Penguins in the Desert

I´m alive!

I was by the side of the road at 9 and stood in the shrinking shade of a sign for Chile for an hour, trying to hitch hike and being rejected by happy families and obese truck drivers alike. Then one not so obese truck driver with sharp metal poles in the back of his car stopped, to tell me that I was standing in the wrong place.

Anyone going in or out of Chile has to go through the customs office. You have to walk through disinfectant in case you bring in some terribly dangerous Bolivian mud causing an epidemic of bird flu or foot and mouth. A lady in heavy protective clothing (in the middle of the scorching desert, which is hot, by the way) sprays the wheels of cars with orange disinfectant. I was going to play it cool but I buckled under the pressure and confessed to having a dessicated Bolivian flamingo bone (it was pinkish!) in my bag and another lady promptly disposed of it, giving me a "I´m disappointed in you Michael" look.

Anyway, it was here, in a mist of disinfectant, that I found my hitch (I´m supposing thats the word for those that pick up hitch hikers). They were the definition of safety: a young married couple, she was pregnant and he was a civil engineer - no sharp poles or obesity in sight. And... they had a new spacious car with air conditioning, 4 wheel drive and i had the whole back seat to myself. Safe to say, I didn´t die. The views were amazing, red deserts, yellow deserts, snowy mountains, green mountains and even purple mountains. Also huge cacti, llamas and seriously, I swear I saw a penguin for a moment, but I reckon it must have been the altitude or a mirage.