, and saw it....A COMMUNITY POOL. Hahaha, what a ripoff, but still so funny.


First day of school tomorrow!! No more vacation, just kidding, a lot more vacation! I hope to be able to upload some pictures at school. I tried at home and i didn´t work.


Until later! ¡Ciao! Love everyone!

This is the inside of the 400 year old church in San Pedro.

This is the Sunset at Valle de la Luna!

This is Jessica and me trying to be flamingos. Haha.

Alex and me at the salt lake : )