Hot Springs, Meat & Fun...My Type of Weekend!

 This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to a small town about two hours from Iquique called “Pica.”  It was one of the most entertaining, relaxing and insane weekends of my life.  While planning this trip, I made one of my most embarrassing Spanish mistakes.  Sitting at a bar with friends, I shouted with excitement “No puedo esperar, estoy emocionada a concer Pico!” Directly translated to “I can’t wait, I am so excited to get to know the dick!”  “Pico” is a crude word used to describe the Penis…and “Pica” a town in northern Chile.  Definitely not one of my proudest moments, but nevertheless, it was a joke all weekend long.

After dropping about 20$ on alcohol, food, and gas…we were ready to make our trip.  Five of us squeezed into my friend Pepe’s tiny BMW and were on our way to Pica.  We stopped in a town about an hour away called “Parque de los Niño’s” to eat lunch were we devoured a huge plate of chicken, rice & French fries.  The best part about this meal was that it was only 1 luca…2 USD…my type of meal.  Next, with full bellies and in need of a nap we continued on our quest to Pica…first stopping in Santa Laura…an old salitre mine which as been abandoned for years.  In the middle of the desert, with no one else around…it was a very creepy experience.  Walking around with complete silence and a slight breeze…you would expect to see a ghost.  Luckily, we did not and we left with more energy than before, anxious to reach our final destination.

About an hour later we arrived at our campsite in Pica, yes…my first camping adventure in Chile.  We unpacked our bags, the coolers and we set up camp!  We all had a few beers and decided it was time to head to the host springs/thermal baths.  With only a 10-minute walk, we arrived at the hot springs, paid our entrance fee & jumped right in.  It was my first time swimming in over two months and the water felt amazing.  We swam for about three hours until our hands could not prune anymore.  There were different caves to swim in and out of and the mud was used as a facemask to apparently “heal the skin.”

By the time we got out it was about 7pm and we could feel the desert night quickly approaching.  Now having lived in the desert for almost two months…I have learned that during the day the desert is hot…but by night…it is FREEZING.  So we ran out of the springs and sprinted for camp where we bundled up with all of our clothes.  Others showered (of course I didn’t, part of camping is being dirty…right?) while I used my previous Girl Scout experience to get the fire going.

For the rest of the night, we drank and we ate…and we drank and we ate.  We ate huge portions of steak and chorizo and we did not sleep at all that night…dancing until about 7AM when we finally curled up in our tents for a good “morning’s” rest.  Unfortunately, at about 10:30AM I woke up sweltering hot from the desert sun, dying for a glass of water.  I took my zombie body and walked it down the street and bought three huge cartons of water to help cure the raging hangovers that we were soon to have.

This week I will not go out until Friday.  Last week I went out way too much—so to help my body and my finances…this week “descanso.” Also, we are starting a new part of the semester and my students are starting to read English novels.  My juniors are reading a shortened version of “Pride and Prejudice,” and my seniors are reading “Tess of the d’Urbervilles.”  I doubt that they will read at all, but we will see! I’m working on different ideas to motivate them.

Definitely missed my family this weekend while they were all in Boston! Had a wave of homesickness…or was it just the fact I knew I was missing out on great food?????

PS. I only had one person send me an email and update me on things (Thanks Kim, I love you!)  My email address is sschn23@gmail.com  --- I KNOW MORE OF YOU ARE READING! So send me a line xo

ALSO, I made the news for the Chilean Ministry of Education!!!
 http://www.mineduc.cl/index2.php?id_contenido=15902&id_portal=49&id_seccion=3272