Chile!!

First, let me just say that it is so odd to be in 80/90 degree weather when it is the middle of February. But great, nonetheless.

Chile thusfar has been amazing. After a 9 hour busride from Puno we arrived in the beach city of Arica on the Pacific Coast. We had a great time there and almost contemplated staying, but couldn´t because we already had reservations in the next city. We spent pretty much all day Monday and Tuesday hanging out on the beach and on Wednesday we took a 3 hour surf lesson. I had tried surfing in Costa Rica last summer but pretty much forgot everything I learned so I was starting from scratch. It´s really frustrating and tiring at the beginning (definitely not as easy as it looks!) but once you get the hang of it you don´t want to stop. The only bad part was the plague of jellyfish ("medusas") which has hit Arica. I´m kind of freaked out by sea creatures in general, but I got over it after a little bit and luckily didn´t get stung.

Wednesday night we took a pretty horrific 12.5 hour non-airconditioned bus ride with really uncomfortable seats from Arica to San Pedro de Atacama, which is smack in the middle of the Chilean desert. Yesterday we explored the town and then celebrated Liz`s birthday at night. After dinner we were walking around and ran into a bunch of Chilean and Argentine guys with a nice telescope who let us look at the moon stars. It was pretty incredible, especially because the night is so clear out in the desert. We ended up hanging out with them for a while and talking about politics (a topic which never ceases to intrigue most Latin Americans I´ve met nor prove how much I need to work on my Spanish).

In a few hours we´re doing a desert "tour" which includes sandboarding (like snow boarding but on huge sand dunes), a cave exploration and viewing the sunset in the desert. Should be pretty awesome (assuming we don´t consume too much sand while boarding).

Well that´s it for now, I need to go hydrate and find something to wear that will protect me from the hundreds of spills I am inevitably about to take.

Besos!!