The Ice Cream Bandit

I only have a few hours left in Chile, and although I've still been having a fantastic time, all this traveling is definitely starting to catch up with us, in different ways. I'm (hopefully) getting over a cold right now, and it seems like everyone is just generally more tired/strung out than during the exciting first few days of this trip.
Arica was great, and definitely an upgrade from Puno. We hung out on the beach for a couple days, cooked some pretty great meals for ourselves, and then on the last day took a surf lesson. It was only my second time trying but I think I did alright. Alright meaning I only drank Pacific ocean water a handful of times, hit myself/someone else with my board twice, and hit my head on the ocean floor just once. Our instructor made us do all this yoga and jogging before even getting in the water which I think passersby thought looked funny, but they were sadly mistaken because actually we looked really, really cool in our wetsuits. Seriously.

(We also looked...strong?)

Our hostel was also amazing, and our host, Kurt, was basically the man. Much better than the hostel we're at now in San Pedro de Atacama in the Atacama desert. Fun fact: Atacama is the driest desert in the world. Seeing as how water is thus a problem in this town, they shut it off at certain times/whenever they want, an inconvenience for those who enojy brushing their teeth, showering, flushing toilets, etc at night. Despite the not-so-great hostel, SP de A still turned out to be a great town to visit. We went sand surfing, which is just like snowboarding except that if you put any weight on your front foot, things like this happen:

After sandsurfing, we were taken out to the top of a mountain to watch the sunset, a really nice idea in theory but it was super windy/sandy, so I don't think anyone actually watched the sunset as much as turned their backs away from it and the wind and gradually noticed it getting darker. It was also cool to go up there with the guys who took us, who were locals and brought us to a not touristy spot so we wouldn't be bothered by other people. They were like our cool Chilean friends who were hanging out with us sandboarding and watching a sunset, but that we also had to pay 25 bucks each or else they wouldn't hang out with us. Some of my favorites from the top:

(Walking up to the top)

(View from the top, Bolivian mountains in the background I think?)

(Sunset!)

Today we leave for Calama, where we stay and night and then fly into Buenos Aires. We're only there for a couple of hours though, and then we take a ferry over the Uruguay for the end of our trip. We've all been killing time in our own way, and me and Sarah took a walk outside the town and just admired the beautiful surroundings for a little bit and played around with our cameras.

(Houses where people visiting Atacama stay in when they don't want to pay for a hostel)

(View from right beyond the touristy part of town)

Finally, I guess I should explain the title of this post. I just bought some mango ice cream. It's very good. As I crossed the street from the ice cream store to the Internet cafe, a cute little girl being held by who I assume is her father, but may have been her Ice Cream Pimp, stuck her adorable little tongue out and reached for my ice cream.
"Aaaaah!" she said. It was very enderaing. As they approached, I felt I had no choice but to give her some of my as of yet untouched ice cream, which she happily ate off of the very same spoon I was going to use myself. BUT, instead of being satisfied, she and her ICP proceeded to hound down my friends, demanding a share of whatever treat they had purchased for themselves. ICP of course manuvered the streets with the ease and confidence posessed only by those who have been doing this sort of thing for years.
Anyway, this girl slobbered all over everyone's ice cream treats without so much as a thank you from either her or ICP, and I just wanted to warn anyone thinking of visiting Atacama to be on the lookout for a girl, about 2"3, dark complexion, pink Dora the Explorer T-shirt, and dangerous appetite for treats that are not hers.