san pedro - laguna cejar

we made it back to san pedro de atacama around noon, after waking up at 5 am to make the final journey across the bolivian desert back into chile. this drive was easily the most uncomfortable, as the sun still had not risen when we began and the jeep had no heating. to top it all off, our chofer (not edgar, he stayed in bolivia at the end of the trip. we had a new guy named javier) turned on the AIR CONDITIONING at one point. it was freezing.

while my 4 day bolivian adventure was easily one of the coolest things i've ever done in my life, it was nice to be back in warm san pedro!

we found these adorable funny llamas :) !

this stray dog was intrigued

and this was really awkward and hilarious

hello there! 

llama spitting at another llama!!!

after watching the llamas for an entertaining 10 minutes, we went to laguna cejar - a lake with a 40% salt concentration so that you float without even trying!

the water was actually pretty cold, but not unbearable. it was easy to find warm currents where the sun was shining

superman pose

they were pretending to drown, and i wasn't going to save them.

jumping attempt

touching the top of the mountain =P 

showing off

snacks during sunset. i was still chewing.

sylvia, me, brian, justin

going to laguna cejar was an awesome end to my vacation away from my real life in santiago!

i successfully made it to the airport that night (however, 4 hours before i thought i was going to be picked up *i purchased a round trip shuttle ticket*, i realized i was supposed to call and confirm my transportation from the hostel to the airport a minimum of 12 hours in advance. i then freaked out for a good 15 minutes trying to call the phone number but it wasn't working on my cheap phone, but our nice driver that took us to the lake was nice and called for me to confirm everything)

at the Calama airport during the hour wait before boarding my plane i attempted to study for my quiz i had the next afternoon, but this was slightly unproductive because i was so exhausted.

i landed in santiago at 2:00 am, and was at my apartment by 3. considering that i lost my keys on day one of our jeep tour, this was a slight issue. luckily my housemate was nice and left the keys under the door mat, but this didn't help me getting into the building. normally the doorman is there all night, but this particular evening he was nowhere to be seen. so i rang the conserje doorbell for a good 10 minutes before i see him slowly walking down the stairs to let me in. he was really mad because apparently i probably woke the whole first floor up. filo! it was 3 am and i wanted to go to sleep before being abducted off the street corner