A Lot of Sand

The Atacama Desert, Chile

I rented a car in Antofagasta and drove an hour and a half into the desert to see a giant hand sculpture. Kind of a pricey photo opportunity, but at least it was something unique. As opposed to say, another waterfall.

In San Pedro de Atacama I went on a couple more standard tourist outings. "Sandboarding" was decently fun. It was just snowboarding down sand dunes. The dune was about the size of a bunny hill and there was no tow rope. But as a novelty I enjoyed it anyway.

I also finished typing up my 2017 journal in San Pedro. This has become an annual tradition for me. At the end of the year I always type my journal up and save it on my computer. This allows me to reflect on the past year and also makes it easy to search for my record of events I can't remember well.

This year's reflections included some interpersonal stuff I don't care to divulge, some pride in having excelled at most things I'd set out to do in life, and mixed feelings about my traveling skills. I wrote that I was a capable or crappy traveler, depending on how you looked at it.

I had no anxiety about solo travelling without plans. I felt totally comfortable in 3rd world countries.

But I wasn't great at making friends and I did get pretty lonely. I also didn't feel the euphoria from seeing pretty things that other people did. For example, I have a hard time writing a blog about a desert.

It was I guess what you'd expect. A lot of sand.