Blogs from Antofagasta Region, Chile, South America

So you’d think after three years of living here (Aug 23rd was our three year Chilean anniversario) that I would get it…I would understand how things work, and have adapted my ways to the Chilean way of living, of thinking. Well you know what they say, you can take the Gringo out of Gringolandia, but you can’t take Gringolandia out of the Gringo…wait, is that right? No matter…what I’m trying to say is that, no matter what, there are some things you just don’t adapt to, or change your ways with. For instance, why do all the sushi rolls have cream cheese in them? What’s that about? No one has ever explained that to me and I have not met a single foreigner to whom this makes sense. Why is it when the restaurant makes a ... read more

This morning no dramas with the alarms and we were ready at 08:00, but didn't get picked up until 08:30.. This time Alexander was our guide and driver so I got a choice to sit in the passenger seat which I did. First stop was a random place on the highway with a great view of the Licancabur Volcano which is right the Bolivian- Chile border. Interesting thing is that if you wish to climb it, you have to do it from the Bolivian side because the Chilean side had land mines left from the old border wars. Just after leaving there we had to stop the van as a couple of llamas decided to cross the highway. I asked Alexander if many get hit and he said yes, but the much bigger problem are the ... read more

25 juillet Iquique est derrière moi alors que le bus dans lequel je prend place vise la route qui longe l'Océan dans le but d'atteindre d'abord Calama plus au sud, tout là-haut dans les montagnes (altitude 2700 mètres) pour ensuite bifurquer vers le désert à l'est. Beaucoup de mineurs à la mine sombre occupent les bancs autour de moi. La colossale mine de cuivre de Chiquicamata se trouverait tout près de Calama, ville sombre gonflé par l'inflation, les casinos, les hôtels de surenchère et les bars louches. C'est là que logeraient beaucoup de ces travailleurs esseulés, gris et ternes qui arrachent aux montagnes le minéral en diluant jour après jour leur sourire jusqu'à oublier comment en faire. À Calama, je dois changer d'autocar pour partir plus creux vers la frontière bolivienne, en direction de S... read more

Here we are, back to Chile, for one of my preferred places in the world to come in the next few days...but first, we had a flight from Buenos Aires. We will come back to the Capital of Argentina, so wait for that blog! One way flights in South America are impossibly expensive! So I'm happy to see that Sky Airlines is getting us where we want, at a very decent price. So we took the low cost flight to Santiago and next straight to Calama. Not much choice, it's this or expensive Latam....but on Latam, you end up buying your own food too these days! I do remember one thing about San Pedro de Atacama that I visited 8 years ago, it is that the place is super expensive. So the idea was to go ... read more

Having become avid hikers over the past year, we were really looking forward to Patagonia's iconic and most famous hiking route - the W trek: a hiking trail that covers a distance of 80km through the most spectacular parts of the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, including the Base de las Torres, French Valley and Glacier Grey. Unfortunately we had the wind knocked out of our sails when we started making enquiries a few months ago...we were told that we would be arriving during peak season and that transport to the national park and 3 nights camping in the park would set us back over $1,000 each (this didn't include a sleeping bag, we'd have to pay extra for that!!). Having not taken leave of our senses just yet, we politely declined and decided ... read more