Week 16
- Jul 5
- 20 min read
Day 114 / June 19, 2026
Hello and welcome back for this Week 16 recap! Taking us back to Friday, I was in the lab for most of the day. Catalina and I helped Catherine with her plant experiment assessing the viability of various beans with and without the addition of a biostimulant across various levels of water availability.
Shrabana arrived with some yummy pistachio Bon Bon chocolates which we snacked on between plant prep. It was time for a proper lunch at that point and I headed to Dola Pe where I bought a Bistec a lo pobre and Catalina got a chicken fajita. Both hit the spot!
Afterwards, Catalina and I went up to the BSL2 lab to check the results of the 72h plates. We recorded the measurements and discarded the remaining plates.
By 4:30pm everyone had finished up for the week. As we were walking home, we decided to head for a post-lab bev together. As it was early, we had to wait until opening time at around 5:00pm. We walked to the Plaza de Armas park, myself, Cathe, Catalina, and Aylin. There was a nice big bench calling our names so we sat there to pass the time and chatted about the lab, our dream cars, then favorite spots in and around Talca. At 5:00pm we started walking back in the direction of Ambar, and bumped into Shrabana and Aparna who were on their way home. They joined us as we headed towards Ambar. After taking a peak inside, where there seemed to be a lot more setting up to do, we opted to go to Bar Estado instead. At that point Shrabana and Aparna were conscious of the time as they had some friends coming into Talca so they headed off to collect them from the bus stop.
Once we arrived at Bar Estado we split a pizza and the cheesy mechada fries. The Scotland Morocco game played in the background as we sipped on the various flavored mojitos. By 7:30pm it was time to call it a night and we all headed home. Catalina was still waiting for a ride so she came to mine for a tea while I started working on the blog.
Day 115 / June 20, 2026
Happy Birthday Tina!!! Keeping you in mind, I will be on the lookout for all the critters and creatures today! :))
There was a fresh, crisp feeling in the air this morning! It had rained pretty heavily the night before but it was blue skies and sunny when I headed out the door to meet Albert. Albert arrived in the lab around one month ago and will be here through the end of August. He is currently finishing up his doctoral degree from a University in Kenya and the data he collects in the lab here will be a part of the final chapter in his defense. It is his first time outside of Kenya and adjusting to Chile, where the language is entirely unfamiliar, can be especially challenging. So we decided to go for a hike!
I arrived at his door at 10:00am and he welcomed me in for a milk tea and bread. We chatted a bit about his family and his experience so far before heading out the door. We walked my usual route along Avenida Alameda, past Rio Claro, and up the cerro. There were the usual number of stray dogs roaming around the hill which prompted Albert to tell me he had recently been bitten before arriving in Chile and was still a bit shaken. We continued along the rest of the walk giving a wide berth to any passerbys. After a slow and steady 2 hour ascent, we reached the top and paused for a moment to taken in the view.
We spent a solid chunk of time marveling at the daredevil mountain cyclists racing down the winding tracks. It was at this point that I received an inundation of text messages from the rest of the lab group. Aparna and Shrabana wanted to take their visitors out for waffles at Cruces Vilches and opened up the invite to the rest of the team. I asked Albert, and he agreed excited to try something new. We headed down the hill with waffles in mind and quickly made our way back home. I dropped off Albert at around 1:45pm then ran, and I mean ran, home to shower. I was dressed and out the door by 2:20pm on my way back to Albert’s so we could uber to the bus station together. We met Catalina at the station and she ushered us towards the 3:00pm bus to Vilches. We paid our fare, $2,500 (~$3 USD) and settled in for the journey. Hungry from our walk, Albert and I wolfed down apple granola bars and a bag of Lays. The journey took just under an hour, passing through the countryside and smaller town of San Clemente. At one point we drove past a parade of antique beetles… very cool sight to see!
