El Viaje Espectacular: Part III

For those of you aching to hear about the remainder of our trip to San Pedro...After four days in the desert we were about as happy as these guys:

We spent the remainder of our trip, getting up at 4:00 a.m., driving two hours over bumpy roads, and visiting one of the coolest places on earth. The Geysers del Tatio are created geothermically, by magma (it's lava when it's above ground--Yay science!) heating water to the point of boiling. At sunrise every day, the changing temperature causes the boiling water to erupt out of hundreds of little mini-craters. The highest geyser only reaches about 9 or 10 feet, but the combined effect is pretty awesome (much like Kevin and Geordie's 80's outfits). Still, tons of boiling water does nothing to change the fact that the Andes at 15,000 feet at 6:00 a.m. in the morning is one of the coldest places on earth. After about five minutes, neither of us could feel our feet, which led to this situation:

The geysers started erupting around sunrise, and afterwards we got to head over to a thermal pool and have a sit. We took off our down jackets, hats, long underwear, three shirts, pants, socks, and shoes until we were wearing nothing but bathing suits. The air was still pretty chilly, but if you tried hard, you could find a spot in the pool perfectly in between freezing cold and boiling hot. Afterwards it was back in the van for a three hour drive across the country side. Our guide pointed out a couple flamingos, which apparently fall asleep every night with one leg in the air so they can use it to free themselves in the morning when the lake they stand in freezes solid. He also showed us this bizarre breed of radioactive bunny rabbit with toxic-waste-color neon green fur. If it had shot laser beams out of its eyes, nobody would have been surprised. The only other stop we made was at this tiny little Atacamanian village, that has a population of 4 (seriously, not an exaggeration) and exists solely so that its inhabitants can sell barbequed llama meat and trips to the bathroom to people on our specific tour. We tried both, and each was satisfactory in its own way.

That pretty much brings us back to Santiago, where we arrived 10 days ago. Between now and then we have:

1. Visited the MIM in Santiago. It was an interactive, hands-on museum that featured a bubble room (including a way to put yourself in a bubble); various science-y type experiments involving light, weight, water, movement, senses, etc; the worst 3-D movie I've ever seen; and approximately 1200 Chileno schoolkids running around like they were doped up on speed. To find out more, go here: www.mim.cl.

2. Welcomed 3 brand new TEFL-ers to Santiago. Meeting them made us feel like expert ex-pats, and gave us a serious confidence boost in our now-decent Spanish abilities and our knowledge of this weird city. We also met 3 or 4 currently employed English teachers, which is nice, because up until now we've only been talking to students (and they sometimes make us feel very old and decrepit because we can no longer stay out until 5:30am partying).

3. Started our TEFL class! And had our first practice teaching session with real, live Chilean students! It went horribly! It was like a train wreck, but we're not worried, because our teacher says we will improve! Going to class full time like this, by the way, is just like being thrown back into high school, except that there are only 4 students and we're allowed to talk about porn and swear in front of our teacher.

4. Bought a cell phone. This is confusing enough to do in your own country. Never attempt it in another language.

5. Discovered Google Talk. It's like Skype, for those of you who know what that is, except through the all-powerful Google engine. All you need to do to talk to us for free is get a microphone for your computer, download Google Talk, and call us! It's ridiculous--you can even leave voice messages that go to your email inbox. The sound is decent as well. From now on we'll be leaving international calling cards to suckers.

That about wraps it up. Now that we are beginning to have normal lives (aka: not sitting around on our asses all day), we will not, unfortunately, be able to bombard you with the tiniest, most trivial details of our lives. Let's face it: we both win. But for those of you who check our blog five times during work in the hopes of being the first to read the newest exciting and entertaining blog entry (you know exactly who you are), I'll give you a moment to fill that little hole inside of you with something... ... ... maybe that half-eaten candy bar you have laying next to your computer. That should do it. So from now on, the blog entries will be more infrequent but more action-packed.