The North

We are currently travling through the northern half of Chile: La Serena, Bahia Inglesa, Antofagasta, Calama, San Pedro de Atacama(current location) soon Iquique and Arica. Right now, we are in the middle of the Atacama Desert, which most sources claim is the most arid piece of land on Earth. There are places here that have, since people have been keeping track, had no recorded rainfall. None. It is stunningly barren. We will have pictures when we get home. This morning before dawn, we were up at 14,000 feet on the El Tatio Geothermal field. It was about 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit(according to a Chicagoan, not me). Now, we are at 7,000 and it is about 75 degees. Both places, obviously, are quite dry.

Brasil!

About two weeks ago I went to Brasil for the annual Southern Cone conference to meet with the others fellows from Brasil, Uruguay, Argentina and of course Chile. The main goal of the conference was networking which confused me at first, but I quickly realized upon arriving in Brasil meant just a week long vacation. The trip lasted six days. We flew into Sao Paulo and spent two nights in the big city. It is the biggest city in South America with a population that tops Chile as a whole. It was refreshing to be in a big city again brimming with people and culture. We arrived at our hotel during the end of the annual gay pride parade which turned out to be the largest gay pride parade in the world. The streets were mobbed with people I imagine not unlike Carnaval. I kept my camera under wraps not wanting to be robbed, but I did manage to snap a picture of the disgruntled police attempting to keep everything under control:


After wadding our way through the crowds, we were able to find an excellent Lebanese restaurant where we realized that Portuguese is not as close to Spanish as we all imagined. Fortunately, there were no dearth of English speakers to help us order. Two of them even invited us out to a Samba club playing live music. It was amazing: the music, the dancing, the atmosphere. After living with Chileans for so long who are generally very shy and reserved, it was incredibly gratifying to walk out of that Samba club with 10 new best friends. A new friend below!

After Sao Paulo, we were brought to the coast: Barra do Sahy. The beach resort was incredibly beautiful:We took a boat ride to one of the nearby islands to sun on the beach.


And went to a nearby club at night to learn Capoeira. Capoeira is a traditional Afro-Brazilian dance/martial arts/music originating from the era of slavery. In times of slavery, Capoeira was a way the slaves could train to rebel without arising the suspicions of their masters. The dance appears as a battle between two people with kicking, leg sweeps and sometimes even machetes.


Had an excellent time all around and met some really fun people. Below is a picture of some of the other fellows. I have another week and a half before the end of the semester now before Lucas and I head north for our three week adventure in and around the Atacama.