The venue was just opening up as we arrived. Aylin came and greeted us then brought us over to read the menu. The waffles stand at Cruces Vilches is owned by Aylin’s family and was started by her uncle who moved to Chile from Belgium. That’s to say, these Belgian Waffles are certified legit!! Catalina and Albert each ordered a warm drink then we opted to shared a pizza, half pepperoni and half mechada.
Aparna, Shrabana, Pranaly, and Dia arrived just as we were finishing the last piece of pizza. As they settled in and ordered their food, we also decided on our waffles. Catalina opted for strawberries and nutella, Albert for banana, strawberries, and cream, and I went for the ‘Super’ which had nutella, strawberries, banana, cream and ice cream (balance is what they say?).
Our waffles arrived and they were huge!!! It was Albert’s first time trying waffles, and a very special experience to be a part of indeed. As the sun started to set, we headed for a walk. Aylin took us down past some vegetable fields towards a river running along the back of the property. It was a lovely way to stretch the legs. We saw cool mushrooms, funky rocks, and healthy trees.
The true highlight, was when a big fluffy thing started running towards us in the field. Aylin introduced the furry fella as Apolo, a stray that had been left on the road in front of the house as a puppy. My goodness was he full of love and life!!
It wasn’t too long before we had to head back to Talca. Despite the sunny weather, it was chilly! Aylin walked Catalina, Albert, and I over to the bus stop where we shivered for 10 minutes waiting for the 6:00pm bus. As it pulled up to the stop we gave Aylin a hug goodbye and hopped aboard.
Tired from the long day, we settled into the journey. Professor Aparna had invited us to have a tea at her home, so we got off the bus just before UCM and walked over. Catherine joined us as well as we chatted about adjusting to Chile, favorite food spots (The Raj in Santiago was recommended for quality Indian food), and favorite sites in Chile. At 9:00pm, we headed out in hopes of finding some karaoke. I ordered an uber for myself, Albert, Catalina, and Catherine. Albert headed home for the night while the rest of us filed into Bahia Juarez. We settled at a table near the heater and started perusing the menu as the second uber arrived. Unfortunately the karaoke still hadn’t started yet when I had to leave at 10:15pm.
My climbing friends had bought tickets to a disco night called Brisa Luna which was being hosted at an events space called Quijote. I went home to change before ubering to Cristobal’s house to meet the rest of the crew. Everyone was sipping on gin cocktails with frozen fruit (a very nice touch!). We did some chatting and dancing until 12:30am then made our way to the event. We grooved to 2010s reggaeton until 5am at which point I ubered home and called it a night (morning).
Day 116 / June 21, 2026
Happy Father’s Day!!! This presents a great moment to give my own dad shoutout…. for any of you who don’t know, Peter was meant to be a girl dad! Alongside my mum, my dad has been incredibly involved in our lives and has given me, Mina, and Jula constant support. Thanks to him we have all learned how to ski, sail, hunt, change a tire, stack wood, work hard, and to start every day with a smile or, “carpe diem” as he says. As a result all three of us are incredibly independent, strong-willed (occasionally stubborn), solution-oriented, and optimistic. Thank you dad!! And thank you to all the dad’s, father figures, and parents out there who continue to make the world a better place!
After a brief sleep I woke up, went grocery shopping at Jumbo, and came home to cook. I had just finished storing away the groceries when it was time for a catch-up call with Tina and Serge. We chatted about critters, life updates, and upcoming plans for well over two hours. It was lovely! After we said our goodbyes I finished up in the kitchen. I meal prepped breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the week consisting of baked apple crisp, stuffed peppers, and a garlic tomato pasta.
My phone was on the counter and started buzzing at 5:50pm with a reminder for my final tutoring session with Francisca. I’ll admit I was so relaxed I had completely forgot. I quickly finished the washing up and was sitting at my desk right at 6:00pm when we started our call. Francisca shared with me her first college essay draft. It was an excellent start! She is still fine tuning her core message, but I assured her that everything will fall into place with time. As many of you will appreciate, this is a long and draining process. We agreed to schedule a call in a few month’s time to review her progress and said goodbye.
