Our Trip Waaaaaay Up North

Howdy and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! We hope that this new year 2007 is one full of blessings! It has been a while since our last post, so I will try to catch yall up on what has been going on. Christmas was great, we had breakfast with the Dean family: biscuts and gravy, eggs, cinnamon rolls...mmm! Later in the afternoon we gathered with the whole team for hamburgers. It was a great summer Christmas day!

Later that week John and I left on a trip to see the north of Chile. We are talking far up north...about 1600 kilometers away (about 990 miles). Our final destination was San Pedro de Atacama in the Atacaman Desert. There, we saw the salt flats, lagoons, and geysers. The city of San Pedro is in a valley in the desert, very close to Volcano Licanbur, towering at 19,000+ feet.
Volcano Licanbur and the church in San Pedro de Atacama

In the valley are the salt flats and lagoons, home to many different types of birds, including pink flamingos. We couldn't get too close to the pink flamingos, but they are in the picture below. This water makes up the lagoons, it is full of krill, tiny sea animals. Me standing along the path of the salt flats.

The geysers were about 70 kilometers (45 miles) away, but are at the altitude of around 14,000 feet. It was so cold! The geysers are the most active between 7-9am, so we were there very early along with many other turists. It was so beautiful and interesting! John is standing next to a geyser shooting out boiling hot water (185 F). He kept a "safe distance."

We also went to "Valle de la luna" (Valley of the Moon) in one of the national parks. It is a large valley where turists go to watch the sun set. There are beautiful colors and rock formations as well as the largest sand dunes I have ever seen! We climbed up the very large sand dune to get to the lookout point to see the sun set.

Can't have the Valley of the Moon with out a picture of the moon!

Interesting sights on the way...the Hand of the Desert, sculpted in 1992 by Mario Irarrazabal. There is just this large hand sticking out of the sand.

This is just north of the city of Antofagasta. It's called "La Portada." It is a beautiful natural monument from erosion.


Lots and lots of llamas...some were eating...

And some were having some sort of meeting...

We had a fun and educational trip! It was a great time to recharge for the work ahead for the next four months! Thanks so much for reading! Have a great week!!

much love, Amanda