San Pedro de Atacama - Valle de la Luna

The vacation portion of our Chile experience has arrived and we are enjoying our time in San Pedro de Atacama.

We left Santiago early Wednesday morning and had a very nice and uneventful ~2hr flight to Calama. We stepped off the plane and it felt like we were on a different planet-a hot but dry, dusty and beautiful planet.
We then had an hour busride (again, uneventful) to San Pedro de Atacama...our final destination.
As we pulled into town we noticed small adobe-like buildings with stone and mud walls, very desert-esque. We were dropped off at the front door of our small hotel, which looked the same as all of the others we passed, and checked in. The Hotel Katarpe is a small (~20 or so rooms) hotel just around the corner from the busiest street in town, so very conveniently located. We have a clean and modest room with our own bathroom (yippee! not all in San Pedro offer that feature). The hotel also has a small dining room where breakfast is provided every day (bread and cheese with coffee for breakfast, did they know i was coming? ...yes, please), a nice courtyard with picnic tables and solar powered lights, and very specfic rules (not all of which we have been able to figure out.

We set out to find lunch around town, explore a little, and book our first tour. We learned quickly as we took our first walk down Caracoles street (the main street) that tour companies, artisanal shops, and restaurants were not in shortage in San Pedro. First we stopped for lunch at  Todo Natural where we had a delicious lunch and Justin learned quickly that the menu del dia is the way to go. It seems every restaurant here has a menu of the day where you get the best value for a soup or salad, entree, dessert, and sometimes even a glass of wine. We have since learned to shop around for the menu of the day that interests us most!
After lunch we booked our first tour, because desert tours are what it's all about here in San Pedro. We knew we wanted to see sunset at the Valle de la Luna, so we signed up. Around 4 pm we met back at the tour agency (just around the corner from our home away from home away from home) to get started. We met our very energetic tour guide Waldo, a new friend in Aussie Joshua, and set off on a short bus ride to the "moon valley."
The scenery really was amazing. A short walk at our first stop for pictures and a geology/geography lecture from Waldo was first on the agenda. This valley is famous for its resemblance to the surface of the moon, owing to its different stratifications and the salt formations that are caused by natural environmental factors. The valley is surrounded by several mountain ranges including the Cordillera de la Sal (Salt mountain range), the Cordillera de Domeyko, and the Andean mountain range. The Andean mountain range is made up of a plateau, known as the Altiplano and a chain of volcanoes.

Stop number two proved to be my least favorite moment (at least up to this point) of our Chile experience. Waldo informed us that we would be making a short trip through the caves. He said it would be difficult at times (understatement of the year) but that we could all make it (with a big grin on his face). I don't even want to relive the experience but I will just for your enjoyment. We go (bags and all) trudging through the caves which get darker the deeper we go (intuitive, i know) to the point of pitch black. Waldo does have a small head lamp which appears to be working on low battery power and does us in the middle of the group absolutely no good whatsoever. We crouch and walk like crabs where the height is maybe 3 ft... we get horizontal and crawl with our hands and feet outstretched against the walls... we climb straight vertical heights with footsteps much smaller than those at your typical indoor climbing facility ... and then... we jump down from said straight vertical heights. There was definitely a moment about halfway through where I looked at Waldo (and the straight vertical climb ahead of me) and asked if it would just be easier if I turned around. The decision here was tough, go back to the horizontal belly climb in pitch black darkness, or climb up a vertical mountain (oh yeah, did i mention I'm wearing flip flops) with no safety harness. I looked at Justin and told him to make sure he got my body out of there and told my parents that I loved them. I braved it and decided to finish. We came out dusty and worn, but we made it. Not my finest moment friends... but I am proud to say I made it through.

I told Waldo there would be absolutely no more of that on my part...thankfully, he agreed (unfortunately he didn't realize what would happen on our next tour with him...that story to come later).
Our third stop was to the Great Dune Path, which were beautiful as well. Justin tells me the view from the top of the dune was nice too (but after his description of the climb, I'm not sure the view was worth it).

Stop number four was to "The Three Maries" which are a grouping of formations that are the result of intense erosion processes. They are composed of gravel, clay, salt, gems, and quartz and are approximately one million years old. We had fun with photography here.

Our last, and most spectacular stop was to watch the sunset over the valley. Probably the most beautiful sunset either of us have ever seen. We were skeptical at first because it seemed it would be too cloudy for a pretty sunset, but Waldo told us to have faith... and he was right! Words cannot do it justice so I'll show you the pictures (which still don't really give you the full amazing picture... but they'll help).

Waldo and Justin on the edge

Just before the sun set

 Tell me that's not gorgeous. It was even better in person.
After this we headed back to town and found the menu of the day that sounded best to us...and it was... although Justin was forced to eat beef for the first time in years. Plus, it ended with more tres leches cake! Yum!

