San Pedro de Atacama

I made my way to the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert. Since it's the desert, there aren't many towns within. My base was San Pedro de Atacama, which does happen to be a very touristy place. I believe the small town has expanded tremendously in recent years to accommodate all the travelers.

After arriving via 3 different buses (including an overnight one), I got comfortable for a bit and then went to explore and check out the variety of tours offered. Many different companies were offering very similar trips. My first inclination isn't to do a tour, but in order to really see the wide range of sights within the desert, it really is the most cost-effective way to do it. If I had more time and money, I would think about renting a car. Since I had just a few days, I definitely relied on what I heard and what the different companies offered. So I ended up signing up for 2 tours right away. I did get a discount, which was great. The company spoke Spanish, English, and French. Maybe I would soak up some translation skills. Or not.

After that was sorted out, I walked around town for a bit and ran into 2 girls from North Brooklyn Runners. What a small world. We chatted for a bit, and then met up for dinner later on that evening. After I went for a run of course. The run was pretty nice, even though I was at elevation (2407 meters). The scenery was beautiful and I found some great dirt roads to run on.

Desert running.

I met up with the 2 NBR girls and had a huge meal for dinner. It was really good, but enough for a 2nd meal, which was great. We talked about traveling (they are on a 6 week trip), running (one of them was running Boston), and various other things. It was a nice break to chat about so many common things. I hoped to meet up with them again, but it didn't happen before I had to leave. Maybe back in NYC.

NBR/CPTC sandwich.

That night, as I was getting my bag ready for the early pick-up the following morning, I realized I didn't have my debit card. I searched everywhere and couldn't find it. I suspected I left it in the ATM machine earlier that afternoon. I was kicking myself. So I went to the bank just in case someone left it behind or slipped it inside the office. No luck. I went online to see if there was any activity and it looked ok, but did contact the bank to suspend my card nonetheless. My tour the following day was an all-day affair, so I wouldn't get a chance to get to the bank during open hours. One of the hosts of the hostel offered to go on my behalf though, which was really nice. Unfortunately he didn't have time, so I had to wait until the following day to see if someone turned it in. I was trying to be optimistic. There was nothing else I could do for the moment, so I tried to get some sleep.

I got my pick-up at 7:30am, and we proceeded to get everyone else, including a group of people I met the day before from France. We drove a couple of hours to our first destination, one of the many lagunas in the desert. Along the way we saw a great sunrise, some vicuna, and a flamingo.

Vicuna.

We arrived at first stop and enjoyed our breakfast with a view of Laguna Tuyaito.

First of many lagunas.

Our next stop, not too far away, was Salar de Tara, a salt flat. It's crazy all the salt everywhere. We did a little hike down to the body of water and got some great photos of the surrounding area, including some red rocks.

Reflections.

Along with so many other tour buses, we stopped at Lagunas Miniques and Miscanti, which were very close to each other. We got some great views of Laguna Miniques.

Laguna Minques.

However, when we got to Laguna Miscanti, some clouds came, so it wasn't as clear. But still pretty cool. 

Laguna Miscanti.

All the while, the sun was also doing a weird thing and had a perfect ring around it. I'm not sure why there was a ring. At some points, there were also rainbows around the sun. Some phenomenom with the desert?

Rings around the sun.

We carried on our way and had a pretty good lunch at a small restaurant in the tiny town of Socaire. I was pretty hungry by then, so anything would have been delicious. But this still hit the spot. We had some lentil soup and some sort of chicken dish with cream and rice. I think it was a typical Chilean dish, at least that's what someone told me. It's really hard to follow Spanish, so I generally lose what is being communicated to me.

Arroz y pollo.

After the filling lunch, we drove a little ways to the Flamingo Reserve and observed flamingos in their natural habitat. I'm used to hearing about flamingos in Florida, but not in the dessert in Chile. And apparently they migrate north to Alaska and Canada, which was really interesting and news to me. You know, since I'm a flamingo expert. I got to get close to a couple by being pretty quiet. It was so bright there with all the salt reflecting from the sun and eventually it was time to move on and get out of the sun.

