spent the past couple of days wandering geyser fields (kind of like taking a time machine to some crazy prehistoric era), spying on flamingo colonies in the barren and bizarre landscape that is the atacama salar, eating llama meat (best carne i've ever tasted...YUM), and drinking coca leaf tea (no i am not a druggie. they say it helps you deal with the altitude, tho...). tomorrow i leave for my little foray into bolivia for a 4x4 tour through the altiplano lagunas and salt flats of uyuni. that means no internet for five days. then i'll be in santiago for good! see you then...