The Atacama Desert, Chile

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Oh how nice it was to come out of the third world poverty. From the second we left the Bolivian roads (aka tire tracks in the sand), we drove onto a beautiful asphalt highway. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen a real road, since I’ve seen asphalt?! And not only was it paved, but there were lines painted on it and even road signs! We were still in the middle of no-where but everything felt vastly different. Our bus driver was wearing a nicely pressed shirt instead of the filthy rags our Bolivian jeep driver wore, and he spoke clearly, and told us what we were seeing, instead of grunting annoyed answers. The people of Chile were so friendly. We made friends with so many people from old to young in the few days we were there. Everyone wanted to help us and hear about our travels. In Bolivia, everyone was trying to cheat you and lied about everything (It was sad but you really couldn’t believe a word out of anyone’s mouth). Bolivia is beautiful, but unlike other poor countries I’ve been to, the people here are not happy. In Thailand, people were just as poor, but they were content with their lives and were happy. People in Bolivia are just plain bitter. It is a harsh life living in the Andes. They hate foreigners and only see them as having money that they want to swindle you out of. There are no fair or honest trades. I could go on with stories but I won’t. Many fellow travelers have told us that they loved Bolivia because it’s so cheap, but unfortunately we can’t say the same.

We only had 5 days in Chile before we went into Argentina and we spent them in the Atacama Desert, which was just unbearably hot, and in a beach town where I stayed in bed with Bolivian food poisoning. The food is nice and the people are incredible. I wish we had spent more time here and I can’t wait to come back.

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