Isla Damas, Home of the Pingüinos

From La Serena, there's a nice little trip up north to a humboldt penguin reserve. The first week of January, my dad and I got ourselves up early one morning to take this trip. After an hour and a half bus ride, we took a boat to two islands: Isla Choros and Isla Damas. We circled around Isla Choros for a half hour or so, taking a good look at some big 'ol sea lions, flocks of penguins standing and looking around (and not doing much), and some caves. Then, we landed on the smaller Isla Damas.

Isla Damas is essentially untouched wilderness (besides a small ship-guiding light, a path, and a small wooden dock). They only allow up to 50 people on the island at a time (according to our quite hilarious tour guide, any more and the island would sink). The island falls in Chile's transition zone (along with La Serena), which means it's between the dry desert and wetter valleys to the south. This means that there's really cool desert plant life with a lot more variability than you would see in a desert.


Welcome to Isla Damas!


Isla Damas & the surrounding area is full of cool plant life. To show us that the region was wetter than you'd think, our tour guide pulled up one of these plants and rung the crap out of it, squeezing out a bunch of red, sticky juice.


Some penguins on a rock. Couldn't get much closer our they would fly away....just kidding.


Of course, I had to climb up to the top of the highest peak on the island.


More cool plants.

#### More Isla Damas Photos!! ####

My dad just sent a CD of pictures he took on his trip down here, so I'll add a few of them here!


We also saw a bunch of elephant seals on the boat trip. They're smelly, lazy, enormous, and ridiculously good swimmers.


Ah....the seals' life.....


When you don't do anything all day, you can spend some of the time posing for gringo tourists.


Lots of penguins standing there and looking around.


More penguins standing and looking around....I think all they do is stand there and look around. I never saw a single penguin do anything but stand around!


Me and my dad on Isla Damas. The clouds hung around our whole time there, but it was pleasant. The one bummer is that we didn't see any dolphins. I've talked to people who say that there can be dozens of dolphins that come and play around the boat.



The plant life on Isla Damas was quite impressive, and was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. Although I have to admit I'm a huge desert-plant lover, especially flowering desert plants!

¡Mi Papá llega a Chile!

My dad made the trip down south to visit me for a month, from mid-December to mid-January. We celebrated a nice Christmas and New Years' together & did a good amount of traveling. It was his first time outside of North America, and he absolutely loved it. Here's some pictures from his first week in Chile.


My dad posing in front of La Moneda in Santiago.


My dad hung out with Salvador Allende for a bit.


Christmas!!! I got a much-needed pair of new shoes (in Chile, size 13 shoes do not exist!).

Pucon y el Sur de Chile

In mid-december I went with Hugo (my boss) down to Pucon, Chile for an astronomy conference. Pucon, falling at about 40° S latitude, is the furthest south I have been in my life. The sights there were spectacular, and very reminiscent of western Washington, except more pristine, less crowded, and with more impressive volcanoes. The drive down was awesome, as we gradually changed from dry, dusty desert to plush, green forest over the span of 12 hours. Also, we drove on election day (a Sunday) so there was practically nobody on the road (but the few that were on the road, were, like most chileans, horrible drivers).


Volcan Villarica from the road to Pucon. Occasionally it's possible to see smoke coming out the top.

Pucon, although very touristy and expensive, is surrounded by fantastic scenery. Snow-covered Volcan Villarica peers down on the town at all hours of the day. I really, really wanted to climb the volcano, but since we were there only 3 days for the conference, there was no time. The other side of the town is bordered by a gorgeous lake lined with evergreens.


Nice lake, eh?


Volcan Villarica from the place we were staying.