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This last weekend was a long weekend in Chile. May 21st is a national holiday called
Dia de las Glorias Navales. This day commemorates a decisive naval battle in 1879 during the War of the Pacific. As a result of this war (and if I understand correctly, this battle specifically) Chile won the land that is between my town of Caldera and the current border of Peru (about 500 miles worth of coast). Bolivia and Peru were the previous owners of this land. This is an important and controversial day for Chile. There is still tension between Chile and both Peru and Bolivia because of this war. However, it still gives volunteer English teachers like myself a chance to travel around Chile and meet up with other volunteers from other regions. So, I decided to take the opportunity to go to Antofagasta, a city about 5 hours north of me, to visit the 6 other volunteers that are working there. They had all made similar plans, however, and were going to be headed to San Pedro de Atacama. After a round of messages on facebook we finally decide to meet in San Pedro. I rounded up as many of the local
volunteers as I could and made plans to meet there on Thursday, May 21st. Nick, Joe, and I (3 out of the 5 volunteers from the second region) finally found ourselves on the 11 hour, over-night bus ride to San Pedro.
San Pedro de Atacama
We arrived at the TurBus terminal at about 9:15am on Thursday, May 21st. I gathered my things and stepped off the bus with Nick and Joe. I was looking around the terminal when this buff, long-haired, tattooed man came up to me and asked, "Zach?" It was Roberto, the manager at the hostel we were all staying at (El Hostal Iquisa). He had offered to pick us up at the bus terminal. Roberto turned out to be one of the coolest and nicest people I've had the pleasure of meeting. He was always wondering how I was doing and never forgot my name. We all thought he was great! The Antofagasta crew had arrived the night before and were just heading out to breakfast when we pulled up. So, they waited for us and we all went out to a cafe to get some real food into our stomachs. The center of San Pedro
is very quaint and PACKED with people from all over the world. There is not a paved road in sight and, like most of Chile, there are dogs wandering all over the place. We walked down the main street and found a place that gave us a deal on 3 days worth of tours. While the price we paid was expensive when you only make $165 a month, it would probably make your mouth drop if I told you how little we paid.
Day 1
Our first tour began that afternoon. We were ultimately headed to the
Valle de la Luna or Valley of the Moon but made a few stops beforehand. First we stopped at
Valle de la Muerta or Death Valley. It's a beautiful valley just on the other side of a small mountain from the Valley of the Moon. After that we made a stop at a cliff that overlooked the Valley of the Moon. We took some fun pictures with the shadows here. Then it was on our way to the Valley. It's an amazing spot. We did some spelunking which was unexpected then climbed an enormous dune to watch the sunset over the jagged
cliffs. We headed back to town to get some pizza and wine which we shared with two guys we met on the tour. Most of the group headed back to the hostel to rest but a few of us stayed behind for a few night caps and some lively conversation with our new friends. We all were back to the hostel before to long in anticipation of the next few days' activities.
Day 2
The day began with a breakfast of bread, avocado, cheese, and an apple. We were picked up at the hostel by the tour guide at about 8:00am. We drove around town picking up the other passengers including Rodrigo, one of the two guys from the previous afternoon's tour. He ended up accompanying us for most of our trip. We headed first to the
Salar de Atacama. This is one of the 3 largest salt flats on the planet. The other two are a large flat in Bolivia and the salt flats outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. It looked like a field of snow that went on for miles; however, it was warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt. If I understood correctly the
Valle de la Muerte
Walking into the canyonsalt comes from rain water that flows down the Andes into the basin carrying with it salts and other minerals (including lithium). One of the most unique characteristics of this salt flat is that it is the home to 3 varieties of flamingos. The flamingos were eating small shrimp-like animals out of the pools/lakes. We were walking along paths through the salt and at one point 2 flew directly overhead! They were so beautiful. We walked around a little while taking pictures. After about half an hour we headed back to the bus. From the flats we started to head into the mountains. We drove for about an hour, stopped to let the place we were going to be eating lunch know when we would be back, then headed about 45 minutes farther up the mountain. We finally came to our next destination: a pair of high-altitude lakes,
Laguna Miscanti and
Laguna Miñiques. We were at about 4,200 meters or 13,800 feet. The lakes were a deep blue, reflecting the color the sky was taking. There wasn't much to do other than walk around the lakes an take in the breath-taking scenery and we were all starving so we didn't
stay too long. It was already after 2:00pm so we headed back to
Socaire, the town we stopped in before heading to the lakes. We ate lunch which consisted of a delicious soup of chicken, onions, corn, and potatoes, an entree of rice, quinoa, and some kind of meat (I'm not sure what it was), and a dessert of peaches. Afterwards we walked around the town and saw an old church with a bell tower. What else would you do with a bell tower than climb to the top of it to take a picture?! We headed back to the bus but had to circle the town about 5 times to find 4 people who were talking to the mayor but hadn't told anyone where they were going. We headed back down the hill to the next town.
