Friday, May 30, 2008

Las Estrellas

Last night we went stargazing, heading out with a tour at 9pm. Alan, the propieter, is a French astronomer who has lived in Chile now for many years. We arrived and his wife Alejandra gave us a great explanation of where we were in the galaxy as well as explained some basic information about the Milky Way, and how we can look at the sky.

We then walked inside their house and sat in a circular room while Alan prepped us for what we would be seeing through their 6 large telescopes.

It is hard to describe what the sky looked like last night, except to say that I doubt I will ever again see so many stars so clearly, and throughout the entire sky. Usually, because of pollution or humidity, we never see stars that are directly on the horizon - we usually start being able to see them about 15 degrees above. Last night, however, everywhere you looked there were stars, and of course with the telescopes, the places that looked empty were also in fact completely full of stars.

We also got to see SATURN and JUPITER!!!! and the Southern Cross, the Triangle, Scorpio, the Centaur, nebulas, spiral galaxies, star clusters, etc etc. I am so excited to be able to add to my constellation knowledge, especially since I knew nothing about the Southern Sky.

Supposedly, the southern sky is more beautiful because statistically it has a higher concentration of everything, and I believe it may be true. With our naked eye, with the best conditions, we are able to see about 6,000 stars, and I believe I saw every single one of them last night. What a glorious sight.

Valle de la Luna

yesterday we slept in and spent a nice morning in the plaza reading and soaking in the sun before heading off to El Valle de Muerte y El Valle de la Luna. No one quite knows how Death Valley got its name... there are three different possibilities. The first is that the man who discovered it thought it looked a great deal like Mars, and called it Valley de Marte (Mars) and it got changed over time to Muerte... The second is that the valley is where people go to die, and the third is that it's called this because nothing can grow there. All three seem plausible to me. Regardless, it does look incredibly similar to pictures I've seen of Mars.

Stunning views, red rocks and large dunes accompanied us as we trekked for two hours from the ridge down into the valley and then followed the path the river (which is no longer there) created as it made its way through the rocks millions of years ago. Once again, the area used to be a lake and the water was forced under when the tectonic plates collided oh so many years ago. The result is that many layers of the rock are made of salt, and in some places it is so thick it looks like snow in the riverbed. The salt also creates this amazing phenomenon which our great guide Oscar calls the Symphony. Because oxygen got trapped in the rock (very porous) underneath the salt, somehow when the sun shines on the rock, it heats the oxygen and creates millions of tiny little gas explosions which sound like pops and crackles (rice crispy-ish). It's truly amazing to sit there and have the canyon walls talk to you. Even more so that it's been happening for millions of years.

There was also an amazing cave that was created out of compressed salt which turned into quartz. It was fun to enter and realize that crystals were holding up the ceiling of the cave.

After we wound our way through the Death Valley, we headed over to Valle de la Luna where we climbed to the top of the mountains to watch the sun set. Moon Valley also deserved its name! There were incredible sand dunes, a salt ridge and the ring of Andean volcanos around the edge. Others sat to watch the sunset, but I continued walking to the furthest outpost on the Cordillera de Sal (salt mountain range) until I was the only one aside from the ranger, looking out at the entire 360 degree view. I have been appreciating the sun here. In cities, the sun doesn't change the colors as much as in the desert, where it lights up and alters everything every moment of the day. I stood there watching the mountains change from gold to pink to blue as the sun went down. Afterwards, we trekked to the other peak and then flew down the volcanic black dune and headed back to San Pedro.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

El Tatio Geyser

This morning we woke at 3:30am to leave at 4am to visit the geysers at El Tatio at dawn. We slept most of the bumpy way there, arriving to see steam rising throughout the valley.

I seem to be repeating myself, but dawn at the geysers was equally as magnificent as dawn at the salt flat. Maybe I need to experience dawn more often. The geysers gurgled and sputtered, throwing the occasional water in the air, but with vapor always rising. And of course, as the sun finally came out, the entire area sparkled. I felt as though I was living in an Ansel Adams photograph.

