sunscreened and thriving

Reporting live from my bed that I haven't left since I got home yesterday. Just got back from the 5 days tearing it up in the driest desert in the world and I may never move my body again.

Little bit of background: Instead of doing the $700 Atacama tour with our study abroad program, me and two pals, Spring and Sarah, (more commonly recognized as the Travel Team) did it on our own in hopes of having enough money to eat for our remaining two months in Chile. Here's an account of our time together.

Last Thursday we started our trip off with a bang by staying at the salsateca until 2am and then heading right to the airport to catch our flight. Because that's how you should always start a trip right.

A short flight later we got punted in Calama, Chile, a small mining town in the middle of nowhere where we could take a bus to San Pedro de Atacama. We got lost within literally 62 seconds of being there. LUCKILY, a miracle came in the form of a small female janitor who saw us struggling and gave us just the most detailed directions anyone could ever receive to the bus stop. I have never felt more loved by a small female janitor in my entire life. We had some extra time before our bus so we found a small picada with horse paintings on the walls and Christmas mugs and a wonderful Peruvian woman who single-handedly ran the place. We ordered pan y huevos and about 3 minutes after we ordered it we watched that woman run out of the door without saying a word to return 10 minutes later with bags of fresh bread. Also my café con leche came in the form of a hot cup of milk and a packet of instant coffee. I don't know when that will stop surprising me.

The first thing we did when we got to San Pedro was slack line with a local. Perks of not traveling with 40 bumbling gringos. The second thing we did was show up to the cheapest hostel that exists in San Pedro where we paid $8.50 a night to sleep in sheets that I'm actually positive have never been washed. (We watched Alfredo lysol the sheets in between guests and we loved every second of it.) The wifi worked about 60% of the time and sometimes there was hot water and usually toilet paper. But we paid 5,000 pesos for it. No complaints, folks. Great place.

Everyday for the next 4 days we rented bicicletas to bike our asses to desert beauty instead of paying big money to drive there on a tour and then to have to be on a tour. The first day we rode about 90 minutes to the Laguna Cejar. Still not quite sure why there's a lake in the middle of the driest desert in the world or how it sustains flamingos but you know science and whatever. We swam in the lake and it was v salty. So salty that you can't dunk your head under unless you really wanna hurt yourself and that you can float on your stomach without moving a muscle. We ended up talking to two Chilean gentleman in the lake and then all of a sudden our bikes were in the back of their truck and they were driving us an hour through beautiful desert landscape and paying $90 for us to get into the natural hot springs. GOOD THINGS COME TO POOR PEOPLE WHO TRAVEL. And then we were in the hot spring and Raul started singing Spanish opera and I will never understand how my choices in life brought me to that moment.

The next day we rode to Valle de la Luna. Little did I know that it's called Valley of the Moon BECAUSE THE TERRAIN IS JUST LIKE THE SURFACE OF THE MOON. So cool and also very bizarre. Apparently NASA even uses it to test whatever it is NASA does. On the way back we found ourselves on the side of the road trying to fix Sarah's bike. A guy on a motorcycle passed us and then a minute later came back to ask us if we needed help. He was SO SWEET and fixed her bike and even oiled up her wheels. He was an Argentinian who was motorcycling through Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile and he was absolutely my favorite part of the Atacama.

The next two days were just more "hey let's get on our bikes and find cool lugares in the desert" and we did it and it was great. We sweated a lot. And got really really dirty. And I never took off my adventure hat or my Tevas or my Shark watch. Took multiple photos of my naked butt cheeks in front of beautiful landscapes (as I have been doing in all beautiful landscapes since my trip to the Grand Canyon back in '13). Sometimes I got hangry or got suncreen in my eye but other than that it was a great time.

On our last night (which also happened to be Spring's 22nd cumpleaños) we walked out of the town a bit to stargaze. We had our new slacklining pal with us and now I will never forget that a shooting star is an "estrella fugaz" because I learned it while lying in dirt in the middle of the Atacama desert in Chile with a local. SPANISH IMMERSION IS REAL FOLKS.