I quickly changed then ordered an uber and shuttled over to Shrabana’s house. I was meeting Aparna and Shrabana to practice playing Micro Heroes, a new card game produce by the lab to bring extremophile science to the general public. The next day, we were scheduled to present about the INACH Antarctica research conducted by the lab at Colegio Alborado in Linares and were planning on playing the card game with the students after the talk. We took a moment to read the instructions and started playing. As we were nearing the end of the game, a Papa John’s order of BBQ chicken wings and a BBQ flatbread arrived. We snacked as we wrapped up the game. It was getting late at that point and with an early morning departure scheduled, I ubered home at 9:00pm. As I was getting tucked in, I received a phone call from Val and we started to plan our Peru trip together. Time flew by and before we knew it, it was midnight. We said a quick good bye and I fell asleep with pictures of big, snowy, Huarez mountains in my head.
Day 117 / June 22, 2026
I woke up at 7am and quickly dressed before heading out the door to meet the rest of the FuncPoly Lab team at 8:30am. It was freezing outside! We all loaded into the U Autónoma van shivering and settled into the 1.5 hour journey to Linares.
We arrived at the school, Colegio Alborado, just before 10am. I was shocked at how many kids were running around outside in 30F weather with just sweatshirts on. Our group made our way over to a classroom in one of the newer campus buildings and set up for the presentation.
Aparna introduced the team, then Nicolas talked through the slides showing what the lab is doing. After an hour of presenting, we started the game! Students split into groups of 3 or 4 and began shielding, attacking, and accumulating ambient bacteria. We walked around answering questions as needed. At the end, all of the winners came to the front of the room and competed to answer trivia questions for their own card set. It was a huge success and a lot of fun for students and visitors alike.
The students headed to their next class while we were invited upstairs for a cafecito, a welcome treat to help with the cold. After our teas, coffees and some manjar cake, we hit the road back to Talca.
When we arrived back at the lab, I finished transferring the results from the week prior and discussed our progress with Nicolas. He had just arrived back from his two-week stay in Concepcion and had so many new ideas to incorporate into the lab. Over the next few days he redesigned our refrigeration storage system, flow hood techniques, as well as general work flow tweaks. We agreed on a plan for the following days and headed home for the day.
Taking advantage of the early departure from work, I headed to the climbing gym. Afterwards, I went home and inhaled a portion of my meal-prepped tomato garlic pasta.
Day 118 / June 23, 2026
Today was school week 17, the last day of Cellular Biology and Histology with Dr. Charles. He has been a fantastic teacher! His creativity, and attention to detail have been especially noticeable throughout the semester. We spent most of our 9:30am-11:30am class learning about neuronal systems and cells.
At the end of class, he offered well wishes for our final exam and a few words of wisdom about life too. It was a sincere, heartfelt reminder to participate not just in our local communities, but in the wider world too. Always an important message though particularly pressing with ongoing conflicts in Palestine, Sudan, Iran, Ukraine, Myanmar, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, etc. the list goes on. Dr. Charles words certainly brought a silence over the room. It wasn’t the ending we were expecting, but certainly the one we needed.
After class I went to lab to prepare media and plates with Nicolas as we aim to activate various new bacterial stocks for the next round of antimicrobial characterization.
At 1:00pm, I met with Aparna to discuss my plan for project 2: isolation and gene analysis of extremophiles from the Atacama. We decided on a plan to pull 20mL dirt samples across 10 unique sites throughout the Atacama. It is my job in the coming week to finalize these sites and confirm sampling eligibility for my trip there at the end of July. In the region of the Atacama I am particularly interest in, land ownership is divided between large mining corporations, the ALMA space project, indigenous reservations, government trusts and other private groups. I am now working on pinning precise coordinates that adhere to the legal and ethical standards in place… a fun though challenging process!