There are four different types of geysers in the park: thermal, mud, gas and (i forget the name) but whichever ones are pressurized and actually shoot water in the air. The thermal geysers were so inviting and I wished I had brought my suit with me to climb in to escape the -8 C/10F air. The mud geysers looked like boiling mud-pies, all bubbly and as though they could have been in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The gas ones just steamed (delightful noises!) and the ones under extreme pressure shot up into the air, the beads of water exploding upwards like fireworks and looking like flying diamonds in the sun.

After spending lots of time playing around the geysers, (some of which were different colors because of the bacteria - red, yellow, green - gorgeous!) we went to a village and ate some llama meat. It was tasty. I felt a bit bad because I've been kissed by a llama before, but the THREE people who live in this village subsist on it, so I bought a kebab. Delicious - very tender.

Next stop was a cactus forest which grew on rocky hills, and in the valley between the hills was a stream and hundreds of fox tails, which waved in the wind and stood out in stark whiteness against the clay colored, cactus covered hills. We climbed to the top and were able to look back over the entire valley ringed by mountains. When we turned the other direction, we could see the Dameyko range and the salt flats we visited yesterday.

I am happy...

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Los Flamencos

We woke up at 5:30 this morning and drove with our tour to the Flamenco National Reserve, which hosts three types of flamingos that thrive in the salt flat called the Chaxa Lagoon. The salt flat is exactly how it sounds - flat land covered in salt crystals, with various shallow ponds where algae, teeeensy shrimp and other micro-organisms live and support the birds and other wildlife.

The Chaxa Lagoon lies between the Andes and the Domeyko Mountain Ranges and used to be a sea before the mountains pushed their way up and the water formed underground lakes, leaving the salt behind. What is left looks like a giant white coral reef which stretches for miles.

We arrived before dawn, shivering a bit as we walked through the clear morning, and watched the flamingos feed and fly as the sun rose from behind the mountains and finally shone full-force on the sparkling water, lighting up the mountains in purple and pink hues, the colors slowly seeping downward towards us.

The other magnificent occurence of the day was the hike to more than 14,000 ft to see the two Altiplano Lagos, which rival the Texas sky for their intense color. The lakes were pristine, with salt rings around the edges, and birds flocked on the shores. We were looking down on both lakes at the same time, and also were able to look out on the valley and the salt flats from above... truly spectacular.

pictures to follow when i return to santiago...

Monday, May 26, 2008

San Pedro de Atacama

i am in the desert, about 1500 km north of santiago. my friend bimbi and i took the 23.5 hour bus ride from santiago, and arrived today at around 3pm. for all of today, it was the exact same scenery, which consisted of nothing except various hills/mountains of rock and sand. there was absolutely no vegetation unless we were close to a village, which is also where some of minute amounts of water exist.

we did see a lone alpaca, with no owner or companion in site.

we are staying in a hostel and right now i am bundled up as much as possible, since it's about freezing right now. during the day, however, it was about 75F.

tomorrow we're going to see the altiplano lakes, with flamingos, and for a nice trek to "see the flora and fauna."

right now, however, in the middle of nowhere, the stars are incredibly bright, and last night we saw a sunset that we can only hope to see again sometime in our lives. the sunrise this morning on the bus was equally magnificent, backlighting the craggy horizon.

another sunrise tomorrow...

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

my life has been renewed.

i found cheddar cheese. i'm not even joking. i felt uplifted, as though i finally had hope for the flavor selection in chile.

it is called "Cheddar: Light, Tasty" and is made by an Australian company called Bega. So exciting. It actually manages to taste like something.

The little things you miss...

Monday, May 19, 2008

on a sad note...

today, whilst descending the san cristobal hill, i heard a dreadful crying that sounded like a child. i went over to the side of the road and saw the smallest little black puppy. it seemed as though it had just opened its eyes - it couldn't have been more than a couple weeks old at most. my heart pretty much broke. i started petting it, and it kind of stopped crying, but then i picked it up, and it started up again. the little one had dirt caking his right eye closed, so i tried to wipe it off.

a man was passing, and i asked him what i could do. he suggested i just leave it because probably the mother went off to look for food and would come back looking for her pup. there had been a smallish black dog that joined us part-way up the hill, and she looked as though she could be a mom. maybe she told him to stay put?

so i put him back, and he stopped howling. but it was one of the hardest things to just leave him there. i'm trying to tell myself that his mom came back for him, or at the very least, that someone else might have picked him up and taken him home.

