January and February...

All was quiet in Calama during January and February.  One of the reasons we moved to Chile was Larry's involvement in a project that had been under construction since January 2010 and culminated January 2011 with "start up" which didn't go as smoothly as all involved would have liked.  Larry's been working progressively more and more hours and with the start up, work didn't allow for any escapes from Calama.  Lucky for me, my Northern Arizona University course started during that time period and did a great job of keeping me occupied and provided me with an outlet for making my days have worth!  NAU offered the 3-credit course over 7 weeks instead of 15.

These are summer months in South America which is when a strange weather occurrence presents itself in the Atacama Desert -- called the "Bolivian Winter" or the politically correct label of "Invierno Altiplanico" which creates cold weather and this year, moisture not just in the mountains but Calama too!  We've actually had rain events in February.  I had seen raindrops in the time we've been here but never real rain -- amazing.  There was also so much rain in the mountains that water was released from a dam outside of Calama and El Rio Loa, which runs right by the compound, changed from a stream to a river.  It hasn't run since 2001.  Along with the moisture, clouds, and the river running, we were treated to pretty sunsets! 

We hosted a couple of small gatherings during these months starting with New Year's Eve.  We invited all of our neighbors but the Chileans had all escaped to different locations in Chile along with a couple of the other expat families.  So, those here gathered to welcome 2011!  We also had a happy hour to welcome our newest expat family's arrival. 

I almost forgot!  Something huge that happened was cheddar cheese showing up in one of our local grocery stores -- huge! 

We leave tomorrow for a well-deserved long weekend get-away flying to Santiago and onto Temuco and then a two-hour drive to the Huilo Huilo Nature Reserve.  Wait till you see pictures of the hotel we'll be staying in. 

New Year's Eve.  (l-r) Abby, Susan and Uurna.

Larry obviously quite happy about moving from 2010 to 2011!



I've spent A LOT of time at the local "emergency room" surprisingly enough serving as translator.  This particular visit was a follow-up regarding Jack's stitches he'd received the previous week.  (l-r) Abby, Jack and Susan.  The Blizzards were our most recent expat arrivals but that status has been bumped with the arrival of Graham and Rosemary and their twins, Gemma and Isobel -- what cuties!

Below is a picture of some of the kids in the compound.  (l-r) Abby, Jack, Gemma, Brandon and Isobel.  The chairs were strategically placed to protect my herbs.



Seems to me that we're seeing more artistic graffiti in Calama?

Do believe I must have been hard up for photo opportunities these past couple of months so took pictures of the "housing" developments around Calama.

Do these photos help you understand why vacation destinations with water and green are desired?

And clean air!?  I always like to grab an opportunity of a photo of Chuquicamata spewing whatever it is that is is spewing -- cough, cough....

This is the road heading to the compound -- just a little further ahead is a left turn to get to where we live.  Not sure why I felt the need to share this one?

This is a picture of El Rio Loa that I took when I heard there was going to be water released from the dam.

And here we have the river actually running.

  

And had to share a picture of my herbs.  We've got oregano, cilantro and basil plants.

Here we have the flower bed off our back patio -- I love this area.


 

Very important to record the arrival of cheddar cheese in Calama since we've been here.  I bought four packages.  We've enjoyed cheese crisps, tacos w/cheddar cheese, cheese w/chili, nachos -- all good.  The cheese is now gone from the market -- perhaps never to be seen again...?



Rain arrived in Calama.  El Nino or La Nina, can't remember -- just glad I got to see it, feel it, and smell it!  (I must point out that where we live in Calama is like an oasis -- we're lucky.  And this is the view from our back patio -- not bad, I have to admit.  We just need to get that grocery store to keep cheddar cheese in stock...)

And I'll end this post with another pretty sunset picture.  Next post:  Pictures from our long weekend in Huilo Huilo Nature Reserve and the bizarre hotel we'll be staying in.....



Christmas on Easter Island and New Year's 2011!!

I do acknowledge big time that Larry and his career have provided me with some very unique opportunities.  However, to "celebrate" turning 55 and spend Christmas on Easter Island -- well -- need I say more....

