What to Bring

PACKING CHECKLIST

Travel Gear Pack light; space is very limited. Bring soft, squishable luggage; duffle bags are preferred. Excess baggage may have to be left at our departure point hotel. Leave room to bring back rocks for yourselves.

Required (NO EXCEPTIONS):

steel toe boots are required at all mines
long sleeve shirts and pants: good mine wear required in mines
hard hat: you must bring a hard hat for your use
bright orange or red reflective vest
flashlight for illumination in small mines
stylish sunglasses (outdoors) / safety glasses (surface and underground mines)
Health status letter (required, for access to some mines)
Contact information

Recommended:

personal items, including prescription medications and insurance card
wind breaker or light jacket
sunscreen
towel

Optional:

short sleeve shirts
alarm clock
hat / cap
gloves

Other

Alternative photo identification (recommended, for access to mines)
Passport, (recommendation: make extra copies of first page of passport with your photo)
Immunizations: consider Hepatitis A and hepatitis B; tetanus must be up to date
Cash & credit cards: MC, Visa accepted everywhere; cash for tourist items and meals. ATM's are common and a convenient means for obtaining local currency. ATM's are available at the Santiago Airport. Avoid travelers checks- they are a major headache to convert to local currency and the exchange rate is poor.
Water and food issues: water is safe (wash hands, brush teeth, wash fruit) Consider not consuming mayonnaise.
Field trip reading material
Chile tour guidebook (optional- can be very helpful)
Field gear (handlens, field notebook, marker pens, pen, pencil, pencil magnet, hammer, sample bags)
Personal address book
Business cards
Digital Camera. We are commonly required to register cameras and computers (makes, models, serial numbers) before entering the mines; please be prepared to have this information handy as it may save us considerable time in checking in at the gate.

Updated: 03/01/2008