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Published: October 13th 2009
Parque Nacional Pan de Azúcar
This was a long weekend in Chile. They were celebrating
el día de la madre cristiana, the day of the Christian mother or Saint Mary's Day. Ben, Nick, and I decided to spend a day at
Parque Nacional Pan de Azúcar which is only about an hour and a half from Caldera near the port town of Chañaral. We arrived in Chañaral at about 10:00am on Saturday. From the bus station we took a colectivo to the park which is about 30 minutes away. On the way we planned our day and decided to go to
el mirador, the lookout, first. Unfortunately, the sky was covered in clouds and the mirador was up at cloud-level. Needless to say, we didn't see much but it was actually kind of peaceful being surrounded by clouds in the desert. I compared it to a mix between a Japanese wood-block print and a western ghost town. We quickly decided to descend to the bay where we waited for a few other people in order to take a boat tour of an island just off the coast. As with most tours in Chile, there is a single price for the tour
and a maximum number of people that they'll take. It was CLP$50,000 (about $100) for the tour and they would take up to 10 people. We managed to get a total of 7 people so it cost us CLP$7,000 (about $14) a piece. So we were off. The tour took us around all sorts of different rock formations along the coast with numerous species of birds including the penguins that live on the island. It is apparently one of the few places in the world where penguins live outside of Antarctica. The penguins on this island are unique because they spend their entire lives on the island and do not migrate. I think that the penguins in Ecuador migrate during the year but I'm not sure. On the other side of the island there were some sea lions which are known as
lobos here. They smelled really bad. I mean REALLY bad. I was coughing it was so bad. We sped through the smell and arrived back on shore where we waited for our colectivo to return and take us back to the mirador for a better view. This time the view was amazing. The ocean looks so beautiful next
to the desert of Pan de Azúcar. We met a couple on the tour who invited us to take a tour of a nearby observatory. Nick and I decided to spend the night in Chañaral so we could go on the tour. We found a hostel in town owned by the nicest old man ever! He was so proud of his town and hostel and very happy to give us information. We had dinner at a restaurant and waited for the couple to pick us up. When they arrived we said goodbye to Ben and were on our way. It took about and hour and a half to get to the observatory. Once we were there we had to wait for some friends of the couple we met who work at the observatory as tour guides. However, that same night was a soccer game between Chile and Colombia which was goign to determine whether or not Chile was going to go to the World Cup in South Africa. They won and so the tour guides were too drunk to give us a tour. Fortunately the stars were still magnificent--the Milky Way (
La Via Lactea) was extremely clear and there were
El Desierto Florido
Atacama Desert, Northern Chileeven 2 other galaxies that were visible in the sky! On the drive back to Chañaral I slept most of the way. When we got back we decided to have a drink at a little pub that was half a block away. In true Chilean form we stayed up until past 3:00am. Nick and I slept in until nearly 11:00am the next morning. After a quick shower and saying goodbye to the hostel owner we purchased our tickets at the bus station to return to Caldera.
El Desierto Florido
Today Nick came back from Copiapó and we spent the day with my Chilean friend, Fabián, and a few of his friends. Before heading to the desert Nick and I checked out the local paleontological museum. They have an impressive number of fossils and minerals. Then we went to the cemetary in Caldera which is the first public cemetary in Chile. While we waited for Fabián to pick us up we ate a
chirimoya. Fabián arrived and it was time to head out. We drove out to a valley about 25 minutes outside of town to check out
el desierto florido, the flowering desert. I wrote about this in a
El Desierto Florido
Atacama Desert, Northern Chile previous blog but I wasn't sure if it was going to happen this year as it only happens once every 4-5 years. We arrived at about 3:00pm and I went on a little hike and took some pictures. The valley was full of flowers and quartz. Afterward we had a little asadito of chicken and some really delicious salads. I probably ate alittle too much. Later we did a little tour of the valley by car. We headed back home as the sun was going down and the air was cooling. Back to the grind tomorrow.
I hope all are well!
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Stacy
non-member comment
wow
Zach, What a great trip you had. The flowers are beautiful. Did you take any picture of the penguins? Flora is totally into penguins right now. When we went to the zoo this summer she got to see the type of penguin that lives in Chile. Take care of your self! Stacy