Travel Bug on the Loose!

San Pedro de Atacama

This past week was a whirlwind for my credit card.  When I look at my google calendar now, 6 of my 8 remaining weekends are filled with traveling!  I have flights booked to Buenos Aires, Mendoza (Argentina), and San Pedro de Atacama, a supposeduly beautiful desert in northern Chile, that has been my priority to visit!  Now that the tickets are booked, there is no turning back, so whether I like it or not, I'm going places, so expect tonssss of pictures, ha.

I get to meet up with one of my friends who I went to South Africa with in Buenos Aires, so I am super excited for that!  I guess we can only hang out in foreign countries.

Two weekends ago, we went to a vineyard, Vina Undurraga, which included wine tasting.  Even though I already knew it, I don't like wine at all!  I would try maybe half a sip of my wine and dump the rest into a friend's glass, but it was still fun to walk around the beautiful vineyard.  There weren't any grapes on the vines, since it isn't grape season, but we got to see the process of wine making, something I know nothing about.

Group picture

                                              Not a fan of wine... guess it'll help me save money!

Afterwards, we went to a city about 45 minutes away called Pomaire, famous for their 10 kg (yep that's kilogram!) empanadas.  We didn't get them, but I did split a 1/2 kg empanada with a friend.

1/2 Kilogram empanada de pino (ground meet, eggs, onions, olives)

Pottery in Pomaire

10 kilogram empanda! $46 haha

Last week, there was a particular day where protests were held, to the point where the US Embassy sent out a cautionary email to us warning us to stay away from certain areas of the protest.  I didn't really think it was a big deal, so I went to the supermarket with my friend.  There were so many "carabineros" or police.  It was insane!  There was rubble, glass, burnt things all on the streets, and it was pretty empty.

The police coming by with tear gas.

I am slowly starting to get accustomed to life in Chile. I am taking the bus everywhere!  It is so much cheaper and convenient than in the US.  We can almost always count on buying bus tickets to other cities abut 30 minutes before we want to depart.  They even recline pretty far back and can make for a makeshift bed.  This past weekend, we went to Valle del Elqui and La Serena, a city about 7 hours away.  We took a night bus Friday night at 11:50 pm, arrived in La Serena at 6 am, and left for Santiago Sunday night at 11:58 pm, and arrived in Santiago at 6 am this morning!  It was an awesome weekend, filled with amazing scenery and fun times with friends.  I will post more pictures and information once I sift through all of them!