Blogs from Atacama, Chile, South America - page 3

Watching the volcanoes that lined the East side of our flight from Puerto Montt up to Santiago I decided that what had seemed like a madcap idea was already worth it. I was less convinced while sitting in Santiago airport waiting for the connection but after another 2 hour flight and 1.5 hours van ride in the dark across the plains of the Atacama desert we arrived at Renta House in San Pedro de Atacama (SPA) where we had booked a cottage for a few days. Sandra, the owner, gave us a warm welcome, showed us around, briefly talked about some of the things we might do over the next few days but recognised we were tired and arranged to meet us the next morning to talk again. The houses are all adobe with thick walls ... read more

In Chile, with Cuba less than a day behind me, I am almost lulled to sleep on a bus (a first for me.) The road hypnotically smooth, the bus seat one that would put the Spanish Inquisition´s ´Comfy Chair´to shame. Heading for the deserts of Northern Chile, the scenery would show subtle shifts over the 23 hour trip. Eventually, dusky pink morning sun reveals planes of crumbling, rusty earth more suited to Mars, and even cacti are reluctant to punctuate the landscape. The little moisture permitted here I see as snow ícing´on the perfect cones of almost 6000m high volcanoes nearby. My base was to be the tiny village of San Pedro de Atacama. At 2,400m in altitude, it has become a major tourist hub, with the Lonely Planet guide book describing a ´Highland adobe disneyland´ ... read more

San Pedro is cute little town in the heart of the Atacama Dessert, beautiful and warm by day but freezing cold at night due to it's altitude of 7,500 ft We spent today hiking up to Pokara De Quitor. An old Inca ruin a few klms outside of San Pedro along a dusty road that followed the river. A zig zag path took us to a cross and a variety of ruins, from there we got the most amazing 360 degree views of the area, tall snow clad volcanoes surrounded by barran rocky desert and the little town of San Pedro nestling in the middle of it all. Last night we found a wonderful little restaurant with a huge fire burning away, felt really cosy. As we stepped out into the cold night air we wondered ... read more

Typo. Me, the guy who finds all the typos made a big one. First sentence, last blog entry. Missing the word, "nothing." Somebody close to me pointed it out like she always does.... read more

Thursday, our last day of formal, planned activities in Atacama started early, 5:30 AM. That's not normally much of an issue for us but after last night's dinner, which I've promised not to talk about, and the wine, which our guide instructed us to go light on and for every glass of wine drink a glass of water (it probably was good advice, but . . .), it felt like the middle of the frigging night. We shuffled from our room to the front desk, bundled up against the morning chill and walked by the 4 resident llamas which we could smell before we could see, toward the front desk and coffee. One cup and the fog in my head began to lift. Our trrp was to the Andes geysers. Geezers to the geysers. An hour ... read more