Multi-part Series Anyone?

Its been more or less two days since I started on this journey and so far I've come (according to the infallible Google Maps) 1,101 Km. I've found myself extremely lucky as I have met helpful, generous and interesting people along the way and have never found myself without a feeling of gratitude that all seems to be going easily.

On my first day, shortly after my last posting, I found myself about two kilometers outside of San Pedro thickly applying 60 SPF sunscreen and rearranging my pack (for the fourth time). One never knows how long they'll be standing in one place while hacer dedoing, so I wanted to be prepared for any eventuality. I had everything arranged just as I liked it and it only took me about an hour to realize that everything I would actually need (sun hat, sun glasses, pant legs, etc) were totally inaccessible for less than 10 minutes of digging.

The Family

Luckily I was only in that place for about 15 minutes before I was picked up by a nice man named Erick on his way to Calama, about 150 Km from San Pedro. The ride with him was uneventful in that I was not yet accustomed to talking totally in Spanish - thus utilizing the much spoken of technique of "Por exemplo" (consider it a challenge that I'm letting you translate that yourself - please realize that the 'x' is pronounced like an 'h' - (I just want to add one more aside, thanks for hanging in there!)) - and he was very willing to just talk about anything that happened to be going on outside the car at any one moment. Perfect! He was pleasant and interested and I was learning about the geography, the fauna, flora, the reason they have drainage ditches in the middle of the driest desert in the world... Lots of stuff.

Before too long I was getting accustomed to speaking with him and he started to ask about my past and what I was doing in Chile, what my family is like, school and all that (From now on I will refer to this as the What The Heck conversation since I have it with everyone along the way). Only a bit further along he offered to take me home so I can rest a bit before heading out again.

We got to his house, having a conversation about slums and poorer places in the US as compared to Chile at the time, and he welcomed me right in. He lived a concrete development with a larger than usual sized lawn outside. It turned out he worked in construction and had found the economy hard on business (downfalls in USA economy KILL Chile, it turns out). We went inside and I realized the use of concrete was two-fold: 1. Its cooler. 2. There aren't any trees in the desert.

His wife Karen (no, they're both native Chileans) greeted me enthusiastically and offered the shower and some food to me, introduced me to their two year old daughter (their son stayed upstairs, as 11 year olds will) and went on with the What The Heck conversation (from now on referred to as the WTHC, pronounced 'WUHTTIC'). They were extremely welcoming, warm and wanted to keep in touch. Quickly we had a pen and paper out and were writing our emails and facebook info. They even offered their house for any time I come through the area and I need a place to sleep or rest.

After we were through taking pictures and learning about each other we all piled into the tiny truck and they took me to the best spot for hitchhiking out of Calama. We parted with well wishes and promises to keep in touch.

Next: The Nameless Rockers

The first step

Firstly: I've added photos that have almost nothing to do with this post, I just wanted to show some things from the San Pedro de Atacama.

I'm still in the Atacama desert, but now I don't have anyone with me. The group left last night around 8 and I decided to go back my own way; I'll meet up in Santiago when classes start again next week.

Sitting in an internet cafe, I am already impressed by the people I have met on my journey south.

Oh, maybe I should tell you what I'm doing before I go into the people: I decided to hacer dedo (hitch hike) the 1,700 Km from San Pedro de Atacama to Santiago, the goal being to arrive before Monday (preferably get there by early Sunday) and spend as little money as possible... The irony of using a public pay-by-the-minute computer to blog does not escape me, I might add.

Anyway, back to the people: Last night I was walking around the town after my group had left, I was looking for food but - this being a tourist town - most meals were somewhere around $10 a plate and I was looking for something a bit cheaper, or at least including drinks for that price. I stumbled upon this little dirt-and-gravel floored restaurant that had a grungy cooler and the menu written on the walls in colorful chalk. Much more to my taste. I ordered the Atacameña (a wonderfully nutritious sandwich with what seemed like fried beef, ham, onions, tomato and an egg) and sat there in the emptiness waiting for my heart attack to arrive. In walked a nervous looking gringo who moved in a circle for a minute before sitting near me. It was only once he tried to order an empanada napoliana (tomato sauce and hot dog in a fried dough thingie) that I decided to say hello... mainly because the poor waitress couldn't understand his even poorer Spanish.

Captain Alejandro saves the day! His name was Ralph (pronounced with a back of the throat loogie-hawking sound due to the Germanness that he was). We spoke through out my meal about traveling and seeing the world, and when the waitress came back to me to tell him that there were only cheese empanadas I suggested he join me in death and have an atacameña as well. He did.

Parting ways eventually, I set out in search of a happy hour nearby. I found one at a nice restaurant with friendly and humorous wait staff who liked to stare at the gringo, then joke with him (me). Again there sat near to me citizens in need of assistance, and C.A. didn't hesitate! When I heard the gringos sitting at a nearby table attempt to order wine (pronouncing "vino" as "wine") and saw the waitress (they seem to get stressed easily here) start to shake her head nervously, I asked if they wanted white or red. They said "we just want to make sure its free with the meal." So I translated, to the enthusiastic cheers of everyone in town. Talking with them, I learned they were also German traveling on holiday and were grateful to have a drink to take off some of the stress of journeying. They offered me some of the gigantic empanada they ordered, which I politely declined, and we spoke of past travels. They were familiar with the US, having lived in and hitchhiked across it, and were enthusiastic to hear about my travels as well. I wished them well when all was said and done, and taking my super-duper-translator-cape with me, I left to find somewhere to sleep.

