Blogs from Atacama, Chile, South America - page 13

Copiapó, Capital de la tercera región de Atacama. Es aqui donde se encuentra el desierto más arido del mundo. Lugar donde se origina la historia de descubrimiento y conquista de Chile. Copiapó es un viejo crisol donde se fueron fundiendo las diferentes culturas que poblaron este prodigo valle de chañares, algarrobos, pimientos, amancayes, carbonillos y espinudos churques. Don Carlos Maria Sayago, nuestro insigne historiador en su libro Historia de Copiapó, nos habla del primer pueblo que vivió en el valle del rio Pulido, cerca del rio cachitos como uno100 años A.C. y que fueron reemplazados por el pueblo Animas en el año 700 D.C. Pero hay dos pueblos que existian a la llegada de los Incas el año 1420 y de los españoles 1535; ellos eran el copiapó y el Diaguita. Según el cronista español don ... read more

The passage into Chile was easy with no complications. Our first stop was San Pedro de Atacama. We learned very quickly that Chile is expensive. It was a little bit of a culture shock for us because we were use to everything being very very cheap in Bolivia. The hostels were more then twice as much as well as the food. We knew that we were not going to be eating in quite as many restaurants now. San Pedro is a nice little oasis. We only stayed here for a day and a half then heading down to La Serena the next night.... read more

So...after a 11 hour flight from Auckland to Santiago (on the best flight I´ve ever been on - good old LAN airways) we got settled into chile and all Santiago had to offer. Everyone had jet lag and were feeling thwe pinch of the drastic time change from being 13 hours ahead of home to being 3 hours behind so as soon as we got into the hostel Conan booked us into for the first night some of us headed to bed for a snooze and others took a quick walk up the bar strip to check out the look of the city, but eventually ended up in bed. Having got a nap me McCarry and Mully headed to get food. A nice change to the riches that had been spent on shite food in NZ ... read more

So 8 months have slipped past and now I'm sitting in a libreria in Caldera trying to think of how to sum them up in a few words during my last 3 hours in town. It goes without saying that I won't be able to accurately describe how I feel but I'll try. I arrived in Caldera in April with a little hesitation. I was hoping to be placed in a small town but when I got here the reality sunk in--I will be calling this place home for 8 months. I remember that uncertainty and the feeling of "what have I done!" I was taken on a small tour of the area my first day here and saw some pretty spectacular places like Bahia Inglesa (English Bay) which is like a little piece of the ... read more

Buonasera, a quick update on what has been the most disappointing day so far.......... Have had to change my travel plans and leave here tomorrow, instead of tuesday........bummer.... the next bus was friday and that would have missed out Salta and also made me late for my flight to Tierra del Fuego......so managed to find a driver with a car who will take me to Argentina, along with two girls, one Polish blonde called Magdalena, and an English girl.......the price $100 each instead of $50 with the bus......at least it only takes me 8 hours instead of 12 and I get to tell him to stop so I can make some images, but I cant stay here till Tues...........and its taken me half a day to sort out......never mind, I didnt expect everything to work out ... read more