After wrapping up in the lab, I went home to do laundry and pack for (surprise!) a semi-impromptu Atacama trip with Leslie. She has just finished up 3 months of working and travel throughout Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and Korea and is stopping by Chile before she flies home to London to celebrate her graduation. She is landing at the airport in Santiago tomorrow at 8am and I will meet her there to depart on a flight to the Atacama at noon! In light of the sample planning conversation with Aparna, I will also be able to use this brief visit as a way to scope out logistics and understand accessibility to various zones as I finalize my site criteria.
I finished up all the house cleaning and travel preparations by 10pm and crashed in bed soon thereafter.
Day 119 / June 24, 2026
It was an early start for the travel day. I was up and out the door by 4:30am to catch the 5:00am bus from Talca to Santiago. When I arrived at the station at 4:45am, I got on the first bus I saw which was in fact the 4:30am bus running late. It started moving as soon as I got on which sparked some confusion. I apologized to the ticket lady when she came around but, after checking with the driver, assured me it was okay. (they run a strict program here… always stick to your assigned seat!)
I half slept, half tiktok scrolled my way through the three hour journey. After we arrived in Santiago at 7:30am, I walked over to the Centropuerto bus stop right next to the San Alberto Hurtado metro station. The airport bus arrived just five minutes later, I boarded and paid the $2.500 fee ($3 USD) then found a seat for the 30 minute journey to the airport. Check in and security were especially quick in the domestic terminal so I found myself a seat and started writing the blog as I waited for Leslie.
Though her flight was on time landing at 8:15am, she was sat waiting for close to two hours for her bag to come through. Eventually, she made it over to Terminal 1and we were sat snacking on a breakfast sandwich and cinnamon roll like no time had passed.
Both tired from early travel, we slept most of the 2 hour flight to the Atacama. The views on the approach to the Calama airport were unreal! Red rippling mountains and blue blue sky were a welcome change from foggy Talca.
Fortunately, the bags came through rather quickly on one of the two luggage turnstiles at Calama. We had noticed the ratio on the plane was something like 95% men, mostly Chilean, to 5% women/foreigners. Though we can’t be sure, it’s likely they were all commuting to work in the mining or developing energy industries in the Atacama. In any case, the absence of other tourists meant we only waited a few short minutes to pick up the car from the rental kiosk.
We loaded everything in and hit the road. After a scenic loop of the parking lot confused by the exit layout, we headed towards Jumbo within Calama to get some food for the journey. Leslie was amazed by the size of the market, and we giggled as we checked out the many options on display. We checked out with our selections of bread, fruit, cereal, water, snacks and stowed it all away in the back seat.
Hungry and too sleepy to make some food, we attempted to pick up Subway for the journey. Deceived by Apple Maps again, there was no Subway to be found. We circled back to the Jumbo area of Calama and settled for a Maccies. Thinking the drive through was the easy and obvious choice, we pulled up and scanned the board before trying to order. After some comedic pauses and confusion about whether or not we could try the papas duquesas, we pulled up to the window to pay. Finally it was time to get out of Calama and head towards San Pedro.
We listened to techno and DnB as we coasted down Ruta 23 munching on chicken sandwiches, fries, and empanadas. As we neared the city, the sun started to set and the distant mountains and volcanos were glowing pink. We must’ve said “wow” a hundred times descending into the valley. All of a sudden, I rounded a corner and we saw a llama chewing on some plant right next to the road. Everything was so so stunning and awesome.
After a short 1 hour 20 mins of driving, we pulled into Hostel Jama and checked in. We picked up the keys for our room and I quickly joined wifi to have my final tutoring call with Brisa. Brisa read through the first draft of her college essay. There were so many good ideas to pull from and we talked about the direction she wanted it to go in. Though she was especially self-critical, I assured her it was a process and that it would all come together in time.
After wrapping up the call, Leslie and I bundled up for a walk into town. Before we left the Airbnb, we messaged our host to ask for a heater as the temps had dropped from 60F during the day, to now just over 30F and we were feeling it!! Accounting for the dessert heat, most houses here are constructed with minimal insulation and lots of tiling to promote natural cooling. The host replied very quickly to say there were no heaters available but lots of blankets. Within 30 seconds he was at our door with three more blankets to add to the bed. Truly a saint!
