Merry Christmas! (San Pedro de Atacama, Chile)

Ok, first off, Merry Christmas!

I haven't written in a while, due to lack of time and internet access, and I've been on the move. Since I last wrote, I've effectively gone through Bolivia, from the north to the south. I took a 12 hour bus ride from Cuzco to Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. I spent 3 days in Copacabana, including a night on the Isla del Sol in the center of the lake, and then head off to La Paz, 3 hours away. After a hectic 2 days in La Paz, I headed down on a 13 hour overnight public bus through the freezing altiplano to Uyuni, arriving at 8 in the morning and setting off on a 3 day jeep tour of the flamingo infested salt flats of Salar de Uyuni, before arriving across the border in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. I was rushing to get to Santiago for christmas, but the bus schedules were too squeezed, and I decided to spent the day with my friends that I've accumulated along the way.

And boy have I accumulated. I left Cuzco with a plan to go to San Pedro with Pauline(Scottish) who I met in Arequipa, and almost convinced to go to the jungle. Before we left, we bought a bus ticket with Rachael(Germany), and considered meeting up with her later. We crossed the Peru/Bolivia border with Lior(Israel) and Jose Luis(Born in La Paz, Lived in Buenos Aires). We began traveling with them and met up with Rachael and Kathleen(Canada) who she had met on the bus. All together we set off for La Paz, but not before spending Pauline's birthday with 3 english guys that we kept seeing along the way. In La Paz, we met, randomly, Amanda(Detroit), who I've bumped into 5 times going all the way back to Huacachina. Through in Illian(Israel), Lior's friend, and Alice(Australia), who I met back in Arequipa at the same salsoteca as Pauline,we left for Salar de Uyuni a massive party of 9 (2 boys, 7 girls). International too! Somehow I ended up doing a lot of organizing, guiding, and problem solving for the group, but thats ok. I started the salt tour feeling that I would never travel in a group again, but I found that I became good friends with these people over the next 3 bumpy and rustic days.

So... What did we do? In Copacabana, I spent my time playing with a Colombian guitarist named Jose who showed me that you CAN play a whole salsa rythem on a solo acoustic guitar. Jose Luis turned out to be a great friend of mine, I taught him english, he taught me spanish, we did all sorts of hikes and had long philosophical talks, and in general were just good buddies. We busted our butts looking for a birthday cake for Pauline all over the small town of Copacabana for several hours, eventually buying a plain cake, a packet of dulce de leche, and some chocolate covered peanuts. We made a smiley face and suprised her with the cake at dinner, and she loved it! She was thinking of not celebrating her birthday, but we made it special. I think we felt the good karma on that one.

As we were entering La Paz, I realized that this was a very different city. Sprawling up out of the canyon, the city was a sight to behold with the big city center in the basin of the valley. The next 2 days were spent arranging a tour for Uyuni, and exploring the myriad of markets over La Paz. I meandered through a food market spilling over with the largest watermelons I've ever seen, got lost in a Black Market full on knock off clothes, electornics, and well, everything, that sprawls over 6 city blocks, and checked out the witches market where I perused such goods as magical cures, special offerings, and dried llama fetuses. I visited the Coca museum where I found a new found respect for the plant and understanding of the war against cocaine and is effects on Bolivia. I also visited the folkloric musical instruments museum where I had a field day and decided I want to learn every string instrument, EVER. I'm already ok at Charango, a small 5 double stringed guitar. Bought one, a really nice one, for $80, professional quality. But it was too nice. I felt the burden of having to take care of it, something I don't do so well while traveling, so I returned it. It felt like cheating on my guitar anyway. I might pick one up before I come home, but traveling is just too much.

The bus ride to Uyuni wasn't actually all that bad, we played music in the bus, and drove all the Bolivians insane. I stayed up all night playing music and talking with Kathleen from Canada (She had bought a Charango). The sun rose to find us in one of the dryest and most barren place on earth. But absolutely awe inspiring in its stark beauty.

The Salar de Uyuni tour is the only thing I actually wanted to do on this trip before I left. I saw this picture in the lonely planet of the thin layer of water reflecting the sky, making it look like people were walking through the clouds, and I was like 'Wow, I want to see that'. Thats the only thing so far that has evoked that response and it did not disappoint. It was absolutely surreal, like living in the clouds, and I hope to post my friends pictures soon as soon as I get that together. In one moment, I couldn't control myself and had to run off into the endless horizon, feeling like I was flying while soaking myself in SALTY water, my shoes are still white.

That night, we stayed in a hotel made entirely of salt blocks, we even slept on salt. It sounds touristy, but it was magical, and we had a camp fire where Amanda showed off her fire dancing skills and I got some good guitar playing in. I just gotta say that it was a truly special night.

The next day was 7 hours back in our BUMPY jeep, I still feel like I'm rocking from it 5 days later. We stopped at lakes on our way to the Chile border. The high altitude salt lakes were like a combination of Sierra Nevadas and Tropical beach because they were strangely filled with Pink flamingos. The highest lake, where we stayed the night was around 5000m, and COLD! I fully utilized every piece of clothing I had, and now have confidence that I brought enough clothes.

The final day found us waking up at 4am and driving to a series of gysers, not water, but gas. A massive outgassing of the earth that left me speechless, if not recoiling from the heavy sulfur smell. We spent breakfast by a natural hotspring which was warmly recieved by my Mare-In County hot tubber bones. We were then rushed across the border by a very rude bus driver and suddenly in the middle of the Atacama Desert in Chile. We were immeadiately aware that we were in a different country due to the...paved roads! How wierd it felt after 5 days of flying up in down in our jeeps and buses. Also everything costs at least twice as much. This was a sad and sobering fact that turned a bunch of people off immeadiately.

The last 3 days have been spent in the company of my new found friends, but all must come to an end as I head off to Santiago tomorrow, to meet with some Ihouse friends in their home city.

Whew... I can't type anymore at the moment, fatigue has taken its toll, but suffice to say, the past week has been an intense whirlwind of experience that I won't forget. :)

Feliz Navidad to all!
Jesse