Flamenco.

We continued to another small town where we had 25 minutes to wander. It's one of the standard stops to encourage tourists to buy things. I understand why they do it, but I would have rather taken that time to see more animals along the drive. We wandered around a bit and I got some ice cream. That was the extent of it. 

The town of Toconao.

We headed back to San Pedro de Atacama, where I tried to figure out my debit card situation. No luck with the bank and no activity on the card. I would just have to wait until the following day and stay hopeful. Another odd thing was that I was apparently scheduled to be on flights from Cancun to Miami. I have no idea why I was booked on these fights. It looks like it was connected to my flight to Santiago, but that makes no sense whatsoever. I booked a one-way flight from one place to another. There should not be any travel for over a week later. I contacted the airlines, and it looks like I wasn't charged for this. But still a little unsettling.

I really should have gone for a run at that point to work out some of the stress, but instead I took a shower and settled in for some more research to figure out my next steps. Unfortunately it takes way longer since the wifi (and electricity and water) are hot commodities. And I was getting a pick-up for 4:30am the following morning, so I wanted to get some sleep, eventually.

The following morning I was ready to go at 4:30, except then I waited for 45 minutes for my ride. They couldn't find the place. I wish I had gotten a little more sleep, but what are you going to do. That day's tour was going to be shorter, so if needed, a nap could come later. We drove about 1.5 hours to our first stop, El Tatio Geyser Field. I've never seen geysers before and these were the 3rd biggest ones in the world, behind Yellowstone and a place in Russia. The geysers form from the heated water underground (from volcanic magma) and pressure build-up. The outside temperature is a factor in how big the geysers get. Since it a little warmer than normal (but still cold), they geysers weren't as impressive as I was expecting. However, it was still cool to see them, and we saw one in action as it rose.

El Tatio Geyser field.

After getting our fill, we moved along to the natural hot springs nearby. Not many people wanted to go swimming in the cold, but I was definitely going in. The springs were quite nice, although a lot of people were crowded in the hottest part. We didn't have long there, so I only stayed in for about 10 minutes. I then quickly changed and hopped on the bus.

Thermal springs.

We stopped to check out Vega de Putana, some marshland with a view of the Volcan Putana. Except we couldn't see the volcano due to clouds. The contrast of the marshland and surrounding area is so crazy. It's hard to believe some of these green spots in the middle of the desert.

Vega de Putana.

Our stops were very quick, but we also go a quick stop and saw some llama. 

Llama.

We of course made another stop in the small town of Machuca. Again, I would have rather lingered and observed the animals on our route. The town was super tiny and cute, but we didn't need to spend 30 minutes there.

Machuca.

We headed back to town a bit earlier than expected, where I proceeded to go to the bank and check out the debit card situation. No bueno. I hope I did that right. After somehow communicating what I needed to communicate and flipping through about 10 cards left behind at some point in the last few years, nothing. That was it. I went back to my hostel to contact my bank via whatsapp, viber, and skype. No luck due to poor wifi. I then proceeded to put my phone on roaming and spent who knows how much to get a new card. My next Verizon bill will be a joy. 

After all of that, I decided to tag along with a couple of my roommates, who were Americans, and bike to Valle de Luna. I definitely need to do something and see the Valley of the Moon before leaving. So that's what we did. 

We proceeded to bike the 6 kilometers to the entrance. I was warned this may be a tough ride, but it was actually ok. We paid our entrance fee and made our way to our first stop. Some really cool canyons and sand dunes. 

Moon like canyons.

We biked along and I couldn't help but stop and take photos. It was so unreal. Like I was actually on the moon. 

The moon?

We didn't go that far into the park, as we didn't want to bike back to San Pedro in the dark, and I had things to do. We hit up our last stop and did a hike to take in some more views. And it was amazing. That's it. 

