Just like the two trips of visitors before, we checked the computer to make sure that their plane was on time. Then we were all set to go, everyone was excited about seeing them, and their plane was on time, or so we thought. When we got to the airport,we checked the monitor, to see if they had arrived, but they were far from arriving; flight 983 was delayed, 2 hours! We couldn't go back to the apartment though, because we would never get back to the airport in time, so we were stuck there. We had left so early that morning we didn't eat, because we expected to eat after we had picked them up. So we started to get really hungry and the cafe downstairs was full, the only other restaurant was Gatsby's. We had eaten there once before and we did NOT like what we saw and had the first time, but being the nice (and hungry) people we are, we decided to give it one more chance. It did not go well, and that one chance is up, so hopefully we won't be in that situation again. Finally we saw them on the TV that showed the people walking through, and ran to meet up with them. There was a big reunion with everyone greeting everyone, they had finally made it: Jessie, Lucas, Nana, and Aunt Sally. We then headed back to the apartment and those who just came out from -5°(Fahrenheit)weather took advantage of the weather here, and we all headed down to the pool. After some swimming and laughs we went up to get ready for a visit from our friend Paola, who is an ornithologist. Paola came over and gave us a talk on the different things that we would be seeing on our trip. Paola, along with some others, would be our guides.The next day we waited until our last group member, Jan, arrived, then we packed up and headed north out of Santiago. Turn up your volume, and you can hear the John Prine song which was our theme song throughout this trip!
We made a little stop in a small town, Los Vilos, and had a picnic lunch, then we were on our way again. We arrived in La Serena around 5, and since we had already picked out where we would be staying, we headed straight to the hotel. The lady at the hotel was very nice and helpful, and we managed to only have one traumatic meat/vegetarian event.
The next morning, Paola, and another one of our guides, Rodrigo, came to the hotel in their pickup. We followed them in the van into the desert. We made a stop to get out and look at a species of endangered cactus, and meet up with our two other guides,
Andrea and Pablo. We had just a little more to go, except we got stuck in the sand! We had to get out, and the adults had to push the van. We then ended up taking another route. We arrived there, in a very small fishermen's town, Caletas de Chañaral, where only 30 families live all year round. In the picture below, you can see Lucas in the tree right next to the restaurant, all of the kids had a branch to themselves. We made ourselves comfortable in our cabin, then headed down to the beach, where the guides had set up their 
trailer. While the rest of us headed on, Nana stayed back with Andrea and Pablo. The walk was amazing, and I learned a lot: we got to see crabs, jellyfish, different sea birds, birds' eggs, and some starfish. We kids got to pick up the starfish and play with them and their little tentacles, many of them were named Patrick, I wonder why... We also got to play in the water, and Lucas got stuck in what he 
calls "an evil kelp field!" which is otherwise known as an area with lots of seaweed that gets caught around your legs, a very uncomfortable feeling! While we went on our walk, Rodrigo went spear fishing and caught fish for our dinner. Andrea, Pablo, Paola, and Rodrigo made a delicious steak, fresh fish, and salad dinner.The next day we got up bright and early for the exciting day ahead of us. We got ready and then headed down to the dock, where everyone told us that we wouldn't need our jackets, it was going to be warm. So many of us left our jackets back with the guides who wouldn't be going, got our life jackets, and went over by the boat. Everyone was very surprised to see how small the boat was, it was a little fisherman's boat. The look on Aunt Sally's face when she saw the boat was priceless! :) or should I say :0
Well, we all fit on the boat! With Nana in one of our beach chairs, everyone was teasing her that she was the queen of the boat. We set out for the vast ocean! It was the Ranft-Doodys, The Martin-Ranfts (missing one Martin-Ranft), Jan, Nana, Paola, and two local fishermen, whose boat it was. The first animals we saw were some big white sea birds. Then off in the distance we saw what looked like dolphins, but were actually sea lions, leaping out of the water. Next, off the port side of the boat some of the group saw the spout of water from the whale's blowhole! Being the slow turtle that I am, I missed the whale and didn't get to see it! Paola said that it was allright though, because we would be seeing more whales. Then, one of the guys (who owns the boat) pointed out to the island where we were headed. I stared at it for a little while, then I saw it! It was a magnificent and magical feeling that I will never forget. All you saw was a puff of what looked like mist. Just knowing that this mystical breath of water and air came from one of the largest animals on the planet was thrilling. We kept going until we were closer to the whales. Then one of the men turned off the engine, while the other pointed towards where we should look. For only a few seconds, that felt like minutes passsing by, we sat there in pure silence out on the ocean slowly drifting with the waves. Everyone held their breath until about five feet away, a whale emerged from the water and we could watch and hear the whale breathe out, then everyone let out their own releived breath, that was soon replaced by oooohs and aaaaahs. Soon after though, the whale left to go back to its own world underneath us. We stayed 
there a couple seconds then they started the boat up again and we moved towards the island. Then stopped again and waited for another whale, just like the first time, we all took a deep breath and waited until suddenly a whale, the same distance away came up and everyone went over to the right side of the boat, or should I say the port side - that would make Uncle Gee happy! Then the whale submerged back down. We stayed there for another minute or two, then another whale came! This time right next to the boat, so close that we could have touched it, so close that we could see the blowhole open and look inside!After our encounters with the large fin and humpback whales, they started the engine back up, and we began moving towards the island again. When we got close to the island, we saw one more whale, this one had a large fishing net around its tail, everyone wanted to go in and help it. It was really a sad sight! It went back under, so we started moving. I watched as waves crashed against the rocks, and started getting scared. I didn't know when the men where gonna start turning, it looked like we were getting quite close to the island, then they turned us and we started our island tour. During the tour, we circled the island in the boat. We saw boobies, a type of bird, pelicans, sea lions, and of course, Lucas's favorite animal, the humbolt penguin!
We also saw some dolphins with their babies swimming along side us! It was amazing! 
When we got back to the town, we went to the restaurant and had lunch, then after lunch we loaded into the pickups (leaving Nana behind for a nap) and headed out to the beach. There we had a great time, Aunt Sally and Jan and Mom took naps, while Paola, Rodrigo, Andrea, Pablo, and Dad talked. Meanwhile, Lucas,
Jessie, Sarah, and I went out by the water, we would go a little deep, then the waves would come and knock us over! The only bad part was that we're used to fresh water, and boy was this salty!! After our outing to the beach we headed back and had another great meal made by Paola, Rodrigo, Andrea, and Pablo!The last day in Caletas de Chanaral, we all went in the two pickups (the van wouldn't have made it) to the dunes. There, we went four-wheeling and running around in the dunes, and we also set up a telescope and got to see whales blowing out their spouts. Nana got a real ride!
We also got to see an araña pollito, which looks a lot like a tarantula, except they're not poisonous. 
We had a great time in the desert! It was an awesome experience!
We still had a few days in Santiago, after we got back from the trip, and we got to take them to a few tourist hot spots, like Cerro San Cristobal, and wine tasting. We had a great time and we're glad that they came to see us!
For more pictures go to :
