TOUR TO THE NORTH
Thursday/Friday:
In the evening I went over to Daniels house (the other exchange student at my school) and waited for two other exchange students to arrive. We slept over there and then in the morning his mom dropped us off in Santiago at about 11. We went to lunch and walked over to the artesanal de Santa Lucia. An Artesanal is like a craf market. We ment up with a group a AFSers in the metro station, got a free dinner @ McDonalds. We got on the bus to sleep for our first night.
SAT:
We arrived in Caldera at 9:30. We ate breakfast right away and then changed to head off to the beach. I definatly didn't swim but i so wanted to.
We went to lunch (which for my table took about 2 hours to recieve our food) and then we went to a small artesanal. We came back recieved our cabañas, changed and headed off to walk around Caldera for a bit. When we came back I and another girl from my cabin went over to one of the guys cabañas and we palyed cards until about 2. The next day we learnt that they continued to play and pulled an all nighter. Smart men....
SUN:
woke up at 6 for a full day of driving. We stopped at this random hand in the middle of the desert, and a abandoned town where we looked at the cementary. We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama in the evening where we ate dinner and played spoons until late.
MON:
BICYCLE RIDING!!!! Finally after 3+ months I got on a bike!!!
We went about 25 minuntes down a road to a place called "Garganta del Diablo" or the devils throat. after lunch we left to drive to a lake in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE that had pink falmangos. From there we went to Media Luna which is another national park. It was already dark so we didn't really get to see the dunes and rock formations but we got out of the bus and lied down on the ground to watch the stars. it was GENIAL(great)! We went back to San Pedro for the evening to buy and walk around and then went back to the hotel and played cards (again).
TUE:
Left super early to start driving. We passed Calera which is a HUGE mining town but we didnt get out. We stoped in Pica for lunch and fresh juice. This town was small but amazingly beautiful. After that we stopped in La Tirana. Every year they have a huge festival here with crazy costumes so we went to look at the church and plaza. In the evening we entered Iquique. It was really cool enering the city because it is a coast town and to get there one has to pracitcally go down a mountian pass. I counted 9 memorials for people who had died.
WED:
we walked around the center for a bit, bought things, then got on a boat and road out about 20 minuntes and back. For those who wanted to we had about 2 hours to go swiming and then we left for Zona Franca (Zofri) the tax free zone. I bought so much stuff. One outfit for me, a purse, 3 futbol jersies, and somehting else, i forget...
We came back and hung out in one of the rooms until 3.
THUR:
To Arica. We stopped at Humberston. This is an old mining setup. I dont really remember the word in english but its this mini-town with a chuch, theater, school, houses and a mine for families to come and live. When we arrived in Arica i escaped with Kate, Andrea and Mads to acomany them to get cigarretes and as we were leaving Javier was entering so we ended up walking around one large block with him.
FRI:
Went to the beach, went to this place to eat lunch and play football and i got soo bored but a least I got to tan.... We went to visit the Mural de Arica then the peruvian/bolivan Artesanal (everything super cheap) then got on the bus for the night.
SAT:
We woke up for breakfast in Antofagasta and then got back on the bus to drive some more, got out to take picures of the Tropic of Capricorn and then again in a mall on the other side of Antofagasta for lunch. Here, for some reason, I dont know why, I aggreed to pitch in with 3 guys and a girl to buy two family pizzas to eat in the mall and 5 small pizzas to take on the bus. BAD IDEA so much grease. We drove for the rest of the day and arrived in Caldera (de nuevo) at night.
SUN:
Left early for La Serena. We got there at about noon, got our rooms, changed and left for Valle Elique. This valley is amazinly beautiful but I was still was a bit disapointed because I wanted to hang around La Serena. We hung around the plaza for a hour or so and then drove up to the planetarium to look at the stars. This was really cool but also soooo cold. When We got back to the hotel we were given the dinning room area to hang out until 2/3-ish. After that people came over to my room to hang out.
MON:
Definatly the hardest day of the trip. The scenery on the drive from La Serena to Santiago is AMAZING but the entire time I was either sleeping or talking to my (now super close friends) about how hard it is to seperate. It was crazy how close of friends I became with the poeple on this trip. There are two girls from Finland who i could easily call my best friends. One day i'm visiting them!
No comments:
Post a Comment