Yes, we are on Earth. 

We turned headed back to San Pedro de Atacama. It was a much quicker ride, but of course, I had to sneak in a couple more pics. 

Dramatic skies.

 And one last photo of me on my bike. I ride bikes. But for some reason, this is the first time on this trip. 

Riding through the desert. 

We arrived back at the hostel after dropping off our bikes and relaxed. I figured out my plan and got to bed. Eventually. The following morning, I got up to take a shower. I was hoping it was on, since we ran out the day before. After my first run to the bathroom, they must have heard me, and I was able to get a shower. Which was good since I was on a fight to Santiago and then an overnight bus ride to Pucon. And we all know what overnight buses are like. 

I waited for my ride to the airport and before I left, the guy who sent me off gave me a big hug. It was so sweet. He didn't speak much English, and I mainly communicated with his colleague, but it was sweet nonetheless. Everyone was super nice at the hostel and it was nice to get a hug as I went on my way. Off to Pucon. 

La Serena

I had a couple of days in La Serena, a coastal town on the Pacific. I really didn't have many expectations for the town and figured 2 nights was enough, especially with all the traveling to get there and then leaving. And it ended up being enough time. I went to my hostel and checked into a very cute place. 

My hostel.

I arrived in the evening and went out for a run. Since it was getting a bit late, I needed to try to see something, like the ocean, and to also grab some groceries. So off I went. I made my way to the ocean along a road that was about a mile long and perpendicular to the ocean. There weren't many other places to run, so it was challenging to get a bit of a longer run in, so I just went a few short miles. The sun was going down when I reached the ocean, so got some great views of the lighthouse and water. It was still pretty crowded given the late hour. Looked like a lot of locals taking advantage of the nice weather. 

Back to the Pacific.

Next stop was the grocery store. I'm pretty sure I walked into the Chilean equivalent to Wal-mart. Even the branding was similar. I wouldn't be surprised if they owned the business. I headed back to the hostel, showered, and made dinner. I spent some time figuring out next steps, although I didn't figure everything out.  However, the next morning, I had a tentative plan on how to spend the next couple of days and then how I was getting to my next step, San Pedro de Atacama. After this was sorted out, I went for a walk around the town. It was a pretty quiet town, even with a fair going on. I got an empanada and accidentally got another hot dog. I really don't mind hot dogs, but they aren't my favorite. This was disguised inside baked dough. I didn't know what it was until I bit into it. I'm beginning to think hot dogs are a thing here. 

La Serena.

After I saw the town, which didn't take long, I made my way to the beach. I wasn't too impressed with the beach, but the ocean was really nice. A lot of families were out. Since it's summer, I'm sure a lot of Chileans were on summer vacation. This part of the coastline is a little built up and has a lot of resorts nearby. Yet at the same time, it's a little rough around the edges with some ruins nearby. I spent a couple of hours relaxing and swimming in the Pacific. Technically the Southern Pacific Ocean. When I got my fill, I headed back to make my plan for the following day.

The lighthouse.

I decided to take a day trip to Pisco Elqui since I couldn't find cheap accommodation for the following nights. It was going to be a short trip and a lot of time on buses, but I went anyway. And I'm glad I did. And I still wish there had been some open hostels. Once I arrived, I headed out to find a horse trail to hike for a bit. And test out my new hiking boots. My hostel in La Serena lost power in the middle of the night, so I didn't get a chance to see where I should hike, so just followed my maps app my phone.  It may not have been the best hike to go on, but I still go some good views of the town and the valley. I will not know otherwise. 

Elqui Valley.

I wanted to go further, but didn't have a lot of time and I was getting hungry. So after making a short stop to charge my phone for a bit and getting a recommendation of where to eat, I stopped at restaurant to get a local beer and a some tortilla dish. I happened to run into 2 girls from the hostel and we ate together. They were Swedish, but one of them has Uruguayan descent and was able to help on the Spanish communication. The food was pretty tasty, and glad we had 2 separate recommendations to stop there. 