The last 10 hours of our trip might be the strangest 10 hours of my entire life. Due to poorly coordinated bus and flight times we had to take a bus from San Pedro back to Calama Tuesday night but our flight wasn't until 8:50 AM the next morning. Since obvi we're too cheap to pay $30 each for a hostel for the night in Calama (it's a weird rich mining town where all the hostels and hotel which is like all 3 of them are weirdly expensive), our plan was to sleep in the airport. We got off the bus at 10pm and across the street there was a weird Chinese restaurant so we decided to go kill a few hours there before we took a taxi to the airport. After a mountain of Mongolian beef and wontons and Coronas, Sarah decided to make a joke like "lol, wouldn't it be funny if the airport is closed at night". And I said "lol wait that's a thing?" and she said "lol, ya" so we asked our waiter and he asked his co-workers and made a phone call and soon THAT JOKE BECAME OUR REALITY.  So here we are buzzed in a Chinese family restaurant at 11:30 at night with nowhere to go for the next 7 hours. Seeing as how our trip had gone so far I just kept saying "I'm just waiting for someone to come up to us and offer for us to stay in their home for the night". AND LOL THAT HAPPENED. Our waiter came back and offered for us to stay at the bartender's house. And so we stayed at the restaurant until closing and then the owner drove us two blocks to the bartender's house in his Mercedes SUV. The owner spoke both English and Spanish AND Chinese and yet never said a word to any of us. And why does he own a Mercedes SUV? He might be the most confusing part of our night. We all ended up chatting and watching music videos from the 80's until 4am until we took a 2 hour siesta and at 6am their taxi driver friend came and picked us up to take us to the airport but like he wasn't even driving a taxi so like this was another confusing part. By the time we got to the airport we were all just thankful and confused and happy to be alive and thriving in Calama, Chile.

Now I'm back in Santiago and while I loved my time in the Atacama as a dirty desert rat, I was actually real homesick for my Chilean fam, my Chilean home, and my life and people in Santiago. How does that happen after just two short months of being here. HELP WHAT WILL I DO WHEN I HAVE TO LEAVE FOR LONGER THAN 5 DAYS.

Also one quick special God moment I had this week. On the way home from the airport yesterday, Spring and I were riding the metro and this girl next to us was texting on her phone and crying really really hard. I started praying that somehow Jesus' peace and comfort would come into the situation. Right after I started praying, a sweet, SWEET older woman who was a stranger to the girl reached out her arm and started rubbing the girl's back and stroking her hair. Now, I don't know if that was an answer to prayer or whether or not that even comforted the girl, but I do know that if anything it was God being like hey Jess let me remind you that I'm a God who a lot of the time chooses to bring peace and comfort to people through other people. LESSON LEARNED JESUS. So like if you're trying to find me, I'll be in Santiago, Chile trying to live in a way in which God can work through me.

Ttyl.

HOW IS IT ALREADY OCT 19 WHY

Hi.

This week I found out that Chile is in South America. I went to La Vega Central (the main fruit/veggie/meats/etc.) market in Santiago and my life was forever changed. It was sketchy and beautiful and there were pig heads and I finally felt like I was in Latin America and I plan on going back at least once a week. 

Also I've realized that 90% of the reason I love Chile is because instead of shaking hands to meet someone you kiss their cheek. Which is GREAT for people like me with sweaty hands always. 

My pal Spring and I tried to make a peso on the metro by playing and singing 5 Years Time on the ukulele. Didn't go so well. 

I got my ass grabbed by this AWFUL man on my way out of the metro last week. I was so shocked/flustered when it happened that all I did was give him a dirty look. All week I've been trying to think about what I should have done but I can't come to a conclusion. WHAT WOULD JESUS DO IF HE GOT HIS ASS GRABBED ON THE METRO? YEAH I DON'T KNOW EITHER. 

There's a Christian ministry here for college students called El Oasis. It's the best thing that has ever happened to Chilean Jansen. I would really just like to spend 110% of my time with the people there. Last weekend I went on their retreat in the campo with them. It was just the absolute best. I am obsessed with every human that was there. They are SO FUN and also so very patient with my Spanish. I could actually write 14 blog posts just about that weekend and Oasis and all the fun stuff we do together now and everything ever. AS IF I NEEDED MORE REASONS TO NEVER LEAVE CHILE. I have about 50 more of them now in people form. 

I just got back from spending some time with the Younglifers in Rancagua again. It was gr8, as expected. But there was also something gr8 that wasn't expected. This afternoon Gabriel dropped me off at the bus station and LOL ALL THE BUS TICKETS BACK TO SANTIAGO WERE SOLD OUT. AND MY CHILEAN PHONE WAS DEAD. AND I DIDN'T HAVE GABRIEL'S PHONE NUMBER WRITTEN DOWN ANYWHERE. OR HIS ADDRESS. AND I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA BE SLEEPING IN THE BUS STATION.  Luckily I can hablar some español and I figured out that there was a bigger bus station across town where I could get a bus back to Santiago. Lol.

