Laguna Cejar
Los ojos del salar
Salar
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Salt flats
Outside San Pedro de Atacama there is a huge salt flat. Within the salt flat there are lakes filled with waters that come from the Andes mountains not far away. When the lakes are full in the rainy season, the water is like glass and the reflection is perfect. When the lakes dry up in the dry season, it's completely white from the salt. The lakes have such a high percentage of salt that you float without any effort. Some of the lakes, like the Eyes of the Salt Flat, are hundreds of meters deep, and others are barely deep enough to cover your feet. Watching the sun set there is definitely a sight that shouldn't be missed.
San Pedro de Atacama
I finally made it to the desert hot-spot everyone's been talking about. San Pedro de Atacama is one of the biggest tourist attractions in all of Chile so I had to see what all the fuss was about. San Pedro is a tiny town in the desert but it's swarming with foreigners and chileans alike, all wanting to book tours to see the sights around the town. The sights were awesome...the amount of tourists, not so much. If you go, I would definitely recommend renting a car or a bike and checking things out on your own instead of going with one of the super expensive tour agencies and having to deal with all the people...but that's just me.
A traveller's wedding
Some friends of mine who met through couchsurfing got married and decided to have their wedding in a little town in the desert oasis near Iquique. The groom is Canadian and the bride is Chilean...they met travelling and since then they've been travelling together ever since. It was a very simple but beautiful wedding and a nice excuse to get together in the desert.
Maraton de Santiago
Well the big day finally came. After a crazy week of earthquakes and aftershocks, no water, no electricity, no school, little sleep, we travelled to Santiago for the race. I prepared 4 months for it and there was no way I was going to miss it. I was ready. Saturday we went to the expo to pick up our numbers and shirts, then we all went out to lunch for a carbo-loading session. Sunday morning we got up early and took the metro into the city. It was chilly but perfect for running.
I had a blast during the race. The first half I felt like a breeze. I never hit a wall and I finished feeling strong. I felt great until I finished...then I could barely walk. Needless to say the next day at work was a stru-ggle. Walking up and down stairs was not on my list of go-to's...
BUT...I'm already looking forward to the next one! Boston here I come!
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I had a blast during the race. The first half I felt like a breeze. I never hit a wall and I finished feeling strong. I felt great until I finished...then I could barely walk. Needless to say the next day at work was a stru-ggle. Walking up and down stairs was not on my list of go-to's...
BUT...I'm already looking forward to the next one! Boston here I come!
Thanks coach!!
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Not an April fool's joke
April 1st, 2014, 8:47pm
In school we talked all about April Fool's Day - what it meant to play a prank on someone, how it started, and what would be some funny pranks to pull on our friends and family. The kids stole and hid my things, tried sticking post-its on my back, and left school giggling about all the pranks they were able to pull on Miss Kelly. It's days like that which make me love going to school, teaching kids, and being a part of a wonderful classroom community. But surely that night, the smiles disappeared and all the jokes were forgotten...they were for me at least.
I got home from practice feeling great after such a good day at school and a nice easy run in preparation for the marathon. It was 8:30pm...an unheard of time for me to be home on a Tuesday night. I sat down in the kitchen talking to my roommate Paula as she cooked dinner, telling her about my great day at school, how pumped I was for the marathon, and the delicious dinner I was going to have with my friend that right after I showered. Just as I stood up to get my things, it started. "Paula...parece que esta temblando, cierto?" All of a sudden, the whole house was shaking like were were in a Polly Pocket. Paula walked over to my room as I squatted down to keep my balance. "TENEMOS QUE IRNOS AHORA!" She yelled to me as she tied her shoes and the lights cut out. "ESPERA! TIENES QUE ESPERAR HASTA QUE SE PARE EL MOVIMIENTO!" I replied as I frantically looked around my room for what to salvage in case a tsunami came. The movement finally stopped and Paula was already halfway down the block as I ran out of the house with my computer, hard drive, and cash in my arms and she yelled back "SHUT THE DOOR!"
