Our Vacation

Monday (Christmas Eve)

• Left super late (afternoon rather than morning) because we found out a bit too late that we needed more paperwork to leave the country because our car is the companies.
• Stayed in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile for the night.

Tuesday (Christmas)

• Crossed the border to Argentina. It was amazing to watch the difference in scenery... started out in the driest desert in the world (the Atacama), where not even cactus or sagebrush grow. Slowly started seeing some ponds with flamingos and slight vegetation. Ended up in very dense vegetation. It was quite something. The different animals along the way kept us quite entertained as well.
• Saw shepherds 3 different times. How fitting, as it was Christmas day.
• Jinnie puked from the high altitude of the Andes Mountains.
• Stopped in Jujuy (pronounced 'Who-whoey) for gas & dinner... only place open was less than desirable.
• Decided to take a scenic route to Salta (didn't realize just HOW scenic it would become)... ended up being 1 lane for 2 lanes of traffic most of the way, with lots of switch-backs & animals crossing the roads. Just as we lost all sun we came to a better road... wahoo.
• Spent the night in Salta... awesome hotel, wonderful price. Had laundry done, ate from the snack bar & ordered room service & we were still amazed at the price.

Wednesday

• Super yummy & cheap steak lunch... it was heaven. I'm not joking. I honestly could live in Argentina just for their meat.
• Checked out a mall... fun play land, expensive clothes. Only $ spent was in the play land.
• Took a ride up a mountain to see a view of Salta.
• Went for a boat ride on a large duck pond.
• Experienced a brief but strong rain storm... the girls were quite intrigued by this since it rains every 7 years in Antofagasta.
• Discovered that we needed a transformer for Argentina & would be unable to take pictures of the remainder of our vacation (the few of us riding horses are from Dave's Blackberry, but we couldn't take any more because it was running out of battery as well).

Thursday

• Ate lunch in a castle owned by a relative of a mamita from Dave's mission. It was so pretty & we enjoyed more meat... wahoo. We pretended we were Disney Princesses in an attempt to help the girls behave like princesses in a castle & somehow we all ended up being The Little Mermaid... oh, except for Dave... he was Prince Charming.
• Rode horses... Hailey & Ava were both crying at first... you would never know in Hailey's pictures because she would pose for the camera, but as soon as it was out of her face she looked as scared as can be. After the first few minutes she and Ava both were having the time of their lives... then it was my turn to not enjoy myself... my horse was having issues & I'm pretty sure it was about to buck me & Jinnie many times. Our guides kept adjusting everything on her (don't really know saddle terminology), but not much helped... between an antsy horse & a baby that really didn't want to stay in her sling, I was glad when the ride was over.
• Drove to Purmamarca where the hotel we had planned on staying in was booked (guess we should have made reservations). We stayed next door in a pricey hotel called the Mantel of Silence... let's just say we are anything BUT silent. Oh well. It had the feel of a castle, so I guess it was fitting that we slept there after eating in one. Dave & I tried llama meat that night.

Friday

• Went shopping before heading back to Chile.
• Drove for what seemed like forever... nobody was sick this time, yeah!
• Home sweet home.