Tocanao is a quiet town of about 1,200 people but the town square is packed with people from all over the world who are touring the area. There is a beautiful church and bell tower in the Plaza de Armas. We walked around and ate some ice cream before heading to our next stop just outside of the town. It was a
beautiful, little canyon with a small river that provided the water for the entire area. The locals grow fruit in this canyon during the summers using an interesting irrigation system. We watched the sunset from the top of the canyon and headed back to San Pedro for dinner and drinks. It was an early night because we were going to have to be up by 3:00am the next morning for our tour.
Day 3
I got up at 3:00am and headed into the bathroom to find there was no hot water. In Chile everyone has a gas water heater that you have to turn on an off in order to have hot water to shower. I didn't know how to use this one and it was on the other side of the courtyard. So, I just wet my hair and jumped out of the shower. Everyone slowly got ready an we were on our way by 4:15am. That morning we were headed back into the mountains but in a different area to see
Los Géisers del Tatio. The Tatio Geysers are located in the Andes at about 4,300 meters or 14,100 feet. It was freezing cold! I haven't been
that cold since living in Minnesota. But the geysers were gorgeous. We walked around them-literally. In the United States there is no way one could get as close to the geysers as we were. I was actually able to look inside some and walk through the steam. Back at the bus we ate breakfast and warmed up inside. Then it was just down the road to the largest geyser in the area and its neighboring thermal pools,
Las Piscinas de Puritama. About half of us, myself included, took the plunge into the pool. I can actually say that I bathed in a hot spring at 14,000 feet in the Andes! How cool is that?! While that was spectacular it was immediately followed by one of the most horrible experiences of my life - getting out of a hot spring at 14,000 feet in the Andes. It was so cold! But I dressed quickly and we walked around taking more pictures after being rejuvenated by the fresh water and brisk air. We departed the geysers and began a drive through the Chilean
Altiplano, or high plains. This was a gorgeous drive with a few stops including a mountain river and the
Christine and Amy
Two of the other volunteers posing on the cliff overlooking the valley amazing mountain town,
Machuca where we ate llama kebabs and took pictures with a nice lady and her baby
vicuña, one of 4 members of the llama family. From here we headed back to San Pedro. The other 2 volunteers from my area had to catch a bus by 1:00pm and it was about 11:00am. We arrived back in time for their bus and the rest of us went to have lunch. I needed cash at this point. Now, the town of San Pedro has a unique characteristic: the entire town is powered by a generator. This generator happens to be a complete piece of crap and only worked for a few of the hours that we were in town. So, I borrowed some cash and we were on our way. Those of us that were left decided to rent some bikes and visit the ruins of
Pukará de Quitor. This was an old town of the indigenous Atacameñan people located on a hill overlooking, San Pedro and basin. It was later taken over by the Inca and then the Spanish (who beheaded those who survived and put there heads on the top of the hill - so nice, huh?)
The bike ride was fantastic and the hikes through the ruins and the hills were amazing. We watched the sunset from the top of the ruins and headed down the hill. Around the corner was a cave that was used by the Atacameñan people for some reason that I cannot recall. Some went inside but it was getting quite dark so we took a few pictures and headed out. I nice final dinner with friends, wine, and pasta or steak awaited us at San Pedro. After dinner we went to a bar around the corner which was the favorite of one of the locals we met on the tours the first night. We illegally danced in the bar (in Chile you need a license to have dancing allowed in a bar), sang to Grease songs, and slowly took over the music before heading to an after party thrown by a few of the people working at the bar. I had probably just one drink more than I would have liked because I definitely felt a little disorientated at the party but still had a blast. It was in a courtyard with a fire pit underneath the Milky Way. I haven't
Huh?
What in the world are we doing? mentioned how spectacular the night sky was! I've never seen so many stars. We had the privilege of walking under this sky every night.
Day 4
The last day was relaxing. Two of the Antofagasta volunteers had to leave at 8:50am so I went out to breakfast with them at 7:00am (yes less than 3 hours of sleep). The rest of the day was spent walking around town soaking in the last bit of San Pedro sun. I eventually returned to my hostel room, packed, and joined the rest of the crew. Roberto took us to the terminal and I ran to find some food because I was starving. I got back just in time to ask if the bus that was leaving was the bus I needed. They said no so I asked at the desk and they said it was. In short, I almost missed my bus. Thankfully I didn't and I spent the 11 hours on the bus sleeping and thinking about what a great weekend I had just had. I wonder if there are any teaching positions available in San Pedro...
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Tom
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Great Entry
Another great journal entry, Zach! I had to laugh out loud about the bell tower... I have said and done the same thing many times!! Glad you're having an incredible time!!!