Two nights ago me and some friends found our way to a field to watch the stars (with our new-found abilities to recognize a bunch of constellations as taught by a local astronomer), and my buddy Naveen and I decided to stay the night and sleep out there. So last night I tried to find the same field... without much luck.

I walked for a few kilometers in various directions, knowing all the while that I was in the general vicinity (e.g. town) as I had been the night before. After working my way through countless (well, maybe 3) wrong turns I sucked it up and asked a local who was walking with his girlfriend/wife/prostitute/mother-in-law if he knew of anywhere I could camp for free. He gave me some general directions, of which I understood little except for "right," "left," and "something to do with camping," and I went on my way. After I took a blatantly wrong turn, he took pity on me and he invited me to walk with him and his lady friend. They took me down a few roads then pointed me to a field and told me where it would be safe for me to sleep without getting in trouble from the owners. They were both very nice, willing to have conversation and ask questions about me and what I was doing. They laughed at a joke I made and made one of their own. I feel very lucky to have been guided to sleep by them.

This morning I woke up to a phone call from Cristian, it was good to have a send off on my journey by a familiar and welcome voice. Leaving the camp site I worked my way back to town to find breakfast and wait for the cell phone store to open so I could recharge my minutes and buy another battery charger. In all my infinite wisdom I left my charger in the laptop bag that has been taken back to Santiago by my friend Justin...

Entering my favorite restaurant (for the food, not the service - a meal normally takes 1-2 hours depending on how responsive the servers are feeling) I find Ralph sitting, waiting for his tour to the thermal baths to leave. I asked to join him and we spoke during breakfast of the things we hoped to see and do, and those things done that we enjoyed. We parted with good wishes and smiles.

I am now 37 minutes 32 seconds into my internet time here in San Pedro de Atacama, the cafe has small tables with two or three benches surrounding them, eight computers, five customers and two estadaunidense (US Americans). The cell phone store opens in eight minutes, I have to buy a gallon of water and some granola bars then go stand by the entrance of the town with my sign for Calama. In less than a half hour I will have officially started my trip.

I hope the official start isn't by way of standing in the sun forever.

Lots of love, wish me luck.

Peace

So I land in the Atacama desert...

And I might as well have landed in Reno. I wish I hadn't left the spare battery to my camera in Santiago because now I can't upload a picture for you to see how similar the places are.... just desert...

I don't have a whole lot to say right now, I'm finding it difficult to regularly deep you up to date, and therefore there's so much that I don't say that I end up not being able to say anything when I try.

I'm staying at a really nice hostel/hotel place in San Pedro de Atacama (http://www.sanpedroatacama.com/ingles/home.htm) that has a nice pool and access to town. I've rented mountain bikes and bombed my way through twisty trails in raveines and across the one river in the desert. I've seen the sunset from 10,000 feet and watched the colors change and grow off the sides of the Andes.

Tonight I'm going with the group to an observatory and see the stars as we've never seen them before.

Chao

as an aside

while waiting for the rest of my espisode of its always sunny in philladelphia i thought id throw some stuff out here for a bit id like to know how you like my new format

so this weekend was a trip for the usac program to valparaiso and vina del mar but i didnt know about it im not sure how it is that i spaced on the info but in return for my neglagence i got a four day weekend :d

i seem to remember being out till four or five on friday night saturday morning though i dont remember if i was actually out or just watching movies that late sat was nothing special i think i pretty much just chilled all day probably slept till noon its been nice talking to some of my relatives in new york though its my gmas birthday

sunday i was going to spend looking at motorcycles and chilling with my friend cristian and we decided to do an impromptu camping trip in the mountains as it was poorly planned and very last minute we ended up getting to one of the towns close to our destination at night around nine and started walking up the road we picked up a couple of buses on the way and tried in vain to hitch hike in the end we climbed a hillish cliff next to the road and camped at the top

we had intended on camping further up the road but as i had no idea where we were going and cristian didnt know how far it was in the night we decided to stay put we had hot coco cooked over my beer can stove and tuna from the can

today we started walking back and the first car i stuck my thumb out to picked us up and brought us to the town with the buses i love the transportation system here in chile i challenge any one of you to stick your thumb out on rt 4 and get taken to a bus station anywhere between durham and concord with access to manchester it doesnt exist buses here go everywhere and if they dont its not unlikely that you can get picked up through hitchhiking

ive been going to a lot of movies lately theyre new here but most have been in the states for a while like inglorious bastards the ugly truth and sector 9 i enjoy appreciating the language subtlties that are missed by most of the people here just reading the subtitles but at the same time i know that im having similar lapses myself im also getting all the pixar films in spanish soon so i can practice more

ok i think thats all i want to say now

peace

2 in one day?!?!?!?

