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.....