We ran up the street between hysterical people, in the pitch black, yelling to each other to make sure we were close. I finally stopped after a couple blocks to put my things in my backpack since people take advantage of situations like these to rob people on the streets. Hands free, I was better prepared to run. We ran and ran and ran halfway across the city until we thought we were finally safe. We passed people with radios and learned that it was a magnitude 8.3 earthquake and there was a tsunami warning. People were camping out on the sand dunes and in their cars in the safe zone of the city. Paula and I found a well-lit park, free of dangerous dangling objects above our heads and camped out for a couple hours. That's when we realized how unprepared we were. We were freezing, hungry, thirsty, and tired, without blankets or extra clothes, food, water, or a place to sleep.
Eventually we walked to a friend's house and they were nice enough to take us in, give us food, water, blankets, and a place to sleep...or try to sleep. All night there were large replicas/aftershocks which made it hard to feel rested in the morning.
Needless to say, school was cancelled the next day...and after a 7.6 replica/aftershock the next night, the next 3 weeks we had Earthquake Vacations!
Iquique and Alto Hospicio had some damage, but nothing as bad as the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Concepcion. The big question on everyone's mind is...was that it...or just the beginning???
In school we talked all about April Fool's Day - what it meant to play a prank on someone, how it started, and what would be some funny pranks to pull on our friends and family. The kids stole and hid my things, tried sticking post-its on my back, and left school giggling about all the pranks they were able to pull on Miss Kelly. It's days like that which make me love going to school, teaching kids, and being a part of a wonderful classroom community. But surely that night, the smiles disappeared and all the jokes were forgotten...they were for me at least.
I got home from practice feeling great after such a good day at school and a nice easy run in preparation for the marathon. It was 8:30pm...an unheard of time for me to be home on a Tuesday night. I sat down in the kitchen talking to my roommate Paula as she cooked dinner, telling her about my great day at school, how pumped I was for the marathon, and the delicious dinner I was going to have with my friend that right after I showered. Just as I stood up to get my things, it started. "Paula...parece que esta temblando, cierto?" All of a sudden, the whole house was shaking like were were in a Polly Pocket. Paula walked over to my room as I squatted down to keep my balance. "TENEMOS QUE IRNOS AHORA!" She yelled to me as she tied her shoes and the lights cut out. "ESPERA! TIENES QUE ESPERAR HASTA QUE SE PARE EL MOVIMIENTO!" I replied as I frantically looked around my room for what to salvage in case a tsunami came. The movement finally stopped and Paula was already halfway down the block as I ran out of the house with my computer, hard drive, and cash in my arms and she yelled back "SHUT THE DOOR!"
We ran up the street between hysterical people, in the pitch black, yelling to each other to make sure we were close. I finally stopped after a couple blocks to put my things in my backpack since people take advantage of situations like these to rob people on the streets. Hands free, I was better prepared to run. We ran and ran and ran halfway across the city until we thought we were finally safe. We passed people with radios and learned that it was a magnitude 8.3 earthquake and there was a tsunami warning. People were camping out on the sand dunes and in their cars in the safe zone of the city. Paula and I found a well-lit park, free of dangerous dangling objects above our heads and camped out for a couple hours. That's when we realized how unprepared we were. We were freezing, hungry, thirsty, and tired, without blankets or extra clothes, food, water, or a place to sleep.
Eventually we walked to a friend's house and they were nice enough to take us in, give us food, water, blankets, and a place to sleep...or try to sleep. All night there were large replicas/aftershocks which made it hard to feel rested in the morning.
Needless to say, school was cancelled the next day...and after a 7.6 replica/aftershock the next night, the next 3 weeks we had Earthquake Vacations!
Iquique and Alto Hospicio had some damage, but nothing as bad as the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Concepcion. The big question on everyone's mind is...was that it...or just the beginning???
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