Local food and beer.

After lunch, we headed to La Destileria Pisco Mistral for the 3pm tour. I had to get back to La Serena for my overnight bus, so this was the last one I could take. The tour was actually pretty good, but in Spanish. Overall the price wasn't much, so figured I'd get by. And my new friend helped to translate a bit. We started off by going through the museum portion of the tour. We saw some old equipment and outfits that were used to collect the grapes for the pisco.

Typical outfit to make pisco.

After looking at a photography exhibit where artists used pisco barrels in different artistic ways, we took a tour of the grounds and learned about the process of making pisco. Again, this was abbreviated in English by my friend. However I've been on enough winery, distillery, and brewery tours that I understood the process to some degree. Although I did have to look up a few clarifying things for pisco. 

Pisco grapes.

Next up was the tasting. We got to try 2 different types of pisco, one that is typically used for making pisco sour, and the other that's aged longer and is good to have on the rocks. I could tell the difference between the two and understand why this is the case. The aged, darker liquid is much easier to go down. 

The first taste.

Next up for a short video, with English subtitles. Overall, it was a pretty comprehensive tour and one of the better ones I've been on during this trip, even if it was in Spanish. And to make it even better, we got to keep the champagne glass from the tasting and go get our complimentary pisco sour. I'm pretty sure I've never had one before, and it was pretty tasty. I unfortunately had to drink it quickly in order to catch a bus back to La Serena. I wish I could have lingered a bit in the beautiful setting. I may have to do a taste test in Peru to compare the regions. 

Enjoying some pisco sour. 

I got the next bus, arrived in La Serena, picked up my bags, and headed to the bus station. When I booked my bus, I forgot to email it to myself and get the confirmation number. So when I arrived at the bus station, I had some trouble trying to get my ticket. I'm not sure why I give them my name, email, and passport number when buying the ticket if they can't use those details to find my ticket. After about 10 minutes, they eventually found it. I'm glad the bus I was getting on was late, or I would have completely missed it. With relief, I settled on the bus for the overnight trip to Calama, via Antofagasta. I was on my way to the desert. 

Santiago

I made it to Chile, and Santiago was my first stop. I would be passing through here a few more times during my stay in Chile, so I wasn't in a rush to see everything. After 2 flights, 1 bus, and 1 metro ride, I arrived at my hostel in the Lastarria neighborhood. I couldn't check in quite yet, but was able to clean myself up as best as I could and went out to explore a bit. My sister was meeting me 2 weeks later, so I didn't (and she didn't) want to explore too much. I also had some planning to do since I had no idea where I was headed after Santiago.

Covered up.

One of the first things I did, was go find food. I wandered around the neighborhood and found a lot of cute restaurants. I decided on a cafe, ordered a sandwich and some tea, and blogged. Nothing too exciting for food. I have to find out what typical Chilean fare is. After writing for a bit, I went to check out Cerro Santa Lucia. I heard there were some great views, so I took a walk up the hill to check it out. 

Castle on top of a hill.

It's a nice little spot in the middle of the city and I climbed the 69 meters to the top. It was a pleasant walk and you were able to get different views the higher you went. From the top, you could see the Andes in the distance, just barely due to the smog, Cerro San Cristobal, which I was going to check out later in the trip, and various parts of the city.

The view.

I headed back to the hostel and settled in. I took a nap, after a little bit of trying to fall asleep, and then decided to go check out another part of the city while on a run. I got to Rio Mapocho and ran along that for a couple of miles. I encountered a lot of other runners, which was great. It was pretty warm in Santiago, but not unbearable. Nonetheless, I wanted to wait until it cooled off a bit, and it ended up being a nice run. The dry climate makes such a difference. 

Running along Rio Mapocho.

