Where to beginn...

it's been a busy, great and crazy time. 

About 2 weeks ago, I decided it is time to plan the next vacation :D But where to go? I thought it would be a pretty good idea to go visit the girls in Uruguay. After a bit talking, everything was planned and Stefan decided to come too, so I booked the flights with vacation in sight, work didn't really go easier but kind of faster.

The weekend before the journey then we had a big intercambio party with the Motto, wear your Pijama. So the girls and I went to get some Party PJ's. Before the party we had a Pre Party at Amanda's place which was pretty cool, a lot of people already showed up there in their PJ's and we had a lot of fun. Around midnight we arrived at the club then, after it was an intercambio party, we had free entrance, but it was still not that easy to come in for some of us after the security wanted to see ID's. Inside then we had to see that even it was a Pijama Party almost none of the chileans were wearing one, kind of boring, but that didn't matter, we were in a good mood and dancing all night. Some of us even won in the contest. When we left we had an interesting collectivo ride home again, after we were more people then allowed in a car again because Amanda had lost her key once more and stayed over in our place for that night, but that's really no problem over here you just pay the driver a bit more.

The following day, I met up with Franzi and Lucie to watch Germany's next Topmodel, I didn't have any idea about it so, after it was the first show of that season I watched, but at the same time one of the final ones. Was fun so. Afterwards we went over to the apartment of the spanish guys for a semáforo party, for everybody who doesn't know what that is, semáforo is a traffic light and it means everybody coming to the party needs to wear a shirt or a sticker of the color they belong to, red for in a relationship, yellow for in between and green for being single. Great party with a lot of nice people. 

A few  more days of hard work for university and the trip to Montevideo started. Tuesday night we went to Santiago and visit Britta, because we stayed at her place over night, was a short night so, after we talked a lot and had to get up around 5 again. At the airport it all went pretty quick, although it was weird to see some people wearing masks, because just 2 days before Chile got the first case of the flu. In Montevideo they then even had 2 doctors with a camera observing all the people landing at the airport. We left the airport and were suprised that it was so quiet and not like in Santiago where you are welcomed by a flood of Taxi drivers who kind of fight for your attention. Annika had given me directions to her appartment, so we took the next bus we saw and drove into the City. The suburbs looked a lot like the Santiago area, but coming downtown, the City seemed not that big considering Buenos Aires or Santiago.

About 45 minutes later we arrived at Annis place and were welcomed by her landlord, because she was still in class. We had a nice talk with him, who had a lot to tell about the world. He is british and living in South America for about 2 years now, one day he just came saw the one house he liked and bought it, started fixing it up and has students living in it now. It is so nice, high walls, big doors, some rooms even seem like you are in a castle. After listening to the story of his whole life and all the places he had already lived at Anni and Maren came, yeah :) Everything kind of fell back into place and was like we never left Germany. 

First thing we went out to eat, I forgot the name, but it was some kind of very typical burger for Uruguay with likly everything you could think of, bacon, eggs, potato salad... We also got first impressions of the downtown area and took pictures of the bears of the world which were just visiting :) The next days really run through like nothing, we went shopping and to parties, I finally got to cook again and on Saturday Stephi and Bene came. It was just soo great to have this little IM Reunion. We went through the City had some coffee, talked about good old times and just enjoyed the time together. Sunday night then we went to have a steak and it was really so good. Bene  got a new mission now in finding a better one in Argentina :D Monday our already last day, was a bit full of work Anni and Maren had to do research for a group work and I had to write a paper, but nevertheless we had a great time.

Around midnight or 1 in the morning then, we decided now it's time to have some choclate to stay awake, but we didn't have any anymore, so Anni and I decided we need to go and get some :D Montevideo has those little night kiosks. We were actually suprised how many people we still met outside by that time, busses were going and the some security guards were taking night pictures with the bears :D At the little shop then we met a nice guy from Mexico and bought some Milka. It's so weird, because at nights those shops have their fences and stuff down and you have to talk through it with the people inside to tell them what you want, then they are showing it to you and you say yes or no and pay :D I jsut love 24 hours shops. After having that snack I worked through till 5 and slept 2 1/2 hours before we had to get up and leave. That's also why my story today is kind of short and with not that many details, I am kind of tired and still have a lot of work to do, but thought it would be nice to give you guys at least a little update on our time here ;)

The flight back was pretty relaxed then, so nice views on the Andes and then being back in Santiago, where it took us a while to enter again, after the people checking your papers leaving and coming back have different impressions of what you need to give in or not, so we were missing a paper, because they took it from us when we left... but all is fine again, we are back :D back in the crazy world of chilean life. 

I will add some off Annis pics to my story, after my camera still needs to be fixed (the people at the Nikon store said it will take 3 month if they send it in... so I will try another place in the City)

Have fun and enjoy life, I will be talking to you soon

Atacama!!!

