chilling at the center of the earth

Hola from Quito.

First, a few quick notes about the desert --

The highlight was a stargazing tour. Due to the location of the zodiac light or something like that, the Atacama desert has one of the cleanest skies in the world. It was amazing...you could see absolutely everything. It was weird seeing the different constallations in the southern hemisphere. My friend Vik asked where the northern star was. It was hilarious. We even got to get a close-up on Jupiter and a few crazy colored stars with the telescopes. There was this really hilarious french man giving the tour in spanish, while most of the people on the tour were portuguese speakers from Brazil...so it was a linguistic experience. I met a lot of brazilians in San Pedro de Atacama. It´s really funny how they would talk to me in slow portuguese and I would respond in slow spanish, and in the end we sorta understand each other. I made really good friends with a really awesome and funny brasilian girl named Paula at our hostel (who thankfully spoke both english and spanish), but she had to leave before me. It´s so weird how people can come in and out of your life so quickly. This girl and I bonded immediately, we definitely could have been best friends if we weren´t born a bajillion miles apart. But we´ll keep in touch via facebook.

Anyway, we went to the geysers which were beautiful, but really cold and REALLY early (I´m talking 4 am), but we got to swim in hot springs which was incredible. I´d love to post pictures but sadly I´m without wireless internet now and I can´t upload at the internet cafes. Anyway, we got a steal on sandboarding. Paid 3 luca (6 bucks) for bikes and boards and a map, and then followed a BEAUTIFUL trail through the Cordillera de la Sal ... basically imagine a tiny trail surrounded with huuuuge and crazy rock formations on either side. It came out right at the ´valle de la muerte´(literally the valley of death) where we began our sandboarding adventure. No one had any idea what they were doing, and climbing up the dune was intense in the desert sun, but it was a good time. I made friends with some kids on an exchange program through umich, also studying at La Catolica. We eventually figured out that it´s more productive and more fun to just run down the dune without a board.

So flash forward past my hectic journey to Quito, and I´m wandering around the city trying to find a hostel because the one I thought I booked online bailed on me. The taxi driver was super nice and took me around to all the places listed in my Lonely Planet until we finally got to this little place that looked more like a house from the outside. I ring the doorbell and this girl who can´t be more than seven opens the gate and immediately starts rambling to me in spanish and convinces me to ´play cooking´while we wait for her mom to finish up with talking with another gringo. I got a room, and it turns out this place is the number one recommended in my guidebook but I had somehow overlooked it. The people are very friendly, although it is a bit lonely being alone. I made friends with a guy who is on vacation from being a guide in the galapagos and he´s going to take me to the tourist center and talk to some of his friends in the tour places to help me find a cheap 4 day trip. How incredible would that be?? Apparently it´s possible if you´re traveling solo and at the last minute to fill a spot on a boat that´s leaving in the next few days. But even if that doesn´t happen, there´s plenty of great wildlife stuff to do around here so it should be fine.

I doubt anyone is still reading but I´m sure you´re all very glad to hear that I´m still alive. The updates will probably be more sporadic from now on since I don´t have constant internet access. Miss you all! Also, I promise an extensive update about the flushing of toilets after visiting the center of the earth monument.

- L