I havn´t written for a while mostly becuase of a combination of things. Sometimes I have just been moving to quickly to spend a few hours uploading photos and writing and other times I have just been in places that were just simply too hot to sit at a computer for more than five minutes. But with that being said, i will try and bring you up to date on everything i have done.

When we arrived in Chile we decided to head to the Industrial town of Calama in order to pick up some things that we all needed which we definately would not be able pick up in the small touristy town of San Pedro. After purchasing all the things we would need for the rest of our travel: Molaria pills, tripod, tapes and chips for cameras, batteries; we rented a car a drove a loop around northern chile, (http://www.explore-atacama.com/eng/maps.htm) copy and paste this URL and check out our path. We started in Calama, cut the corner to miss Antofagasta, and stayed the first night in Mejillones. Nothing special, but we saw some cool little towns on the ocean including one that seemed desserted because they were all second, vacation homes. Check the photos for the one labeled ¨Hornitos¨.

The next day we stopped off at a beach to see if there was somewhere we could go for a swim and what we experienced next is difficult to describe in words. When travelling, it is always important to keep an open mind and be open to new experiences, but at the same time it is important to be on guard, skeptical, and untrusting of any locals you meet along the way. The kid that approached us when we got out of the car was about 23 or 24. They had been fishing for something called Lapa, which looked like a snail with a soft shell, i was unable to find a good description of it on the internet but have asked many Chilleans since then and they said they loved it. It was living and would grip to your finger if you picked it up, sort of resembled a snail with a soft shell. He asked if we wanted any and said he would cook it for us. I can easily speak for both Dakin and Dominic in saying that we definately did not want to try any but going with him somewhere to cook and prepare the food was an experience we did not want to pass up. The town we were in did not have any women and was filled with fishermen and drunks. The kid was very hospitable and warned us about his father, not becuase of danger but because he was embarrased about his fathers state of being, which seems to have been drunk for last few years of his life and was unable to even speak his own language clearly. The next hour we spent having conversations with the various people who were helping prepare the food, constantly keeping an eye on our car. To make a long story short, it was a pretty crazy experience seeing how these people lived and the food they dived for to make their money. We were definately nervous, but never felt in danger, so we stuck it out until the meal was made, acted like we were eating it, but tried to shoot for the onions instead, and got the hell out of there.

Later that day we watched and I filmed the sunset at another beech and then continued on to Tocapilla for dinner. The next morning we returned to Calama to drop off the car. Dakin and I had already booked our bus to Bolivia, Dom was staying to meet up with a friend who was flying into Calama, so we spent a few hours on the net waiting for our bus and that was when I had last written in attempt to catch up.