TIME HERE IS FLYING AND I'M PANICKING. I'm experiencing this strange thing where I can't wait to be back in San Luis Obispo but I also actually never want to leave Chile. It's like one of those weird things like the Trinity. It doesn't make any sense, it just is. 

Sorry for the short post. Love me. 

just another week without ranch dressing

WARNING: real crunched for time these days. I would love to go into more detail about everything (specifically about what Jesus is teaching me) but I guess you will all just have to wait until January when you take me out to In-N-Out to hear more of the dirty deets. Until then....

Last week I went to a salsoteca and watched every Chilean in the world move their hips the exact same way. HOW. 

One day on the metro this scary guy with a mask and a cape came on and I was scared until he started playing beautiful music and cracking jokes and engaging everyone on the metro AND THEN he sat down with a little kid on the floor and played music with him and it was the most beautiful thing and all I could think was THIS IS CHURCH.

I bought a missionary skirt and a bilingual Bible this week so I think that means I have to be a missionary now, right?

Young Life Slo County is killing it in my absence. I received a photo of a 21-year-old man in a pink furry vest intended for a 14-month-old infant. Wes Zimmerman--bringing kids to the feet of Jesus the best way he knows how.

Yesterday I discovered Calle Bandera. A street lined with thirty-five thrift shops. THIRTY-FIVE. And the wonderful thing is that NO ONE here likes the stuff that I like. I was so overwhelmed by it all that I ended up not buying a single thing. WHAT DO YOU BUY WHEN YOU LIKE EVERYTHING.

On Saturday I hiked around with four DELIGHTFUL humans (2 of whom I met that day) in the mountains of Santiago. There were rickety bridges and hippie communes and waterfalls and everything important ever. Here's a quick bio of my four new friends: 1. A pastor of a progressive church in the suburbs of Santiago. 2. An angel who is married to that pastor. 3. A Chilean who got kicked out of his church for asking too many questions (lol) and started making church happen in homes in his community instead. 4. A gringa who's married to that previously mentioned Chilean question asker who lived in Tacna, Peru for a year (aka the only town in Peru I was afraid to be in) and now is basically a self-supported missionary who's main objective in life is to open her home and life to anyone and everyone. All day I could think was HOW DID I GET HERE. WHY AM I HIKING ON PRIVATE LAND WHERE PEOPLES HORSES ARE JUST TIED UP TO TREES TALKING THEOLOGY IN SPANISH WITH A THIRTY SOMETHING YEAR OLD CHILEAN MAN.

On Sunday I attended the church of Banda Conmoción for the second time. I actually don't think a purer manifestation of God exists. Twenty incredibly talented SOULS are lined up on that stage playing music and dancing around together. How creative r u God for having music be something humans are naturally inclined to make and enjoy. Some people believe in God because sunsets. I believe in God BECAUSE BANDA CONMOCION.

And yesterday I just had one of my favorite days here ever. Mostly for reasons that no one would find exciting but me. Just really obsessed with all the humans here.

Disclaimer: This blog mostly talks about the highlights. And the stuff I'm most excited to share. And my proudest moments. But guess what. There are days when I sit in my living room for 5 hours and do homework. And there are moments when the food isn't omg to die for. And there are moments when I'm sweaty and cranky on the metro. And there are moments when I really miss my people at home. Or really worry about my people at home. So LET IT BE KNOWN that I'm not in some euphoric fantasy land where everything is "the best experience of my life" all the time. So if you're reading this abroad, or if you plan on going abroad, just know we have the freedom to be humans while we do so. We have the opportunity to engage the hard parts of life in a foreign country. And that is what makes study abroad the experience of a lifetime.

So ya, sometimes it's hard being here. But I've been trying not to weep for the past 36 hours because I just feel so right where I'm supposed to be. And I'm so thankful to be here that I could throw up.

Also, some of the Chileans have been reading my blog with the help of google translate. Sweet Cecilia even worked on translating it during her English lesson. I CAN'T TELL IF I'M HONORED OR HORRIFIED.

Peace + blessings from the southern hemisphere. Bye everyone.