After hitting up the grocery store and grabbing some very inexpensive Chilean wine, I settled in to do some research. Where to go next? Atacama Desert? Torres de Paines? Somewhere else? Chile is a challenging country to travel if you don't plan. It's not very wide, but it's so long (about 110 miles by 2,653 miles). It looks like I would have to fly to some places or make some decisions on where to go that may be closer. Decisions I wouldn't make for another couple of days.

I slept in the following day, as I needed it. But totally missed breakfast. Good thing I still had some snacks. Even though they confiscated my opened dried fruit at the airport. I headed out for a late morning run and went in the opposite direction of the day before. It was very similar along the river, but this time I came across my old company. I thought it would be funny to stop by, but then thought better of it. Plus I'm sure I don't know anyone there. 

Havas.

I grabbed some lunch nearby at a cute little cafe and had my first Chilean beer, a Kross pilsner. It was quite good and would have loved to stay longer, but I decided to explore a bit more.

Kross pilsner and running journal.

I went over to the Bellavista barrio to check out all the artwork throughout. It was definitely a hopping area with lots of restaurants and bars. I meandered a bit and found myself at the foot of Cerro San Cristobal. This would have to wait though. I wanted to wait until my sister arrived, and we would hike up it together (or run up it?).

Bellavista artwork.

I had some ideas of where to go after Santiago, but figured I should stay another night. This way I didn't have to be in a hurry to go somewhere the following day. And I could spend some time sorting out other parts of my trip, like Peru. It was official, 7 people were flying in to meet me in Cusco. I think we are still ok on timing, but I definitely want to get some things figured out, as I'm sure the group does as well.

I finally ventured out to find lunch near Plaza de Armas. The square was very popular with lots of people hanging around and playing chess.

Plaza de Armas.

I finally found some food, and since I'm not quite fluent in Spanish (not at all), I somehow ordered a hot dog. With a beer of course. I guess if I had looked a bit closer at my surroundings, I may have figured it out. But I didn't know what it was until I actually bit into it. Whoops. No worries, since I will almost eat anything. Almost. I left Asia without eating any sort of bug. I call that a win. And avocado on a hot dog? Also a win. 

Hot dog and beer.

I walked around a bit more and made my way back to the hostel for one last run before heading out of town. I was too tired the following day to get another run in. I finally made some semblance of a plan and decided on my next destination, La Serena, a coastal town up north. This was on the way to the Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth, so figured it would be a good stopover.

Denver

It was time to head home. Well not home home. Just the USA. My friend Brian was getting married and I was headed to the wedding. All along I wanted to go, but I knew that my traveling could prevent it. It would have been harder to make it happen if I was still in Asia. But everything worked out timing wise and since I was in Australia at the beginning of the year, I went ahead and booked a ticket to Denver. It was official. I was going to experience a real winter.

I got up early, but not so early and made my way to the Melbourne airport. Robbie was great and dropped me off close to the station where I was catching my bus to the airport. There was a slight hiccup before we actually left. We were asked to get off the bus (after it was fully loaded) and board a new bus. The reason why, became apparent as were getting off. Some guy was trying to get on the bus and they were not allowing it. Since he was causing a scene, I assumed they just wanted to avoid anything major and we switched buses. It turns out that we was trying to use a invalid ticket to get on the bus. And instead of just owning up to it, he still tried to get on the bus. It was kind of harmless, but at the same time, he could have just let it go. 

We were were finally on our way to the airport. An older gentleman sat down next to me and chatted with me the entire ride. I actually almost missed my stop at the international airport. The ride went by fairly quickly and it was nice to hear all of his travel adventures. It's good to see older people still traveling. I got through security pretty quickly and planted myself near to my gate to get one last drink with my remaining Australian dollars. This time it was some local bubbly.

Heading back to the USA.

