Antofagasta and San Pedro de Atacama

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10/2-13: After a quite long flight for such a short distance due to bac connections we finally arrived in Antofagasta, which was a really oldschool airport with only one baggage belt which was inside a tent. When we arrived we felt like we had landed on the moon, a breathtaking landscape, all grey-brown dessert and the mountains in the background. We found a minivan to the bus terminal which cost 5.000 pesos but there were nowhere to exhange money and the only ATM in the airport had no money in it. A nice local man asked us in German where we were going and he lend us money to the minivan and helped us at the busterminal. He had been an exchange student in Germany and knew how it was to be a bit lost. There was no bus for San Pedro de Atacama today so we bought tickets for the next day at 12. He asked us of we would have lunch with him and he ended up paying for our lunch. He was a professor at the University of Chile and had been in Germany as an exchange student so he knew how much a little help means to two stranded tourists in an airport. He helped call some of the hotels in the lonely planet book and got us a room at Hotel San Marco. 30.000 pesos for one noght. A little expensive but it is also the most expensive region in Chile because of the mining industry.

We took a taxi to the hotel and got a nice room with one double and one singlebed. This was the first time we realized just how difficult it is to understand Chilean Spanish. Then we went to see the city which was mostly a ghostcity, everything was closed because it was sunday. When we came to the harbour and beach everything changed. People were enjoying their day off swimming, playing football and hanging out in the sun. We went to a shopping mart and then we had some dinner, but they only had fastfood so a bit dissapointing - hope we can find better food in San Pedro. We went home and enjoyed the almost sunset on the way.




1/2-13: We got up at 9 and packed our bags and had breakfast at the hotel. We then took a taxi to the bus terminal - The drive offered some amazing views over the dessert and it took around 6 hours so we had a nap too.

When we arrived a guy offered rooms for 8.000 pesos so we took it and walked the 500 meters with our very heavy bags - I am never travelling with this much weight again! The town is small and has a cozy atmosphere and like Antofagasta it looks like something taken out of an old western movie.. A nice small hostel with a patio with hammocks called juriqes - good for the price. We went out to get some food straight away since Helena was starving, we found an Italian restaurant and had pasta de la casa and a fruit shake which was really good!
Then we booked a tour to the salt lagoons and flamenco reserva the next morning - after that we shopped a little and walked around town.. Then we had a shower and went for a beer at a cute little local bar before going to bed.

12/2-13: Ee got up 30 mintues too early because we had not understood the Chilean tour lady completely which ment that we waited from 6:30 to 7:30 for the bus. Then we slept the whole two hour drive to the Altiplanos lagoons and when we arrived we had breakfast with the most stunning view ever. The salt lagoon, the volcano and mountains in the background and some lamas in front. We decided to start making our own version of the Django Unchained movie since we were in the perfect surroundings. We visited a small pueblo on the way down to the Chaca lagoon, the third biggest salt lagoon in the world - which was also a flamengo reservate with three different types of flamengos. A beautiful area - I have never seen anything like it. We ended off in another pueblo where we had an ice cream and a lady showed us her two pet lamas who went into the shop twice because they get to have some chips if they do it - just to get them out of there. When we came home we had lunch and then went to book the Tattio Geisher tour for next day which meant to get up at 3:30 in order to catch the sunrise. Then we went back to the hostel and on the way we filmed the last scenes for the film and went home to edit it. After that we had a shower and dinner and went home to relax a little and go to bed early.

13/2/2013: We got up at 3:30 and got ready for the Tattio Geyser tour. We slept the two hour long busride and arrived just before sunrise - now the view was even more breathtaking than at sunrise. Smoke covered the flat ground with the mountains behind and some of the geysers sprayed water into the air. The geysers that were really hot had bacteria covering the ground around them, creating green and red colours. We had breakfast and then moved to the next spot seeing a lot of lamas on the way.

Then we arrived at the thermal pool where the biggest geyser also was. We went into the pool but since the air was -8 degrees it was an experience with mixed feelings. The water was really nice and warm but when we got up it was a different story - I do not think I have gotten dressed that fast ever before. Afterwards we visited a small pueblo with 20 something inhabitants where we visited the small church and tried the local empanadas. It is all super cute and scenic there.




Then we went home to San Pedro and relaxed in the patio before going on the Valle de la luna tour. We left around four in the afternoon and saw a lot of amazing spots. Three valleys, amongst them Valle de la muerte and Valle de la luna. In Valle de la muerte we went on a long trek in a sandstorm and saw some people sandboarding and people on a horse trip. In Valle de la luna we waited for the magical colour change after the sunset but we didn't really feel lile we saw all of the colours, maybe it was a bad day to go there - or they just oversold it. Then we had dinnerand exhausted as we were, we went to bed.

14/12-2013: We slept untill 10 and took a shower. Then we went to the bank and then turbus to get tickets to go to La serena the next day. We had to start moving down towards Valparaíso where we would be studying one semester and have our base while being in Chile. After that we had lunch at our usual place but we almost couldn't eat anything. Then we went to book the Laguna Cejar tour but we got a discount because we could not go to the Ojos lagunas that day. Then we went back and relaxed at the hostal untill we had to go on the tour at four in the afternoon. We went with the same bus, driver and guide as the other days and they were our absolute favourite - the bus could barely move along but we had grown attached to it.

The lagunas has 40 percent salt and therefore you can float around in them - just like in the dead sea. The view was fantastic with the green dessert plants and the mountains and volcanoes in the background. We had a lot of fun in the water and it was very hard to move around in anyways since you just felt the water pushing your limbs upwards. Then we relaxed and dried in the sun and we were all white of salt afterwards. We had pisco sour and snacks after and then we headed home for a well deserved shower and washed our stiff salty bikinies. We went for dinner and shared a pizza but we almost couldn't eat anything again - seems we became less hungry these days in spite of all the action. Then back to the hostal to chill after a long day.

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[Claus]

Movie
Where is the movie? Aren´t you gonna work? Happy travelling Claus.