Blogs from Antofagasta Region, Chile, South America - page 50

1° jour : 18 décembre Santiago-Punta Chorros Nous avons dormi chez Pancho, bon ami de Tango et nous quittons la maison avant que qui que ce soit soit réveillé pour aller petit-déjeuner chez la tante de Tango, Hélène, cousine germaine d’Hubert. Petite présentation rapide de la famille de Tango que vous allez voir. Hubert et Sylviane, le papa et la maman. Et dans l’ordre, Tango, Marine, Solenne et Raphaëlle. La voiture est là, c’est le grand départ, nous quittons Santiago et découvrons dès les premiers kilomètres des paysages insoupçonnés si près de la capitale. La route est simple Panaméricaine direction le nord, cette fantastique bande de goudron qui part du Nord du Canada et descend jusqu’à la moitié sud du Chili (jusqu’à Chiloé très exactement dont nous reparlerons très bientôt) 1°arrêt à Los Villos pour le ... read more

Nach dem Ende meines Sprachkurses hab ich mich in Richtung Norden aufgemacht. Ziel der knapp 24-stuendigen Fahrt im Edelbus mit zum Bett umbaubaren Sitzen war San Pedro de Atacama. Ein ziemlich merkwuerdiger Wuestenort. Bestht aus ein paar Sandwegen und unendlich vielen Reisebueros, die Ausfluege in die Umgebung anbieten. Drumherum nur die Atacama-Wueste, die trockenste Wueste der Welt. Die Sonne steht mittags senkrecht am Himmer, weil ich mich jetzt noerdlich des suedlichen Wendekreises befinde. Das Hostal Florida, dass mir von einem Typen in Santiago empfohlen wurde, entpuppte sich als ziemliches Loch. Naja, fuer 7 Euro die Nacht kann man wohl auch nicht allzu viel erwarten. Immerhin ist alles relativ sauber und es soll ja auch nicht fuer lange sein. Am Nachmittag meines Ankunftstages hab ich gleich den ersten Punkt des San Pedro Pflichtprogrammes erledigt. Ein Ausflug ins ... read more

Ok, so we’re back in Bolivia. We’re in Uyuni this time, which has pizza, pool tables, but NOT atms. Here’s how we got here: We left La Paz for Iquique, but didn’t get such a good deal on the bus trip. Also it turned out that the bus wasn’t going to Iquique, but to Arica. We were fairly surprised by this when we got to Arica and were told to wait and hour and get on a different bus. So we waited and no bus came. Turns out the bus we had tickets for had flat tires or something and we were all transferred to another company. So, despite setting out at 6am, we didn’t get to Iquique until about 10pm. It was too dark to look for a hostel, but luckily we had made friends ... read more

The second we crossed in Chile the road became paved - very strange having spent the last 5 days bumping around in jeeps on dirt track roads. We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama, and the amount of tourists was staggering - everyone in the street was a gringo! Got touted to a hostel I was going to stay at anyway - really nice, chilled, young staff, hammocks etc..but most importantly: hot running water!! Terri went somewhere else but Bert and Marie came to Florida with me. A group of American girls arrived in my room from American Uni in Washington - Marta, Joanna, Kate and Leila. I went with them to wander round and book tours, then we drank Pisco at the hostel (the Chilean equivalent of Singani) They were IR students studying in Santiago ... read more

The next couple of days were interesting to say the least. We had a two day bone-shaker ride off road accross the Altiplano, staying in the most basic of basic hostals. Towards the end of the first day all had been going well until the sand started to give way under the truck almost tipping over before getting stuck. We all had to get out as quickly as possible and I found myself stood in shorts and a vest top in the freezing cold. The jeep that was guiding us soon came back when we didn´t arrive at the hostal and I managed to blag Matt´s football shirt and the first lift back to the hostal, along with Caroline and Alex. The pictures do not really do the hostal justice - there was no heating (it ... read more