So we got a flight up to San Pedro de Atacama for a few days, to check out the 'driest desert in the world' and get a short break from the cold in Santiago. We had an interesting time booking the flights on the LAN website actually as its entirely written in Spanish (thank God for Google translate).
We had planned to get a Tur Bus from Calama (nearest airport to San Pedro) to San Pedro itself and then find our hostel, the bus ride is about 1.5 hours. However when we landed at Calama airport it was really small (one room to collect your bags, hire a rental car, or book a hotel at a desk) and we couldnt see any taxis to take us to Tur Bus in Calama, so we ended up taking the easy route and paid for a Licancabur transfer. The transfer bus dropped us right at our hostel in San Pedro, which meant no further messing about buying bus tickets and waiting for buses to leave.
San Pedro is a very small town with one main road (Caracoles) that is actually a dry dirt road (reddy desert sand) and has a square (paved woohoo) and a couple of roads running off of that. The following day we decided to hire a couple of mountain bikes from the hostel, and map in hand we set off into the nearby desert for a look around. We stopped at a sort of monument (Quitor) to climb up a rocky hill and see the views. The views of the surrounding mountains where amazing. What the map failed to mention was that we would need to cross a river three times to get where we were headed - devils gorge.
Basically we kept cycling along a rather bumpy unpaved dirt road, until we hit a river, tried cycling around looking for a footbridge and didnt find one. Then we saw a couple of local kids getting their shoes and socks off and walking their bikes over the shallow bit of the river, so when in rome...now I must mention that although the winter sun in the desert is very warm (shorts and t shirts) the river water was absolutely icy (pins and needles in the legs after 5 quick steps across). Then plaas - style we got back on the bikes and cycled on shoeless until our feet dried, before putting our shoes back on again. Repeat x 2 before we got to Devils Gorge, which was pretty cool - you can cycle through the middle of the narrow sheer cliffs of the reddy desert mountains.
That night we took a tour bus to do some star gazing with Space (thanks Sue H). Basically we went out in to the dessert to a hilarious french mans home (who has been an astronomer for manys a year) where he told us about the stars, galaxy etc, and let us look through the 6 telescopes he had set up in his back yard. He was very informative, but more than this he was hilariously funny and had us all in stitches. At one point someone asked him how long a red star would still be around before it would burn out, and he compared it to this - When you see a very old person on the street, you know they are going to die soon, but you dont know if its going to be in a few days, a few months, or a few years...you do know they wont be around in 20 years...and its the same with red stars...lol. We also got to see Saturn through one of his telescopes, rings and all, which was well cool and he made up all a nice hot chocky afterwards - it is freezing in the desert at night. Despite the sunburn I managed to pick up on the bicycle during the day (I put the factor 50 on my face and neck, but neglected a couple of spots on my arms and they flared up red, nothing new there then). Saying that it was a relief to feel the warmth of the sun again during the day, after wearing the thermals and fleeces since Uruguay.
One day we also booked ourselves on to a tour to see the Valley of the Moon and Death Valley. We saw some awesome views of the desert on that tour, and got to watch the sunset over the desert sitting on a rocky outcrop - stunning. I could see some passing resemblance to what I understand the surface of the moon to look like (not that Ive been to the moon), but it was a pretty barren wasteland out there, with a couple of spiky rocks sticking up here and there.
The next day we took a breather and read our books in the hammocks in the garden at the back of the hostel. During the day in town (well I say town, what I mean is the main road), Steve actually managed to bump in to a couple of guys from our gap tour (passing the same way), so we arranged to meet them for dinner that night and had a great time catching up over dinner and then having a couple of drinks around the open fire in the middle of the restaurant. That is all the rage in San pedro - the restaurants have open roofs (or loosely covered with grass mats) and they each have an open fire at night.
The next day we had to get up at 3h30 am (thats right AM and we all know Im not a morning person), so that the transfer could collect us at 4am and take us to the geysers. Now you must understand that it was minus 14 degrees celsius when we arrived at the geysers (apparently it has to be cold to get the full affect) and we were at 4100 metres above sea level. As the sun started to rise above the surrounding mountains the scene really was beautiful, with all the steam coming up out of the many geysers around us. I did seem to get a touch of the old altitude sickness though, slight headache / dizzy feeling and running nose, and they gave me a cup of cocoa tea...hopefully the time in Cusco before the Inca Trail in Sept will allow me to acclimatise! On the way back the bus stopped at a small settlement (like 5 houses in the desert) so that we could have Llama kebabs, and I can tell you those llamas are not only cute and fluffy, they are also very tasty!
The following morning we were up at 6h30 am for the transfer back to the airport and we've flown back to Santiago for a couple of days, waiting for our flight out to Venezuela. It was great to arrive in a city and actually know your way around for a change, as weve been here before, we knew exactly where to get the airport bus, and where to get off / how to walk up to the hostel. We are back in Don Santiagos for a few nights and its very homely here - cool hostel with funky paintings on the purple walls!
Today we took a bus 1.5 hours to Valparaiso, a neighbouring port town which we had heard very mixed opinions on. I can see why some people dont like it, as its not really aimed at tourists, and has a lot of graffiti about and a bit of a grimy feel. However we did find a kind of railway that took us up the side of the mountain and got some great views over the port (there is no beach) and the different coloured houses on the cliffs. Tonight we are going to see a local Chilean band called Conmocion around the corner from the hostel, which promises to be a lively, jumping up and down affair.
Tomorrow we are thinking of heading to a photo exhibit (nice to have some downtime and not have to rush around as we've done the tourist bit here already). Anne K this note is for you - they cannot make a good cup of tea in Chile! I've tried ordering te con leche in a number of different cafes/restaurants (including Starbucks) and they all make tea with milk the same way here - they give you a cup of boiling milk, with a teabag in it...ie no water. yuck! So I've taken to buying my own teabags, sugar and milk and brewing up in the hostel (I cant go months without a cuppa!)
We have decided to head straight to the beach in Venezuela in the hope of some sun, so we've booked a flight from Caracas to the Isla Margarita and will be spending 10 days there (time to purchase some Havianas I reckon). We're off to the island on Monday - woohoo, so more about that later.
Hope all is well at home...and I must get the pics off my camera sometime soon!
Love Kirst x
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