Nervous, nay excited.

I have a test today and it's the first time in a long time that I have been excited to test just how much I know. I may not get a 7 (grades go by numbers, 7 is the highest)... in fact, I probably won't, but you heard it here first that I'm already impressed with myself for how much I can say (in Spanish) about brain development pertaining to language acquisition.

TAKE THAT!!

Smiley

Today is not a perfect day. I have midterms coming up and I somehow managed to conjure up a killer sore throat from NOTHING in a mere 7 and half hours over the course of last night, BUT...

nevertheless I'm super smiley. 

Today for no reason at all I am overwhelmed by how lucky I am, and how much I love. I'm thoroughly impressed with my own capacity to love today. It has taken over everything and given me this huge smile. It's true what they say, you know? 

"Love is something [that] if you give it away, you end up having more."

May you have plenty, and feel mine!

(photo: street graffiti in Valparaiso)

Coming up soon: The Ford family descends on Sur America...

Uyuni

Our 4x4 crew.

Adventures in Bolivia

As previously mentioned, Isela and I had a short but gorgeous stay in the very tourist friendly town of San Pedro de Atacama. From there we hopped in a 4x4 at the Bolivian border and set out over the desert to see the assalting (pun) Salar Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world.

En route we saw all sorts of nifty sights such as...

hot springs

flamingoes

Laguna Colorada

A red lagoon that gets its color from a special algae. Said algae also feeds the flamingoes and turns their feathers pink. Turns out the color of a flamingo varies depending on how much of this colored algae they are able to consume. A similar thing happens with salmon.

Rocks to climb...

Rocks to look at...

And pets!

Our guide was kind enough to show us what a Toyota 4x4 is really made of as he drove us through a rocky river gorge. On the way we saw these fearless little guys called viscacha. They're similar to chinchillas but given how close they come to you, and with such lack of hesitation, you'd think each one had the heart of a lion.

Isela-bella did some climbing of her own... or her nice friend Annie framed the picture to look like she'd been climbing.

And then finally... 

We made it to the Salar Uyuni. A floor of glaringly bright white salt as far as the eye can see.

 We stopped briefly at Incahuasi Island in the center of the Salar to take some pictures and find some nifty porous (volcanic?) rock. Clearly I was enthralled. I will now leave the next thousand or so lines blank to accommodate the required pedantic geologic sermon that the previous comment surely inspired in my father: 

"So Annie, ____ _ _______ ____ by __ _ _____. However, _ _______-______ ____ of ___ _ _______, but _____ _____________ _ ____. The ______ __________ rock ___ _ ________ __ _______ _____________, and the salt ______ ____ sodium chloride, lithium chloride, magnesium chloride __ ___ ____ _______ __ _ _________ ________."

"Neat-O! Thanks Dad. I'm sure that that information will be vital to my adult development."

(Run while you can!)

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Once upon a time Pocahontas advised us to "paint with all the colors of the wind." And because you're all good people and you would never want to let Pokey down, I trust that you've been trying your hardest to do just that. But I bet you didn't know just how many colors you had to work with, did ya? Check out the crazy colors and landscapes San Pedro de Atacama has to offer... and then go "run the hidden pine trails of the forest."

I imagine that Mars looks something like this.

San Pedro was the departure point for Isela and my excursion via 4x4 through the wilderness of Bolivia to reach Salar Uyuni. More on that to come.