Malissa 2.0

Needless to say, I've grown/evolved a whole lot over the course of this semester. (I'm not referring to my jean size here although that is unfortunately quite true as well.) On several occasions during my big adventure to northern Argentina & Chile this past week, I found myself doing/thinking things that would shock/disturb the "old" me. Allow me to describe a few characteristics of this strange new self (but don't get too excited, friends & fam, I doubt some of these adaptive traits will stick once I'm back home in the States where being uptight and temperamental is actually a viable option):

• Flexible & spontaneous: That's right, I can go with the flow! Natalie invites me on an 8-day trip to Salta and San Pedro de Atacama, but tells me I need to buy my tickets within the hour? OK! We don't make ANY plans for said trip until arriving at the destination? No problem! "So let's just book a hostel when we get there?""Sounds great!" The most structured aspect of the whole week was the two days of guided tours in Atacama (which we hastily booked in one ten-minute sitting). Even when we had a general itinerary it was prone to sudden adjustments (such as the last-minute decision to stop in Tilcara and pay the owner of a random hostel to keep our bags for a few hours so we could do a ten mile hike [¡!]) and, if I do say so myself, I dealt with it like a champ (on the outside, at least). Disclaimer: this may actually be a consequence of my not-so-new tendency to be a people pleaser, something that's even more necessary when you're not spending time with family/people who are obligated to put up with you...

Salta

• Outdoorsy: So I don't plan to try my hand at surviving alone in the wilderness anytime soon, but it would be impossible to see such beautiful sights (lagoons, geysers, salt flats, oh my!) and come away unaffected. The incredible desert landscapes of Atacama could probably inspire a love for nature in anyone. In fact, at one point the multicolored mountains actually compelled me to profess a newfound passion for geology. (I think that fervor has passed now but still...) In addition, I found my new favorite type of natural body of water-- a salt lagoon; not only can one float with zero effort (no swimming required!), the high salt levels mean that no marine wildlife can live there (no slimy, scary lake creatures!!). 

• Low-maintenance: A cold shower never killed nobody, right?! (But seriously it's almost concerning how thrilled I was at the rare luxury of hostel-provided towels and soap in Purmamarca or a boxed lunch on the bus that consisted of chips, a knockoff twinkie, and a juice box.)

Geiser el Tatio

• Animal lover: Well, maybe I should say something less extreme like "tolerator" or "less-frequent hater," but an odd thing happened on this trip where I looked upon a non-human creature and thought to myself, "Aww, so cute!" (I should have known that my developing affection for my host family's cat would lead to such a downward spiral.) The llamas and vicuñas chilling along the side of the mountainous roads were especially adorable (but not so much that I regretted chowing down on some delish llama empanadas/milanesas/kabobs/etc). Several stray dogs accompanied us for the duration of our Tilcara hike and I became so attached to one of them I had a mini panic attack when he almost lost his footing in the stream. A notable exception to this tolerance for animals: the pet bunny that ran loose in our Atacama hostel and pooped all over our belongings/Kasey's bed.

Flamingoes
 

Vicuña

Llama

More llama

More pics (for ones with actual humans check my FB):

Valle de la Luna 

Purmamarca

Salinas Grandes

Tilcara

Just one more trip + a few days in BA until I'm Durham-bound!