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Published: April 16th 2015
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While I was busy doing pretty much but hanging out by the pool yesterday morning, Fran was in San Pedro de Atacama behind her Leica. She was pumped to go and pumped when she returned. She is by nature a city girl and while landscapes can be breathtaking and memorable, for photograpy, she loves people and dogs, not necessarily in that order. In San Pedro de Atacama, the colors are vibrant, the people are different, there are stray dogs all over of every size and shape, and there are cute kids. She was in her element, putting on her best Gary Winograd to get her shots. There are a few attached to this blog post, but the detail is not enough to tell how really interesting these photos are. Maybe when we get back, she’ll print some of her favorites.
We enjoyed a couple of hours of leisure after lunch at the hotel with the unchanging menu - that is the last comment on the menu - I promised Fran. In the late afternoon we got back in the van with Joel and our driver Arturo and we drove an hour over mostly washboard roads to the salt flats. These
flats, we were told many times by Joel who has rehearsed this speech for so long he can't remember the last time he made it, were the third largest in the world after the ones in Bolivia (1
st) and Utah (2
nd). This very important piece of information should not be forgotten so he tells it again and again and sure enough, I won't forget it. Joel is Alwin's, our guide in the rest of Chile, polar opposite. Alwin is a well-educated over achiever that knows a lot about Chile, its history and politics and a fair amount about the world. One can have a great conversation with him on almost any subject. Alwin made us a little nuts because he can't stop talking. He told us his wife likes when he's guiding because it is so quiet in their house. He has self-awareness and he is a very good guide. Joel, our guide here in Atacama, is a local kid, trained to guide in Atacama. He seems to have reasonable knowledge of geology, but not so great grasp of English. He seems to have little interest in having much interaction with the guests except as per the script. His knowledge
is very confined. Clearly he has not had the opportunities that Alwin had. While Joel's relative quietness was a bit of a relief at first, after a while we sought out more information and communication, without much success. Joel didn't know and didn't seem to be interested. As a son of shepherds, Joel has achieved much. While he isn't the greatest guide in the world, I guess he's proficient enough. Without him we would have missed some of the greatest parts of this adventure.
The Atacama Salt Flats: The beauty of the salt flats for me was in the entire package; the rugged geology, a very flat landscape of shades of gray and white, very roughly cut or broken, light, brittle, rocks made of salt, lithium, gypsum, and a lot of other minerals loosely deposited on the ground. Surrounding this almost completely flat, 320 square mile expanse of salt are the Andes on the east and another, smaller range on the west. It’s an amazing vista. You look across miles and miles of this rugged ground that sometimes shines of salt crystal and there in the background, all around, rise enormous mountains some peaked and some obviously the flat
tops of volcanoes, many with snow caps. As the ground rises to the mountains, the colors expand from the gray and white on the flats to the infinite shades of red, pink, and orange, shades which at sunset deepen and become even more intense. Combine this with the shallow pools of salty water, populated with pink brine shrimp and fed on by pink flamingos and that is almost an overwhelming sensory experience. A cold beer at the back of the van while the sun sets, tops it all off. Whew, just writing about it gives me tingles.
Back at our hotel about 8:30 we dined at the restaurant. The wine was excellent.
Next blog - Geysers and more.
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Tom Drum
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The Wine
True to you comment, you did not mention the menu! I am glad the wine is good! There has to be SOME protein in it! Carry on!