A weekend adventure

My time in Chile is going well!  I am meeting more and more people and enjoying my adventures.  Last week there were only a few classes because it was Semana Mechona (a tradition unique to Chile), which is a  week of initiation for first year students.  There are big parties on the campus each night and very odd activities during the day.  One such activity is getting covered in dead fish... sounds like so much fun! I didn't have any class on Friday, so I decided it was a great time to head to San Pedro de Atacama.  I have been told by a lot of people that I needed to go, and plus it is only 5 hours north of Antofagasta by bus.  I asked several friends if they could come with me, but everyone had something going, so I decided to make the adventure on my own.  On Thursday, I was talking with a Chilean classmate about my trip, and he asked if he could come with me, so bright and early Friday morning Harold and I caught the bus to San Pedro.  San Pedro de Atacama is the tourist attraction of the Atacama desert.  It is a small town centered around tourism with endless hostels, hotels, souvenir shops, and restaurants.  It was nice having a native Chilean with me to help find a reasonably priced hostel and tour package.  A tour is basically the only way to see the majority of the attractions.  Friday afternoon was our first to Valle de la Muerte and Valle de la Luna... True desert!!!  Saturday was an all-day tour to different lagoons.  It was definitely my favorite day (plus lunch was included :) )!  We did a lot of driving in the bus and saw a lot of the desert.  The Andes are gorgeous!  The tour left at 4 a.m. on Sunday.  Thankfully, the German girls staying in my room with me were very understanding and weren't bothered by my alarm going off at 3:30.  I was warned that this was going to be a very cold tour, but my thought was that I was a Montana girl, and I'd be just fine!  After driving for 1 1/2 hours up a very windy and narrow dirt road, we stopped to use the bathroom.  The minute I stepped off the bus I realized I didn't have enough clothes with me, so I dug through my backpack and put on every article of clothing that I had brought to San Pedro.  I was still freezing during the tour, but not as cold as the Chileans.  Harold told me that he has never been that cold in his life... It was probably about 20 degrees fahrenheit, not THAT cold!  I enjoyed the geysers, but I must say that there was nothing quite as impressive as Old Faithful.  We got back to San Pedro at about noon and our bus didn't leave until 6 p.m., so I did a lot of walking around the town.  It was a wonderful weekend!

In other news... I have an actual class schedule!!!  Whoohoo!  That is assuming that none of the class times change and interfere with another class I am taking (this seems to happen a lot).  The Chilean students have a set schedule each semester depending on their major, with the same students in every class.  Therefore, changes in class times and days don't cause problems with their schedules because the changes are checked to make sure they don't interfere with other classes in the schedule.  That is why I am having so many problems getting my schedule set up.  I also think that I might actually be getting registered for my classes this week!  I registered for my fall classes at UW two weeks ago, and I am still not registered for my current classes in Chile.  A great example of the laid-back culture here!

That's about it for now :)