Finally we were off to explore. We walked a short 10 minutes around the corner to Calle Caracoles which was lined with restaurants. Even though it was dark out and we couldn’t see all the details, we immediately felt transported back in time to a small town from out of the cowboy western films. Loads of stray dogs trotted up and down the street occasionally coming over for a pat and small groups of people floated between the open venues. We found ourselves inside Rincón de Sal sipping on Micheladas and catching up on all of the things. And there was lots of catching up to do! We barely covered the tip of the iceberg of family, friends, jobs, summer, dating before we started our walk back to Hostel Jama.
Back at home Leslie settled into bed while I showered and called Val. By 11pm we were both snoozing.
Day 120 / June 25, 2026
I tossed and turned all night long it was SO cold. Alas, in the morning I discovered I had mistakenly slept on top of two blankets. According to Leslie, those two extra layers really made all the difference. After a tired laugh at my stupidity, we headed to make breakfast in the shared kitchen. On our walk over we basked in the morning sun already starting to heat things back up.
We had bowls of cereal with a clementine on the side and sipped some mango juice. Still unsure of what we wanted to do for the day, we walked into town for a coffee and to see what was available. We grabbed drinks from Ckunza Tilar and went into the Atacama Tours building next door. Ezequiel was working the desk and told us we were in luck as there were still slots open for sandboarding that afternoon. We had to quickly run around the corner to get cash, then came back and settled up, $45USD each for transport, gear, and instruction. We agreed on a pickup time of 3:00pm at Hostel Jama and headed out the door. Before heading back to the house, we wandered further into town to see everything in the daylight. It was gorgeous! We did a quick lap of the central Plaza de San Pedro then returned home to pack for the day. With roughly 4 hours to kill, we figured we had enough time to visit the highly recommended Valle de La Luna.
We put on our sunscreen, loaded up the car with water and snacks, and headed out. It was a quick 15 minute drive from the house to get to the Valle de La Luna visitor center. We paid around $14 USD each for entry, then one of the guides gave us an in depth overview of the routes and time needed to complete each stop.
The single road running through the valley is 11km each way featuring various stops for photos and brief hikes to viewpoints. After the main entry, there is one more checkpoint where the speed limit changes to 20km/h. At this point also, you must share your receipt to show a park pass was purchased, and for the right amount of people.
We continued along the road which went from flat and straight by the entrance, to curved and steep. Together, the undulations of the car and the unreal landscape felt like a roller coaster ride.
As described on the website, “The Valley of the Moon area was originally named “Las Salinas” due to the great amount of salt that allowed the development of a small salt mining operation. It’s origin is linked to a series of factors such as the abundant presence of chemical elements such as Na and Cl, due to the volcanic activity of the area, the weathering of pre-existing rocks that contain minerals formed by these chemical elements, and the endorheic nature of our basin that allows the “recycling” of the chemical elements that form salt minerals which dissolve each time there is a new altiplano rain period.” What was once a lake millions of years ago, is now a vast arid landscape consisting of dunes, peaks, and valleys all resulting from tectonic transformations to the earth’s crust.
We arrived at our first destination, Duna Mayor, and felt the full strength of the sun the second we stepped out of the car. We immediately grabbed our hats and shades then started on the short 1 mile loop to the viewpoint. We were slipping and sliding trying to ascend then descend the sandy path. When we reached the car again, we had worked up an appetite so we began snacking on original flavored Ramitas while Leslie queued up some Tame Impala on the aux.
We marveled at view from Mirador Achaces then continued on to drive past the Tres Marias before doubling back to finish our visit with a quick loop of the old salt mine and deteriorating houses at La Mina Victoria. Conscious of the time, we started our return to the hostel. As we were leaving Valle de la Luna, our signal came back and both of our phones lit up with missed calls from the tour agency. They had asked to move our session up to 2pm which would require a tighter turnaround than expected. We let them know we were on our way home and could make it happen, then they said no problem stick to the original 3:00-3:30pm timing.