this dog issue is a real problem here in chile. i think they should spend less time watering the grass and put more money into programs like taking care of all the stray dogs and cleaning up the river. the dogs are domesticated wild animals, if that makes sense. they chill with people during the day, conduct traffic (literally, they don't let people cross the street until it changes from the red to the green man) and protect their territory. however, at night, they turn into the pack animals they are, and literally run around santiago, 5+ at a time. i'm not quite sure what they do, but they do it really hard. that is why they lie around looking dead during the day.

regardless, most of the time, the dogs are great, they seem happy, random people feed them, homeless people try to sell them, but the puppies --- the puppies break my heart.

rain

today, for the first time since i have been here, it is raining. it sends the smell of the earth and fallen leaves into the air, mixing the fresh with the damp smell of decay.

climbing san cristobal hill today, one could finally see all of santiago, even the snow-capped mountains! the one bad thing about winter here is that the smog settles. for weeks, we haven't even been able to see the foothills of the andes, and i haven't seen snow-capped anything at all. however, today, the rain cleaned the air, washed away the smog (probably in the river - ooph) and all was clean and clear and crisp.

i am starting to think of carving pumpkins and halloween costumes, not to mention thanksgiving. sadly, down south, we'll be getting those holidays when it is warm again, almost summer.

however, this rain takes me immediately back to salzburg, summer 2003. i was staying in a fraternity/hostel house, and it was still chilly, early in the summer. rain was pouring down outside and we all gathered in the bar area of the house (only in salzburg!) and listened to getz/gilberto "girl from ipanema" and danced, the heat of our bodies mixing with the cool air, creating a misty, truly magical atmosphere. that night, we were all so connected, needing nothing more than the rain and the music.

tonight i listen again to "girl from ipanema." though i am now in chile, the smells are the same, and the rain feels just as clear and pure.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

internet update

i've got it. and you can now call me at 540-458-0145. i'm having a couple of technical difficulties - at the moment i can't call OUT on my phone, but i can accept calls. if i miss your call, i will skpye you back and then hopefully we can arrange a time to talk on the phone, which has a much better connection.

poco a poco...

boheme and beethoven

right now we're in the middle of our run of La Boheme, and it has confirmed my secret belief that i really want to be an opera singer. how amazing to get to sing those melodies that Puccini and Verdi wrote! not to mention the ability to act at the same time as you are expressing yourself musically. *sigh*

it's a gorgeous opera, and luckily for us we're playing it about 10 times. tomorrow, though, we begin rehearsal for beethoven 7, which was added as a lunchtime concert smack dab in the middle of our run of boheme. not great timing, but great music!

we have three rehearsals for the beethoven and then a concert at 1pm on thursday, followed by boheme at 7. a richly musical day.

it is lots of work, but i do feel extraordinarily lucky that i am being assigned such great music. i kind of feel as though this season i'm getting a run-down of the "best of." opera, ballet, orchestra... later on we're playing shostakovich 5, also sprach zarathustra, marriage of figaro, barber of seville, suor angelica, bluebeard's castle, and the ballets sleeping beauty and the rite of spring.

jobs are so exciting!!!

Friday, May 16, 2008

cold!

it is now officially chilly here. i have to wear a scarf and coat and mittens or else i freeze!

this has become an issue mostly in my apartment. my building is old - it even has some broken windows in the stairwell - and it also has no heat. no central heating, no radiators, no gas, etc. again, it is "non-furnished."

this means that soon i will be purchasing an 'estufa,' or rather, a stove, to heat my apartment during the winter. they really love gas here because the electricity is so comparatively expensive. however, i've been told that if i buy a gas stove, i need to crack the window so i don't die of carbon monoxide poisoning. *this is mentioned to me in a very casual, offhand manner.* alternatively, i could get a carbon monoxide sensor and then when it starts beeping open the window.

for some reason, i was under the impression that as long as gas is being burned, there's not a terrible danger of monoxide poisoning. for example, many people have gas stoves, and there's no concern unless the gas is on and the stove isn't lit. anyone have thoughts on this? shouldn't it be the same for my estufa? and, presumably, if i buy a decent estufa, the chances of dying should be lower...