Blogs from San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region, Chile, South America - page 38

Arrived in San Pedro yesterday - like nowhere on earth, or like nowhere any of us have ever been. When we landed at Calama, we wondered why we had come here - as the airport was in the middle of the most desolate desert. Nothing grows in that desert: and nothing lives there. It is so hostile. But we drove 1 1/2 hours though mountains and salt flats to arrive in the most spectacular setting. We are surrounded by mountains and volcanoes on all sides - all about 1 hour or so away, and in a basin that is made up of turquoise blue lagunae with flamingoes nesting on them, salt flats where the salt that is washed down from the volcanoes is so thick that it looks like snow, and desert with scrub, trees etc ... read more

After a nice few relaxing days in Santiago (hanging out with our estranged hostel owner - please go away from us) we embarked on the 22 hour journey to san pedro de atacama, in the northern part of Chile. Journey was pretty cool in fairness, the scenery was spectacular. We checked into the hotel puritima (bastardo´s) and had a look around the town. the local population is 4000 but with tourists it swelled to a huge 8,000. the place seemed like it only existed for tourists, as there is nout else to draw these people to such an inhospitable place. we found a bike shop and rented some bikes, undertaking the 35km round trip (not including hiking) to the valle de la luna (valley of the moon). It was a spectacular sight. dunes and eroded hills ... read more

Just over the border to San Pedro de Atacama, phew! Dead tired from the overnight - across the Uyuni Salar/desert (again!) stopped in the dead of night by ninja looking machine-gun carrying TROOPS looking for drug smugglers! Our driver was like its foreign tourists crossing the border to Chile as the military surrounded our vehicle before letting us proceed onward to our lodging. We arrived really late - about 2am - but it was very near the border crossing. Lodging being a bit generous because I imagine a place with maybe a bit of heat and a few more blankets and a bathroom, at the very least, down the hall as opposed to 50 meters from the building your sleeping in! We left Uyuni with a Jesuit missionary man, a Bolivian, an Argentinian, the driver and ... read more

Horse trekking through the Andes was really beautiful, and my novice nervousness about being thrown from a galloping stallion, and flung metres through the air, was luckily unfounded! My horse was pretty slow and ponderous, and, once I´d worked out a few little tricks, pretty easy to control. It still wandered off occasionally, and seemed to have a penchant for taking alternative routes. Inevitably, this often involved going through the middle of the world´s most prickly bushes. Nevertheless, It felt pretty cool to be going through the mountains with a couple of gauchos, on our western-style saddles - yee ha!!!! That night (perhaps unwisely so soon after my first horse ride...) we got a night bus to Buenos Aires. We spent several nights there, sampling steak, red wine and tango. We also explored some of Buenos ... read more

After clearing immigration and walking into Chile, we got on a bus and took a drive to San Pedro de Atacama. The place is almost exclusively built around tourists with some high quality restaurants, tons of tour agencies and hostels. When the 6 of us arrived in San Pedro, we checked into hostelling international Atacama where for the first time us 2 slept in a dorm with Julez and Tertia. The place was really cool, and the staff were always helpful...in fact we told one of them that one of us had bad stomach cramps (hmmm Maximus..let's be honest..ya had the shits..) and they told us to wait while he goes to fix something up. He came back with some twigs and a mug of hot water. The twigs, he said, were from a plant called ... read more