San Pedro de Atacama

A few weeks ago we took a trip to San Pedro de Atacama, a town in the middle of the desert in northern Chile. We had a long weekend, and were told San Pedro holds many sights we had to see. Which is true! The Atacaman desert is a touristy part of Chile because there are so many unique places to go.

After a 17 hour bus ride, we were wandering around the town with our huge backpacks searching for a hostel when a guy drove up to us in a truck and asked if we were looking for a hostel. How convenient! We were very fortunate to have met Nelson, who became our guide for the next three days. He hooked us up with a cool hostel, comfortable, cheap, the owners were some of the nicest people I've ever met. Us, our guide, the owners, and the other people staying in the hostel were like an insta-family, we ate together, hung out, toured together, stayed up chatting late into the night. The first night we got there just happened to be the night of the big Chile soccer game, so we went out to a pub with Nelson and other newly found friends. It was insane! We were playing Columbia, who we hadn't beaten for years, and I can't explain to you how into these games people get. Imagine a downtown pub during superbowl, but instead of having fans of two different teams present, everyone is cheering for the same players, the team that represents their country. The pub was jam-packed, nowhere to sit or stand. Everyone constantly yelling, singing, chanting. With every goal and penalty they got more wound up. After we won the game people were running around the streets chanting and yelling, driving around honking and singing, for hours! It was really an awesome experience, something I won't soon forget. The passion these people have for their soccer team is incomparable with anything else I've seen.

The next morning we got up and headed out into the desert, it's insanely imense! That's the only word I can think to describe it. Oh, and dry. And hot. We made our way to this valley with a little river that runs through it, an oasis. It was crazy to finally see green! We hiked down, all the while hearing Nelson tell us about the history, the locals, the flora and fauna. After hiding in some reeds to change into our swimsuits (which I don't recommend!), we swam in the river with some of the locals, it was so fun. On our hike back up we ran into a sheep herder, she was so old I can't imagine how she could withstand the elements and walk all that way! That is their way of life in the Atacaman desert though, and they are well-adjusted.

That same day after lunch we headed out to the Salar de Atacama, and the Lagunas Cejas, which is the world's second largest salt flat. The Laguna is a little lake in the middle of the salt flat which is 40% salt, so when you swim in it you float like you would in the Dead Sea. It was pretty crazy, I didn't want to get in because it was the coldest water I've ever swam in! But it was insane to not be able to sink, we got out in the middle and you just float without moving or doing any work, it was amazing. We had to haul fresh water out there to rinse off with after, because that much salt on your skin will dry your skin out really quickly, and dehydrate you. Our hair was white with crusty salt when it dried. We waited out on the Salar for the sunset, which was pretty amazing. Just the sky and the clouds here are always beautiful, or maybe I just don't pay attention in the US, but it always seems more interesting here. The colors in the desert added to it also.

After going home and showering, we went exploring the little town, looking through the shops and everything. While we were walking around a bunch of cars and trucks were driving around the streets letting people know about some huge party in the desert, so all 7 of us jumped in and went too! They had a bonfire going and music and everything set up in the middle of the desert, it was pretty insane. There was a girl who put on a show with two ropes with fire on the end, twirling them around and everything. It was different, but cool to see how they do parties in this interesting and unique part of the country. We met people from all over that night, as it was a holiday weekend and San Pedro is a popular vaca spot, we met people from several different countries and all sorts of places in Chile.

The next day was our last day, we were pretty sad, there is so much to see and we had such little time. But for the last day we got to know the town a little more, went to the museum which has tons of artifacts from the pueblos who have lived there since the Incas. There was also an exposition about the war between Guatemala and Mexico, the exiles who had fled, the military violence against the innocent people. Of course, the US government had a hand in it, we helped the wrong side once again because we didn't really know what was going on, we just jumped in. Anyway, that's another interesting thing to be aware of if you have time to read about it.

We went to Valley of the Moon that afternoon before our bus left, it was probably my favorite part of the weekend. They named it Valle de la Luna because it looks like a landscape of a different planet, the formations of the rocks make you feel like you're not on earth anymore. We didn't have much time there, but we still saw some amazing stuff, crawled through some caves, climbed some dunes, and learned a lot thanks to Nelson.

We had to leave that afternoon, it was sad to say goodbye to Nelson and our new friends! We had some great times with them and scrunched a lot of fun and memories into 3 days. It definitely is a part of Chile you have to see when you come here. (Here's 5 of the over 200 photos I snapped in the 3 days...believe me, there's a lot to see in San Pedro:)

Idioma y Cultura

The two biggest differences between being here and being home are obviously the culture and the language. These two things are the most challenging to deal with, but at the same time they are what make this experince what it is. They are basically what brought me here, I wanted to learn Spanish, and I wanted to see a little bit of the world outside Idaho. I wanted this cultural experience, and it has taught me more already than I ever imagined it would. So I wanted to tell you guys a little more about the dynamics of these two aspects of my time here.


Before coming here, I knew the most important part about improving in a second language is confidence. If you are always second guessing yourself, you'll never say anything, therefore, never practice, therefore, never learn or improve. Even if you don't know if what you want to say is perfect, you have to be confident and say it anyway. Another important part, not being afraid to make an idiot of yourself, it's inevitable that you're going to say a lot of things wrong. You just have to accept that fact and get over it, because if you are always trying to prevent it, you're not going to learn or get better. The confidence part was a little hard at first: people speak a hundred miles an hour and then look at you waiting for an answer when you didn't understand a single word of what they said. But of course it has gotten much easier. The thing is that here people don't speak Spanish, they speak Chilean, which is totally different. Chileans use different endings on certain verbs than other Spanish-speaking countries, they abbreviate everything, slur words together, and they have hundreds of sayings and words, "Chilenismos," that they use constantly in daily conversation, that make no sense if translated literally. When you ask them to try and explain what a certain Chilenismo means, they use another Chilenismo in their explanation, so you still have no idea what they meant to say in the first place. Also, Chileans are famous among Latin people for speaking fast. Awesome. At first we were constantly telling people to talk slower so we could understand, now I'm used to keeping up. Another thing I am noticing as my spanish gets better, is that my English is getting worse! I have already started forgetting words in English, I can only think of the Spanish term! I love spanish, that is the reason I came here, and my Spanish is tons better than when I arrived. But it still have a long way to go! It's definitely one of my favorite parts of being here, getting better at Spanish.


Another part that I have learned so much from, is the culture difference. I have written about some of the things that people do different down here, and there are tons more. But the awesome part of experiencing a new culture isn't learning all the things they do different, it's about learning why they do things differently. The people here have a different way of thinking, a different way of looking at life. That is why things are so different, they live different lives than us. They have different priorities, different opinions, different knowledge. Another thing is that naturally, I am constantly comparing things here to how things are at home. But I have realized that things at home aren't necesarily right or wrong, or better, just different. I wish I could explain this better, but it's just something you have to experience yourself. I have really come to appreciate these people for who they are and they way they live life. They are much more focused on love, happiness, and people: things that I find to be important. I now realize how us as Americans are more focused on time, work, money. We are always hurried and stressed. We know what is important in life also, but we don't spend as much time enjoying it. Of course there have been times that I have been frustrated with how differently things are done here, but those times have been worth it because of how much my point of view has been changed by being here. I'm not sure if that made sense at all, but I wanted to at least give it a shot at letting you guys know how it is here:)