We had trouble wrapping our heads around the fact that we were going to Easter Island and that we would be there over Christmas.  I didn't pack until the day we left -- what was up with that!?

We arrived on Easter Island (a.k.a., Isla de Pascua or Rapa Nui) mid-afternoon on the 22nd of December.  We got settled in our hotel

and then headed out on our first excursion.  I'll not bore you with the names of all the moais and will instead just bore you with all the pictures I took!!

Our guide, Rodrigo (a.k.a., YoYo) began our Easter Island experience with trips to moais that had not been reconstructed.  But what are moais you ask?  Okay, that was what I asked.  Anyway, a theory is that moais we created by "clans" to represent an important member of a family group (and evidently, there were a lot of family groups on the island.)  And, the possible reason they were pushed over was that there were perhaps "rifts" between the families, which may have come about due to overpopulation of the island and the resulting lack of natural resources, and competing clans "vandalized" other clans moais?  Some of the ahus (platforms the moais rested on) were actually completed covered with rocks -- almost as though they were buried.  Interesting too was that YoYo explained that bones from the family member were discovered underneath a corresponding moai.  And get this, the clean, efficient means of acquiring the bones of the individual was to put them in the ocean and wait for the ultimately resulting bones --- hmmmm. 

Below is a picture of the city of Hanga Roa.

This is a view of the Rano Kau crater -- the largest volano (all of which are inactive by the way) on the island.

Our tour jumps ahead in time by going to this site because it respresents an area used by the Rapa Nui after construction of the moais ceased and instead, the Rapa Nui people began a type of iron-man competition between "clans" where the "chosen" one from the clans would dive into the water (I do believe this was done from the gap in the crater above) and swim out to an island (see below photo of islands), grab a bird egg, swim back and hike up the sea side of the crater -- the winner of the competition would became a leader of sorts and was able to claim a fertile virgin and therefore continue with leadership on the island only coming from the strongest of the strong of the Rapa Nui -- the fellows who competed were called "bird men".

And below is the reconstructed "ceremonial" village of Orongo where, it is speculated, family members of the "bird men" hung out while the fellows trained for the competition.

Sunset, a nice bottle of vino and dinner on the hotel porch with a view of the Pacific -- priceless!

Christmas Eve Day, YoYo introduced us to reconstructed moai, the largest grouping of moais (The 15) where we'd also see the largest moai and below was the coastal view on our way.

                                                                                                                

This fellow marks the entrance to the aformentioned moai grouping and in the background is the quarry where the moai were "harvested."

                                                                                                 

The lava rock hat on the second fellow from the end was actually a representation of hair pulled up on top of the representative Rapa Nui's head.

Picnic on a white sand beach -- with hardly any people....

and more moai....

Christmas Day was a full-day excursion hiking along the path that the moai traveled to their multiple ahu (platform) locations.  There are many, many moai found along this path and it is speculated that they were in transit to their locations when, for whatever reason, the practice of constructing ahus with moai stopped and these moai were merely left exactly where they were when in the process of being moved to their ultimate destination?  Our destination on this days hike was the quarry where all of the moai came from.

See that rain in the background -- it finds us!  We loved it -- haven't seen (smelled, felt) rain since early August when we were in Colorado -- loved it! 

So, after this short side hike (above) up a small peak, we resumed our hike to the quarry located in the crater of another volcano.

Below is an example of what condition the moai were found (nearly buried due to erosion), and as a result of excavation, an example of the detail on the moai that has been preserved due to having been covered with dirt and not subject to erosion.

                                

                                        

In the below picture, look a the base of the rock above the center hilly area and you'll see a moai as it was being carved and harvested from the hill -- not a clue as to how they really moved them but our guide was telling us that Kevin Costner produced a movie on the island called Rapa Nui that is evidently an attempt at interpreting how movement of the moai took place --



And as we waited for our plane to leave Easter Island and this very unique Christmas experience, I include a photo of this very good beer brewed on Easter Island.

So, as I finish this post, I end with a picture of the glimpse I got of the lunar eclipse in Calama around 6 a.m. on December 21 --

Next post will be a very short one from our New Year's Eve celebration ... Feliz 2011!