HalliHallo,

we are back from our roadtrip in the desert :D It was really amazing.

As soon as class was over last thursday, Jono picked us up at our place with a rental car, a Kia --> turned out to be a pretty good one. Thomas, who was supposed to come too, sadly could't make it after he had to finish an assignment for his university. So we drove off to meet the others in the city and then all drive together north with 2 cars, the first group already left a couple hours earlier.

Right around 6pm we started on our way through rush hour in Vina, which was not the easiest thing, both cars driven by Australiens who are used to the left side of the road :D, but it worked out just fine, only once we hit our mirror on a dumpster, when a bus came across our ways. All in all we were actually pretty happy about just being 4 people in the car now and have a bit more space, Jono had packed a lot of great cd's and Amanda had bought snacks, so we were all set :)

Soon it started to get dark, so we could't see much of the surroundings anymore and I fell asleep shortly, after we had the deal that the back seats sleep to be fit for driving later on and the front is driving and navigating. We just made some quick stops at gas stations and Jono just went on driving like crazy, he really enjoyed the ride. Only once we went of the wrong road, but came back on track after only a few minutes and once we lost the car up front, after all cars look so similar at nights, but we took a roundabout and came out right behind them again :D

Around 3 or 4 in the morning I took over driving then and had I would say one of the nicest parts, the way through the desert towards Antofagasta. You are really out in Nowhere. I was really happy at some points so, that Chris was driving in front of me, because while going through the mountains it got really really foggy, some parts I almost couldn't see his back lights although I was kind of right behind their car. Around 6.30 then it got light out and the sun started to rise over the desert, it was so beautiful, the others started to wake up and life came back into the ride. Then about 60 km before Antofagasta the light for the gas turned on and we just hoped we will do it. There was really no gasstation out there on the whole way, at least not since I had been driving. We somehow did it so and now we also were already very close to our goal San Pedro de Atacama. The last bit was really great too, espeacially the last few km into the "City", if you will call it like this. It's more like a little touristy town out in the middle of nowhere in the desert. Arriving there, we met up with the guys from the first car, which had arrived half an hour before us. They had already found us a hostel " Casa de sol naciente " . We had 2 eight bed rooms and were 6 people in each of them. The first thing then after our very fast 16 hour drive, it's really so nice up the Panamerica, without any speedcontrols, we booked a tour for the afternoon and went to get some lunch.

At 3 pm then, we all went out to the Lagunas, those were very little and deep, lets say kind of like ponds with sharp edges and water with a high percentage of salt. First thing we learnd was how to enter the right ways, so nobody would get hurt, you kind of need to walk in a bit and stand right at the sharp edge before it gets deep, close your eyes and mouth and go for it, with no splashing if possible. If you get this water in eyes or mouth it burns terribly and you need to clean it with fresh water immediately. We were just floating around for a while, after you can't sink in there and enjoyed the time. Afterwards we went to another pond, but only a few people jumped in there, because it was a bit chilly out by that time. After putting on some warmer clothes, we went a bit further to see the sun set, which was amazing you are like on a salty lake like walking as far as possible and have the mountains behind it in the setting sun, reflecting in the salt. We took pictures and had some Pisco Sour and cookies, a great end to that day. Arriving back at the hostel, we took a fast and hot shower, which was really needed after feeling so cold and to get all the salt of you. Then we went to get some Pizza, which was sooo delicious, one of the bests ever and went to bed, we had a log day ahead of us.

Saturday morning, we woke up at 3.30am, without any light, because the energy is getting turned of for 7 hours over night in the whole city. Was really interesting to get dressed and brush your teeth in cell phone light, especially after we were supposed to wear as much as possible, to not feel cold, the hardest part is to figure out if a shirt is the right way around or not. At 4 am a bus picked us up and we drove to the Parque de geysers. It was really nice being out there so early and see the sun rise over the mountains so close to the geysers. Afterwards we went on driving up a bit more and going to natural hot springs, where you can bath in, but only 3 of the guys really went for a swim after the water was not that hot yet so early in the morning and most people were just not that eager to come out later in the very very cold outside. From there on we drove further through the National Park and stopped for breakfast at a little village like area, with about, I don't know, lets say not more 8 houses, where you could try Lama empenadas and meat from the grill. Around lunch time we arrived back at the hostel and went in the town to do some shopping and ate some ice cream. :D

