Wednesday, January 23, 2008

On our way to Bahia Inglesa!

We´re doing great and have left San Pedro de Atacama. We're currently on a layover and are on our way to Bahia Inglesa which is described as "beach nirvana". Still short on Internet time, but here are a few selected photos from the last few days!

Chile 001
Here we are in our beach clothes in 0 degree Weather! Actually, this is after the sun came up, so we were much warmer here.

Chile 002
Here is a shot of the mountain where we saw the geysers. Those are flamingos!

Chile 003
This is my feet as we are about to cross the Bolivian border. I didn´t sign up for snow!

Chile 004
Dan and I in the snow. SNOW? Seriously though... I didn´t sign up for snow.

Chile 005
This is a shot of the Bolivian customs building, which was more of a shack. To get here, we turned off of a nicely paved highway in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. I don´t even think we were on a road. We just drove off road for a while then got to this shack. (They did have two little gates, also in the middle of nowhere, as if that might prevent people from crossing or something). We actually had some trouble crossing. They said Americans had to get visas in advance, even though our tour booking guy specifically said we didn´t. Everyone else on our tour left and we were sitting there at this shack in the middle of nowhere, waiting for the Bolivian "boss" who was going to come sort it out. He actually did show up, and got us temporary visas. I have to imagine the tour company decided it was easier to have their guy bribe the officials rather than force American tourists to buy the expensive and time consuming visa. It would have been nice to let us know though!

Chile 006
The three of us in Bolivia in front of La Laguna Blanco

Chile 007
We drove around in Bolivia in these trucks for HOURS and HOURS and HOURS over virtually no roads. We all had serious headaches and car sickness by the end of the day. We also were in a BLIZZARD by the end and were concerned that we wouldn´t make it back at all. I certainly did not sign up for a blizzard.

Chile 008
Dan and Jess in natural hot springs in the middle of the Mountains! The hot springs were about 100 degrees here!

Chile 009
This photo doesn´t do this place even a little bit of justice, but it is a huge bright PINK lake with THOUSANDS of pink flamingos in the middle of gorgeous mountains. It was just really really beautiful, fertile land. Amazing stuff. And if you´re wondering how flamingo kebabs taste, they´re delicious.


1 comment:

Jon Schneider said...

Thanks for posting the photos, it looks like you're seeing some really cool stuff!

> We also were in a BLIZZARD

Bummer. It's been an unseasonable 60 degrees and sunny back here in Michigan. I'm probably going to go out rollerblading later.

...Ok, just kidding. We're in our third straight day of single-digit temperatures and scattered public school closings and slushy roads here. So you aren't missing anything exciting back home. :-)

> I have to imagine the tour company decided it was easier to have their guy bribe the officials rather than force American tourists to buy the expensive and time consuming visa.

At least they have a well-defined process! :-)