Ok, maybe not one day as it's 1 AM right now, but they're close.

So people are always talking about being careful about pickpockets on the metro and how we all have to constantly be aware where out belongings are at all times. I pay relative heed to this but I don't let it rule my world. I try not to do stupid things and, for the most part, bad things don't seem to happen to me.

That being said, I left my wallet on the green line tonight. I seldom carry more than $10 US at any one point but today I had run out of the cash I keep back at my host parent's place and decided to load up... so there was over $200 in there today... plus my credit cards... plus my US and Chilean IDs... plus everything else I could possibly need.

My friend Cristian and I got off at a stop and when we realized what had happened we booked it to the security guard who got promptly on the walkie-talkie only to turn up nothing. I like to think I was keeping it cool and not getting worked up, but any of you who know me will not be surprised that I was coming to a slow boil of tsunamic proportions.

The two of us were sitting down by the rail, I was just starting to really realize all the things I wouldn't be able to do without either ID or the ATM card, and we were talking about whether we should go see the movie we were planning on... That's when she said "Hola."

The girl and her boyfriend who were sitting across from us on the metro had picked up my wallet and rode it back to find us and return it... money untouched and cards intact.

For some reason things like this happen to me a lot: I do something stupid and some surprisingly kind person in a cesspool of pickpockets decides to help me. God is good :)

*********

That said, this is not an invite (you know who you are) to tell me how terrible this could have turned out... I know it was dumb, and I'm usually careful... it was simply universal irony that I was un-careful on the day I had my life in my back pocket...

Holy Crap

Well its been a while since I wrote anything, and I'll begin my update with a comment that not only does MacDonalds have the best actual coffee in this country, it also has free wi-fi, which I find especially appealing.

This weekend I did a pseudo-spur-of-the-moment trip into the mountains in an attempt to find some of the natural and unadulterated hot springs that Chile has to offer. I say pseudo spur of the moment because I had known about the trip for a while but was totally unprepared nonetheless. I made a poor decision to stay awake entirely too late the night before and when 8:00 rolled around (the time I was supposed to be at the metro) I was just getting out of bed. In the end I made it to the meeting place almost two hours late. This was actually fortunate because the people I was meeting had gone to two or three other locations in the mean time trying to find the right bus to take them to the mountains and ended up arriving at almost the same time as I did.

They had found – through some spin of chance – an English speaking Greek who was going with his friends to a nearby locale and offered us a ride. After waiting and trying (in vain) to find a public restroom with a toilet seat we hopped into the back of a large windowless white van with six other people. Sitting scrunched up on a mattress amongst hiking gear and Chileans we made the two hour trip to the mountains being spared very little excitement. I won't go into the details of the trip because it would conjure up images of 1960s road trips and I'm trying to spare my mom an anxiety attack, but suffice it to say we were safe and got to a nearby town without mishap.

Me and the two others on the trip walked a few kilos to another town where we were told we had missed all the busses to the hot springs... which was depressing. But we found a cab and for only $5.000 pesos (about $10 US) we arrived there as well.

When I said earlier that I was unprepared, I wasn't just speaking of waking up late... I figured that the hot springs would cost around $2.500 pesos, and then there would be a bus ride of a few hundred, so I brought along $5000... which was already spent by the cab ride. In addition, I wore my tennis shoes because I thought the 10k ride was going to be used up by a cab instead of trekking through snow-and-mud covered trails. Along with that I didn't bring more than one pair of clothes, and no sleeping pad for under my sleeping bag... so I guess it was fortunate that I wasnt actually able to make it in the end.

We go to he last town before the springs (10k away) and I realized that I couldn't make it back to Santiago the next day by 1 pm for a get together with some Chilean friends and I took a bus back. The trip was fun, and I slept the whole way home.

When I got home I realized I had lost my house key and the entire family was in the country at their campo. Damn. Not knowing what to do I called Cristian, a friend I've made here, and he said I could chill with him and his friends for the night if I wanted; I had a place to sleep, which was a good thing as I gave my sleeping bag to Naveen who didn't have one for the hot springs.

The night passed without trouble, I spoke broken Spanish to rapidly conversing Chilenos, and was complemented on my comprehension, and then I woke up and continued the day.



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This is where I come to my troubles right now...

I've been relatively good at most things I've tried, and school is included in that statement. The fact that I've always struggled in language classes is something I've always attributed to my not caring, or just not applying myself... I never actually considered that language grammar might be difficult for me.

That said, I need to get a tutor. I'm floundering right now in my language class... My comprehension is good and my speaking is quick and accurate enough to be able to sustain conversation on most levels, but my technical skills with this language are terrible and my test scores are showing it. The three tenses of the subjunctive are especially tricky.

If I had a guaranteed year here I wouldn't have a worry as my understanding and speaking are greatly improving, but when my second semester is dependent upon success of my first, anxiety kicks in... and I don't do well with anxiety.

Ao I'm afraid of the future as I'm almost half way through this semester. I have a test tomorrow on subject matter I dont understand and the sympathy and understanding of my teacher goes about as far as eating a hot dog for helping me out. I just hope Universidad de Andres Bello has tutors available.

Will keep you updated.

Peace