The RNICU, eh... Neonatología

We have successfully completed the clinical portion of our Chile trip, and are now on to the vacation portion, which you will hear about soon.
We wanted to share about the last 2 clinical days (Mon & Tues). We spent time in the Neonatal unit at the Universidad de Católica with Dr. Jorge Fabres, who completed a fellowship in Birmingham under our own Dr. Wally Carlo. It was great to meet Dr. Fabres, who we had heard a lot about. It was good to talk to someone who knew and understood Birmingham, and who was familiar with our NICU. Dr. Fabres was kind enough to show us around the neonatal unit and treat us to lunch! He shared stories of his days as a fellow running from hospital to hospital, the old RNICU, and of course stories of Dr. Carlo.

Dr. Fabres teaching during rounds

The NICU shared many common features of the unit we know and love in Birmingham. It is a 28 bed unit, ~10-15 in the highest acuity unit with the remainder in the step-down "feeder and grower" units. They had several infants on the ventilator and 2 on the oscillator.

The fellow intubating a baby

We also got to watch a c-section and resuscitation of a 30 week neonate which was pretty cool. Peds arrived very early to the section (sound familiar?) so we got to see most of the process. Dr. Fabres explained that the university is participating in an international resuscitation study which was comparing two different types of bag mask ventilation. The resuscitation was very similar to the NRP we are used to with a few differences (if you're curious, ask us). Apgars were assigned and the baby boy was transferred to the unit and placed on nasal CPAP. The resuscitation hallway was just outside the OR and the whole L&D unit was just across the hall from the NICU.

The resuscitation room

We also got to watch the resident and fellow put in umbilical lines...

After our long day in the NICU we treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at Aqui esta Coco, reported by our trusty guidebook to be one of the best culinary treats in Santiago. We were not disappointed! I'm sure you're all tired of seeing food pictures, but we are going to continue to share! Keep in mind that in most cases the picture does not do the meal justice.

Coming up next are stories of our adventures in San Pedro de Atacama... Stay tuned because the bus ride adventures in Viña were mere kiddy rides compared to the desert "fun."

A big serving of Humboldt Pie-Part 3 of 3

After eating breakfast again at our hotel and checking out, we got on a local bus and headed over to our final destination of the weekend - Valparaíso, the sprawling port city, separated from Viña del Mar only by a street.  This city is known for its colorful neighborhoods as well as its hills, which you can ascend using acensores, boxcars that take you up the side of the hill along a track.  Most of them are quite old, dating back to the 19th century!  But our first stop in the city was Plaza Sotomayor, located next to the pier, with a number of stunning buildings to look at.

Plaza Sotomayor

We then decided to check out one of the main attractions of Valparaíso, which are the many cable cars that take people up the sides of hills, upon which sit neighborhoods of colorful buildings along knots of winding streets.  The first one we tried was out of order, so we headed over to the Acensor Concepción, one of the more famous ones.

This took us to the top of Cerro Concepción, which provides rather stunning views of the city and the bay.

We strolled around a bit, admiring the view and the quaint buildings along each street, stopping in stores to check out artesanal fare along the way.  We also stopped here to eat some delicious seafood at a restaurant that provided an awesome vista of the bay as a backdrop to our meal.  One of the coolest parts was Paseo Atkinson, a row of buildings in front of which vendors hawked all sorts of goods, from postcards to handicrafts to weird magnets with even weirder sayings on them.

Paseo Atkinson

Unfortunately our visit was on a Sunday, so, as we found out, a lot of things were closed.  There was a museum that we wanted to go to simply to see if the advertised conjoined twin fetuses in jars were still there, but alas it was closed.  We also tried some other acensors, but they were closed as well.  So we ended up wadering into one of the many squares to lounge around and people watch.  There were a lot of people doing various things, from riding tricycles to selling helado to making out on benches.  An interesting feature of this square is that there were four statues, one at each corner, of a goddess representing one of the four seasons.

The fountain in the middle of the square.

And since this was a Sunday with a lot of things closed, we decided after our plaza meandering that we would head back to Viña del Mar and catch our bus back to Santiago.  And here is why the end of our beach visit may have been the most stressful of any time this month.  Had we been thinking ahead, we would have thought that there probably would be a TON of people trying to get buses back to Santiago, since it was the end of the weekend.  And, there were.  So much so that every bus company was sold out for trips from Viña del Mar to Santiago.  But, we could take a bus from Valparaíso to Santiago - of course that would mean hopping on one of those crazy micro-buses whose drivers drive like Jeff Gordon with a cerebellar problem, massive suitcase in tow (by the way, the suitcase now has a gimp wheel because the outer shell cracked and fell off during the journey to Viña del Mar), in a short period of time.  So, that's what we did - frantically hopped on a micro that looked promising, watched like a hawk for any sign of bus station once in Valparaíso, hopping off hurredly because the micro wasn't really gonna come to a "full" stop.  But we made our bus with some time to spare, and had an uneventful ride back home, so all ended up well!  I guess we didn't really plan on visiting Valparaíso twice in one day, but hey, you do what you have to do.
  So that was our beach trip!  Stay tuned to hear about our NICU experience, as well as upcoming blog posts about our other-worldly excursions in the heart of the Atacama desert, which is where we are currently, and surviving thus far to tell about it!

