My 2nd trip to the mines......Thaaaaat's right, I went back for more.

Before I get into the mines, here is a short video I took today of my students pretending to be me. Do I really sound like this?

So, remember how I said I would NEVER go into a mine again? Well, I went back. I was much more confident with this trip though because it was an "open pit" mine, meaning not a shred of it was INSIDE a mountain. My host father works at Minera Escondida and it was a family day so 2 of the daughters and I loaded up very early Saturday morning for the 2 hour trip to the mine. Much like a Chilean classroom or Chilean game show, there was a lot of standing in lines, waiting for instruction, discussion about nothing and more standing around. While the mine itself was very impressive in its massiveness, I was not able to catch it adequately with photos because of the wind and blaring sun. I am also not sure I have captured the absolute massiveness of the trucks they use to carry the material. I got to sit in the cockpit of one and have no idea how you could sit in there for the first time and think, "Sure, I can totally drive this."

Friday night at the party for Ely's 16th birthday.
Not a birthday without a face in the cake, or is it a cake in the face?
At the top of the mine.
I am not sure this illustrates just how big these things are...
This should give you a better idea.