I boarded the plane and got comfortable. Then a stewardess came up to and asked to check my ticket. I was hopeful that I was getting upgraded. I wasn't. Apparently I was supposed to go through some extra security screening and had to get off the plane. I went back up to the gate area and got a pat down while they went through my bags. This was supposed to be random, but later I would question if that was in fact the case. I was back on the plane and got comfortable again. I settled in to watch some movies and eat some lunch. We gradually caught up to the night before. It was 11:30am when I left Melbourne, and when it got dark outside, I knew we caught up to the previous day. I continued to watch movies and wait for my dinner. It never came. I finally had to ask when our next meal was after over 6 hours of getting the last one. Not for another 3 hours. Seriously. They gave me a couple of snacks, but that's wasn't dinner. I feel like they can't not feed us for almost 10 hours. Yes, I could buy snacks, but I had snacks. I wanted a proper meal. You would figure you'd get 3 meals on a 14-hour flight. I finally get fed again right before we landed at LAX, but it was breakfast. At least it was some sort of meal. That would be United for you. 

We finally landed at LAX and I officially went back in time. It was now 6am the same day that I left Melbourne. I felt like Marty McFly. After going through immigration, which is somewhat of a blur right now, I got my standard "welcome home" and headed to the domestic terminal for my flight to Denver. It was the furthest terminal of course. But it was nice to go for a long walk after being on the plane for so long. Once I got through security again, I made some calls. I was back in the US and didn't have to rely on wifi. Woo hoo. So I spent some time catching up with family before my flight. After a relatively short flight from LA to Denver, and some amazing views, I finally made it. When we landed, they announced the temperature and I thought it was Celsius at first, but knew that 35 Celsius was way to hot for Denver. And there was snow everywhere. I saw snow in New Zealand, but at the top of mountains. This was everywhere. You know, because it's winter.

Somewhere between California and Colorado.

I grabbed the bus to take me downtown and finally at around 4pm in the afternoon, I made it to the hotel. I was excited to have my own room with a king size bed. With a view. Big spender. I didn't necessarily want to spend this much money on a room since I'm in the middle of my trip, and unemployed. But it was for Brian's wedding, and I wanted to be near everyone. I was going to take advantage of that big bed and sleep a ton. 

King size bed. Whoop.

Although when I tried to take a short nap later on, after a shower of course, it was hard. I was meeting everyone for pre-wedding drinks and knew I would get tired. Let's be real, I was already tired. I didn't really sleep and got myself ready to go out into the cold in my thrown together outfit that was not appropriate for Denver in the middle of winter. The temperature was down in the teens at that point. I just put on a lot of layers and went to Wynkoop Brewing Company to celebrate Brian and Jenny, and catch up with old friends. It was great seeing everyone. I was a little out of it and I wasn't used to seeing people I knew. But it was almost like no time had passed. It was a relatively early night (considering it was a wedding weekend) and my eyes were killing me. I had to get to bed. Although I was too wired to sleep. I had gone past a night's sleep and was on the next day, Australia time. 

I got a decent night's sleep, that is until housekeeping woke me up. Not sure why they were making the rounds at 9am. Unfortunately I couldn't really fall back sleep. I wanted to get another coupe of hours, but that didn't really happen. I met up with my friend Erica at noon and we went for a run. Since it was afternoon at this point, the weather had warmed up a bit. I did have one winter running outfit that would work, so I was covered. We knocked out 5 miles at elevation and caught up the entire way. Since the Super Bowl was the following day, we ran to the Broncos stadium in celebration. 

Running to the Broncos stadium.

After our run, we grabbed some lunch nearby with another friend of mine who now lives in Denver. I studied with Meredith in Dublin years ago and since I was visiting, we wanted to meet up. We had  good food and some local beer. Time was flying by as we caught with running and traveling. 

Old study abroad friend.

Before I knew it, it was 3:30. I had to go. The pre-ceremony festivities were starting at 5pm. I ran to grab a card and water, and went back to the hotel. But I ran into another friend and realized I also meant to get some tea to wake up. So I accompanied Jen and her fiancee to Starbucks. We had a few minutes to catch up before I had to get back to the hotel and shower. I had gotten my dress and heels from my friend Emily the day before (she brought them from NYC), so I just needed to hurry. I met Emily and Ari, and we headed to the wedding.

