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