A big serving of Humboldt Pie-Part 2 of 3

Saturday morning came and I was up like a kid on Christmas morning - raring to go to the beach!  We got ourselves ready after heading downstairs for our breakfast, which was included in our hotel fare, and slathered ourselves with sunscreen expecting what were hoping was going to be a massively sunny day.  And when we were finally ready to go, around 10 or 11am to head to Reñaca beach, one of the most popular and beautiful beaches of the area, we stepped outside our hotel and encountered... cold?  Wow, it was pretty chilly for a beach in the summer time.  Getting to Reñaca beach was going to be another challenge - our instructions were to take bus #601 to the beach, which entailed Kelli and me walking down the street in the hopes of finding a bus stop, which we eventually found, and at which bus #601 eventually did find.  So we hopped on, and instantaneously the bus lurched and sped its way down the coastline to Reñaca.  Now, Reñaca beach is separated from Viña del Mar by a stretch of rocky coastline that juts out into the sea.  And watching the scenery go by as we passed Viña, we looked ahead and noticed some eerie fog hanging around this coastline.  FOG?!  What the...  anyways, so our bus then plunged into the fog and sped through Reñaca beach - never even thinking about slowing down to let anybody off.  Before we knew it, were in Concón, a town north of Reñaca.  So now picture Kelli and Justin trudging down the coastline in full on summer swimming gear in dense fog, chilly air, and no beach in sight.  That's right, we had to walk all the way from Concón back to Reñaca.  We did pass some otherworldly scenery along the way, though.

Once we made it to Reñaca, there was still no sun in sight, and the air was still very cool, but we decided to stick it out anyways.  Kelli rented a chair and decided to plant herself down, determined to enjoy the beach, while I tried to run up and down the coast to warm up.

Occasionally the sun tried to flash us, but not very often and not for very long.  Two hours into it, we were frustrated and had had enough, so we decided to catch a bus back to Viña del Mar.  And after getting off at one end of Salinas beach and having to walk the entire length of the beach to get back to where we were on Friday, we were quite hungry and decided to look for food on Avenida San Martin, known for its good restaurants.  We eventually found one, called Delicias del Mar, and sat down.  Not fifteen minutes after we sat down did we look outside and see - the fog had completely lifted, and the sun was gleaming down from a clear blue sky!   Now where the heck was that earlier?!  In any case, this is where our day took a much needed turn for the better, as we were served awesome seafood - I had reineta (local fish) and Kelli had crab lasagna, and we both were in seafood heaven.  Not to mention that our meal was made all the more special by the repeating Foreigner song "I Wanna Know what Love Is (I want you to show me)" which I'm guessing must've been one of the cook's favorite songs.

So after one of the finest meals of seafood we'd ever had, we bounded back out to plant our spot on the beach, now that the weather was better.  We set up on Salinas beach near the pier, along with about a gazillion other people.  This was one of the most crowded beaches I have ever seen.  It made for great people-watching, though!

Me getting sprayed down with sunblock by the local sunblock tent

Just an idea about how massively crowded this beach was

Even dogs rent umbrellas

Now Kelli and I didn't do much wave jumping or ocean wading in general, for one very good reason - the Humboldt Current (ah, that's where the title comes from).  The Humboldt Current is a large current that carries water in the Pacific Ocean up from Antarctica and along the coast of Chile.  So that makes the water feel like Antarctica.  Take-your-breath-away cold.  We did brave it for a few short seconds, but only enough to get the experience of it.

Some people braved the frigid water, but didn't stay for very long!

After a good 4 or so hours soaking up the rays, we decided to pack up and head back to clean up before going out - our goal on Saturday night was to find a good sushi restaurant, as the sushi here is hands-down Awesome.  And here we encountered one of the more frustrating aspects of Viña del Mar - lack of taxis.  When we set out, it was dark and we didn't really feel like walking at night, but everyone we asked told us just to walk the 8 blocks or so to the restaurant.  But since we took a taxi last night, there's got to be some circulating right?  Wrong - there were zero empty taxis in the span of 45 minutes.  So we ended up walking, which turned out alright, but we did pass through some rather nerve-wracking areas.  But what we found at our destination, a restaurant called Shitake on Avenida San Martin, was some pretty fine sushi.  They like to wrap their sushi in avocado here, which I'm all for.  It was definitely worth it.

We did manage to get a taxi from the restaurant area back to the hotel, but not before passing this street performer, who seems to make a living acting like a wind up doll and kissing ladies' hands, all set to Andrea Bocceli.

Overall, it was a pretty good day!  The following day we had set aside to visit the sprawling, jumbled port city of Valparaíso, which is coming up on the next installment!