We got home, ate a quick sandwich, and chilled before our sandboarding session. At 3:30pm we received a text they were on the way so we stood on the street outside hostel Jama. A number of branded vans went by but none stopped. Right as we were starting to get concerned we had confused something, a white pickup truck blasting old rock music pulled up and the driver said “are you two signed up for sandboarding?” we nodded, and hopped in the back. The driver introduced himself as Sebastian and began talking about the history of sandboarding in the area. He was originally from Valparaiso, a beach boy, but moved to the Atacama 30 years ago when he was just 22 years old. He was introduced to the sport by someone in the area and stuck with it ever since. He navigated the tight, sandy streets of San Pedro with ease and the clear know-how of a resident.
Before long we had arrived at the gates of Valle de Muerte, (which Sebastian told us was originally called Valle de Martes or Valley of Mars by Belgian priest and archeologist,Gustavo Le Paige, in the 1950s though mistakenly understood as ‘muerte’ by the locals). Leslie and I went inside to pay a $4000 CLP ($5.50 USD) for entrance to the park and then met Sebastian back at the car.
We drove another five minutes into the valley and stopped at a large open hill. There were already 10 or so people sandboarding when we arrived, so we knew it had to be the spot. Sebastian unloaded 8 different boards from the car and gave us wax, boots, and a helmet. We booted up then he began to ask us about our familiarity with surfing/skating. I admitted I had very little experience but had tried both before, that’s when he put me on the spot and said, “okay, do the test on Leslie.” I had a feeling I knew what he meant, so immediately gave Leslie a shove to see what foot she caught herself with. He nodded, and handed Leslie a board.
The three of us walked up together taking slow, small steps as instructed by Sebastian. At the top, we sat down and he walked us through all the steps to clip in, unclip, how to wax the board between runs, and safety positions (stay perpendicular to the fall line when you want to stop, try to fall on your butt). He then told us we would do a few runs on our heels without turning, and just barely above perpendicular to the fall line to get into the motion of things. We each took a turn, with quite a few stumbles along the way and circled back to the top. Sebastian shouted advice from the top as we took our next few runs and once we each did a run without falling, he had us switch to our toes. Everything slowly started coming together.
It was clear Sebastian's teaching style was different from that of the other groups. While he was incredibly hands on, direct with instructions, and conscious about safety, none of the other groups were wearing helmets and nobody was learning to turn. Most were coasting down the hill in a straight line (hucking and praying as one may say).
Though it was a blast, we were getting tired quickly. A new burst of energy came when the sun started to set. The distant mountains were pink again and everything felt otherworldly. Towards the end of the session, Sebastian offered to follow us each for a run to video. That’s when we got to see his skills come out. He was SOOOO good! He picked up speed rapidly and handled turns with ease.
At 6:30pm we loaded up the car and hit the road. Sebastian whipped down the valley roads into the night. We said thank you and our goodbyes to Sebastian and proceeded to crash in the hostel.
We eventually mustered up the energy for a shower to get rid of the sand before then heading out for a dinner in town.
We met up with one of my climbing friends, Sheila, for dinner at Caracol. She is from the Basque region of Spain and staying in Chile until August. Though living in Molina, she was up in the Atacama for a few days and the overlap worked out just right! We split loaded fries as we spoke on spanglish about our favorite cities, trips, and plans for the coming months. Per recommendations from the waiter, we split a bottle of Algorta Carmenere for our mains. Leslie and I were in desperate need of a carb load after so much sand time; she had some pasta caracoles (snails!) and I had a pesto pasta while Sheila had a salad.
The next day, Sheila was taking an early morning bus to go to San Salvador, Argentina to reset her Chilean tourist visa. We wished her luck on her adventure and said goodnight!!
Chau for now! :)
I am tired just watching all you do! You are amazing. Loved the sandboarding video. So nice to see you having such a good time with your friends. Can't wait for the next one...