I uploaded some photos...

...but it took hella long and now I don't feel like captioning them. Check them out on the link to the right.

We took the two hour bus to Atacamas today. A good illustration of how every day brings crazy little adventures. We had been told by Sonya, the mother of one of the families, that buses left every hour. We thought we'd catch the 9 am bus, so we left at 830. Even though the bus stop is like 100 yards away we have to cross the river to get there, which was a little tricky this morning since it was pouring rain and the tide was high. We thought we'd walk up to a shallow spot to see if it was walkable, but the path was muddy, slippery mess, and the river was still pretty strong. Fermin, Sonya's husband, offered to take us across in his canoe, which got stuck half way, so we walked through the water anyway. Got to to the bus stop with plenty of time only to be told that there isn't another bus until 11. So we ambled around for 2 hours until the bus came. The buses for the little towns are the open-air, hop-on type, and this one was pretty packed so we climbed on top. Fortunately it wasn´t raining any more...Riding on top was actually really fun and very pretty. Mike managed to take a tree branch to the face, though. Busy, bustling Atacamas is kind of sensory overload compared to sleepy little Estero. We wandered around, ate some overpriced ceviche, and perhaps later we´ll enjoy a smoothie on the beach before heading back.

Other highlights from this week include visiting a beautiful beach in Tongorachi, being told by an old man who wanted me to come live with him in his house that I was white like a dove and needed more sun, drinking big, cold, $1 beers on the beach at night, and waking up yesterday morning vomiting AND having diarrhea. I feel much better today, though!