We arrived too late and missed the Tisch, but then they proceeded with some other traditions. I wasn't familiar with most of it. Ok, all of it. Mostly because I'm not Jewish. And the two Jewish weddings I've been to, were slightly different. So I stood there, smiled, and sort of sang along when the verses seemed to be repetitive. Afterwards, it was time for the actually ceremony. The wedding was in an art gallery, a good setting for a wedding. The ceremony was very beautiful. Yes, I feel like I say that for every wedding. But it's generally true.

Brian and Jenny.

The rest of the wedding flew by. We ate, we drank, and we danced. We got our obligatory UR alumni photo and took some photos in the photo booth. Before we knew it, we were back at the hotel. We grabbed a drink up at the hotel Peaks Lounge. Oh and then we had pizza. We were all pretty hungry again by then. So after devouring that, we went to bed. What a fun night. Oh I actually also had an edible. You know, because we were in Colorado. I don't think it hit me until right before bed. I was watching TV, and I definitely felt something. I wasn't sure if my wine was hitting me or the edible. Regardless, I decided it was time to close my eyes and go to bed. 

UR alumni.

I tried to sleep in the following morning, but was again was slightly unsuccessful. I got a late checkout and went for a run. I figured the cold air would help my slight hangover, and I needed to move a bit. After a few miles, I packed up my things, and met another friend, Cori, and her husband at Snooze for brunch, after getting a mimosa at Station bar. My first one in months. Union Station is actually quite nice. It's so nice, it doesn't look like many people travel through there.

Mimosa time.

After brunch, I headed to the Yard House to meet everyone to watch the Broncos play the Panthers in Super Bowl 50. Yup, I was in Denver and the Broncos were in it. And yes, I was rooting for them. Why not. It was a pretty good game, and the Broncos pulled it in for the win, even though at certain points, I knew fans were a little nervous. Since we were in a bar (and it's been a long time since I watched in a bar), it was hard to catch some of the commercials. Good thing for YouTube. After a celebratory drink at the hotel bar, it was time to make my way to Erica's, where I was staying a couple of nights before leaving the country. 

The Broncos win.

Since the Broncos won, the city was busy celebrating. Erica and Eric couldn't make there way into the city to pick me up. After unsuccessfully finding a cab, I went to grab the bus, which was also unsuccessful. Although I did see some of the celebrations first hand. People were driving by, hanging out windows, honking horns and just plain happy. The police were out in full force to prevent anything crazy. I know they were being prepared, but it seemed pretty tame to me. Although at one point, I'm pretty sure I got tear gas in my throat. I just started coughing all of a sudden, after the police shot out something out of their guns. Again, it wasn't major, but I was definitely getting tired and was ready to leave. 

The police are out in full force.

I finally got a cab and got myself to Erica. I tried to sleep in the next morning, but really couldn't. Erica's appointment was cancelled, so we spent the morning doing a few things. I had some flights to book and she had work to do. I of course realized that my flight to Chile was the following day, not Wednesday like I had thought. When I was in Australia, everything was a day ahead, so my flight was in fact on Tuesday. I didn't get to do much else in Denver, but got a few errands done and Erica and I got lunch at a cute spot in Arvada. And of course I loved the globes. 

Off to the next part of the world.

We got some beer afterwards at a local spot, and headed back to her place to have a low-key night. I had gotten rid of some things since I sent a package home, but then had to make room for my new hiking boots. I made everything fit. The following morning, Eric gave me a ride to the airport, and I headed out for the next part of my trip.

Local beer.

Of course not before I got selected for a TSA check. So I had that extra security check in Melbourne and now I had a security check in Denver. I must be flagged for all of my travels. I'm pretty sure it wasn't random like they said. Fortunately my flight was delayed, but they took their time thoroughly checking me and my bags. I mean thoroughly. It took quite some time, but finally got through the process. I was finally on my way to Atlanta, where I had a stopover before flying to Chile.