In the afternoon we took another tour to get to know the area a bit more. We went to viewout points, to Valley de la muerte and Valley de la luna (don't think so I would know how to write those things, just a wild guess ;) ) In the first valley, we walked along some dunes and some of the guys went crazy running them up and then down again, which was really not easy. Stefan and Hendrik even made it up top. In the valley de la luna then we went through some caves, lot of fun and then up the stone desert to see the sunset and have a great few over the valley, which is supposed to look like the moon. Up to this point I will also show you pictures, later on it's sorrowfully not possible, after I don't have the possibility at the moment to get pictures from my phone on my laptop and my camera kind of ate some sand while being in the cave and has to get cleaned first before I can use it again :( The moon valley was really impressiv so, I can tell you. That evening we went to a a bit nicer place to eat. First of all it was Happy Hour so we got 2 cocktails for 4000 peso, so about 5 euros and then I ate the menu of the day, which was a nice soup, some kind of fish with veggie, I never had before. Then I had chicken with rice and afterwards dessert, Crème brûlée, yummy and this all the food and the cocktail for 8500, so about maybe 10 or 11 euros, which I think was okay. After the late dinner I went straight to bed and slept through till 8.30 am :D

Sunday we went out to the rocky desert not too far behind the hostel and just walked/ hiked through out it and a lot of caves, which was great fun, at least until the point, were Jono decided to get crazy and climb up this one mountain. All around it was not really rocks it was more like build up dirt, which got hard and dry over the times, so if you would climb, it is like losing up and just breaking apart, but somehow he just climb further and further and wanted to be up top, a few times it was as if he would fall any second. Of course so, typically guys, after Stefan saw him, he needed to do the same and started climbing the other side.... I can just say now it might sound like a little thing and girls worring about things which they shouldn't at all, but imagine, being out somewhere in the desert, no cell phone service, nobody around, you don't really know where you are anyhow and the two guys which are with you climbing up pretty high and you just see them sliding of all the time because they can't really hold themselves and the dirt already breaks down and you already see them fall any second, Amanda and me really weren't worried without reason. I will put you one of Jonos pics from up top in here. Anyways after his camera case was already fallen down and Stefan decided that there is no way to go on, they tried to come down again, which was even harder then going up, more and more rocks and dirt came down, but finally after a lot of sliding and trying to hold onto stuff they made it down. After this exciting start in the day, we had some Pizza and went out in the dunes again, where the others tried out sand boarding, which out of known reasons, is a bit to dangerous for me... :( But I took Jono's cam and took some pics :)

try to find me on there!!!

Monday then we decided to drive to the Flamingo park which according to the map is close to the argentinean border, but in Chile... if that's really true we don't really know so... We drove out of the City and really through the most beautiful country side ever, at least for dry areas like this. While driving we already thought we got bad fuel or something, because, we couldn't go fast at all, also the street seemed to go just straight, but as we had to see later, it actually went up, you just don't really feel it, but suddenly we were above 4000 meters and even more sudden we passed a Bienvenida Argentina sign... So that means we had the greatest drive ever, didn't find the Flamingo Park and were in Argentina... We took some pictures and decided to turn around before going down the street, because there would have been the border control and after most of us didn't have an ID with them and Maria wasn't allowed to enter Argentina without Visa anyways, we thought it would be the best to turn around. On the way back then we kind of decided to leave for Vina already in the evening instead of the morning to drive nights. So we wanted to go for Pizza for one last time, but had to see that the place was closed :( So we went somewhere else. Afterwards we were one last time at the Feria for some shopping. We all got one of those fancy pants, which nobody really wears, but which just seem fun to have ( we all put them on for the ride later on :D ) and I got myself a poncho, so cool and really nice and warm for cold study days back in Vina. When we came back to the hostel, we had to realize that none of us had a phone with them in the City and apparently the others didn't have a key for the room, so the guy from the hostel, had to open the door with a knife. ( kind of scary so, if you think, that your door can just be opened by the use of a knife ). So we packed our car, got gas for one more time and left the city by 7.30pm. It was a pretty go drive. In the desert right outside of Antofagasta, we stopped this time to see the giant hand, it's a hand in the middle of the sand, we just got out of the car, which lighted the hand with the lights and run to high 5 it :D. I tried to take pics, but my cell doesn't have a flash and Amandas and Jonos camera were out of battery :( Anyways the rest of the drive went pretty relaxed, we made one longer stop in La Serena for breakfast, where we had to realize that people over here don't eat out for breakfast and if you find something open that early ( about 8 am ) then they will offer burger and hot dogs. We just went into the one place then and asked if they have toast, so they gave us some toast and jelly, which was fine :) For La Serena it was not that far to "home" anymore and the way, seen by day was really nice along the ocean. We arrived back around 1 pm, but it took us about half an hour to get Amanda home to her place and we almost thought we would get pulled over by the police, so close before really finishing the trip, but I guess they had better to do then stopping us for running a red light... lucky for us :D

All in all I have to say it was really a fantastic long weekend and I just hope you had as much fun doing whatever you did as we had up North.

PS: if you think with being back the excitement was over, wrong... we wanted to take out the car one more time as long as we had it in the evening, to go to the movies... we had to see it had a flat tire, so happy that didn't happen out in the desert :D After the guys changed it, the movie was good.