CHILEAN ESCAPADE

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Arriving just after noon time at San Pedro de Atacama in the north of Chile, went through customs and immigration at the town itself, the customs guy upon seeing my passport told me he has lots of Filipino friends and that there are many Pinoys in Chile, did not really meet anyone my whole time there but it's a long country(geographically speaking). we were all put into a room, lined us up and have us put our backpacks on the table and they did a quick search, asking questions if we brought drugs, meat, fruits etc. It was done in 3 mins. we were dropped off in the center of town, it was unpaved roads and it's very dusty and dry, we decided to leave our packs at the bus company office while we search for a place to stay, we ended up staying on a triple room at Hostal Villacuyo, it has a nice small garden in the middle with a shady tree and a hammock, not bad. we went out for lunch, I found it quite expensive in this desert town, so got to watch my budget, we stopped by a cambio office to change money, the girl in the counter was pretty hot! A nice welcome to Chile, and i look forward for some more beauties. She was inspecting every paper denominations carefully, she told us in Spanish that they won't accept badly crumpled dollars or if it has a tear even a small one, she said they are very strict in Santiago, hundreds of kms. away, but i guess all dollars end up there, the capital. We parted ways, from there i decided to check out the market near the church in the plaza, nothing much to see, native stuffs being sold, hardly anybody there as it was freaking hot! found an internet service, long waiting but the place is coll literally, so I don't mind, saw the Israeli girl killing time waiting for her bus out of town, she does not have anymore money except for $20 and there are no ATMs in town so she's heading i believe to Calama, the next town to get some cash. Early evening we got ready to go out, took a nice shower at the hostel, then went to the restaurant where we are supposed to meet the 2 Aussie lads from the Salar trip, we agreed to meet to celebrate my B-day, they showed up later in the middle of our meal and told us to come to the next bar as they are done with dinner, so off we go and we met them at this funky bar called Adobe, we met some of their friends as well, we kept drinking then hopped on to another bar, Brazilian Guga showed up briefly with some Swedish guys, then went off, we tried to mingle with the crowd and for some reason this Chileno guy in a long pony tailed hair is going around among us and it seems he's trying to hit on each one of us, so then we decided to call it a night we were all tired anyway we said our goodbyes, the 2 Aussies are headed to Salta in Argentina the next day. Slept pretty well. We went for brunch at the same ridiculously expensive restaurant as the day before, i don't know why, then the Dutch guys wanted to go to the Valley of the Moon in the Atacama desert, I initially said no but I got convinced by these two lads and which i later will regret. they wanted to rent a mountain bike, I haven't ridden in 10 years! Rogir used his passport as deposit, we checked out the bikes, it was embarrasing, in the middle of the road while trying out my bike, I was veering left and right almost hit a wall,a dog, Rogir and innocent passersby. In couple of minutes I got the hang of it again, then we bought bottled water and off we go, We got directions from the owner, in the beginning it was easy, as the roads turn into the highway which is paved, we took our time, Joachim was giving me tips in which gear to use at different situations, but I wasn't getting it, , he stopped me a couple of times to check my bike, making me try switching gears etc.to no avail Now comes the hard part, dirt road, after only maybe 10 mins my ass was hurting and i was sweating profusely trying to keep up with the Dutch boys in the heat of the desert, finally i told them to go ahead and we'll meet up at a designated point far ahead in the trail, Rogir refused to leave me behind, he was worried something might happen to me, I insisted so off they go, somehow I made my way to the meeting point, 30 mins. later, riding and walking the bike. Nobody was there, i figured they went further out, there was a hut there left the bike on the curb i thought it's safe as no one was there, and did my own hiking, the canyons look weird , desolate and dry, after half an hour i returned back but no sign of them, so I decided to head back to town, slowly. Another half an hour passed by and I saw from behind the guys coming, , they were teasing me that I did not even make it to the meeting place, i said I did assholes!! but they weren't there and i have pictures to prove it! a few minutes later Rogir got a flat tire, lucky they met up with me already at that point, as I have the extra spare and repair kit. Both of them worked on it, then off we go, after a minute Rogir stopped again and was totally pissed off as the spare tire is no good as well, he was so frustrated, Joachim and me watched in silence as he tossed the bike to the side of the road! Joachim whispered, he's not happy, i said to him you think?? All of a sudden a utility vehicle was coming watering the dirt road on the way to town, we flagged it and they made me take the flat tire bike with me as i hop on with the local watering crew, the two guys biked back to town, The nice fellows knows no English and I understood with sign language they would go make a loop around the town before going back to the center where they will drop me off and not to worry, i am not being kidnapped! Soon as I got off i heard Rogir yelling my name, they are already back, then Rogir says to me there's something wrong with my bike seat, no wonder I was uncomfortable! too late i already have blisters in my A.... we went back to the hostel showered and checked out, last time together so went for dinner at the bike shop owner's restaurant, he gave us free drinks after Rogir complained of the flat spare tire, we had pizza, mine was crap so i left it to them as I hurried on to the bus station to catch my bus to La Serena further south, a 12 hour trip. The Dutch boys are heading up north back to Peru later that night. Long bus ride but I was exhausted after my desert experience, slept for the most part, arrived in La Serena about noon time and walked my way to the hostel i picked from the LP book, not bad, decent bed and nice cold shower. Dropped my things and walked around town, trying to get to the market but got lost, eventually made it and had lunch on the 2nd floor, eel soup, LP says a specialty in this town so I tried it, i thought it was alright. Then went for a walk and found myself in a museum, then went to the ATM to get some cash, somehow i can't draw money out, instructions are in Spanish and can't seem to figure out to make it ask me in English, so I grabbed a teller and he helped me out, nice guy. Went for another walk by the beach, and then went to the mall for dinner, i think it was at Kentucky Fried, it was good!
That night i went to the Mamaluca Observatory, where they have this big ass telescope, it was so boring I regret going there, they showed us some galaxies and stuff, can't wait to get out of there. The next morning went to the Valle Elqui where they make the Pisco sour, the valley is arid but good for fruits to grow, on the way we stopped at Puclaro dam. With me are 2 Italian lads one can't understand Spanish nor English so the other guy translates every word our driver tells us, quite a patient dude. That same night I checked out and went to the bus station to get the Santiago bound bus, it does not leave til' midnight but went to the station around 10pm, I walked to get there. As i was in my waiting mode, a nice Chileno kid started talking to me in Spanish, he talks so fast i could not make out what he was saying, he introduced himself and we communicated with sign language and a useless dictionary, in that 2 hour wait I found out about his life, he is on his way to a town near Santiago to visit his sister, he is an Engineering student, he made me listen to all those latin music on his CD, too bad he is on a different bus, this kid is so nice, he gave me a CD of UB40 and a sponge Bob sticker to remember him by, I promised him to see him whenever I get back to Chile, to this day we still keep in touch. The bus ride was uneventful the lady sitting next to me was so nice, speaks no English but smile a lot, she bid me farewell as she gets off before the station. At the station i took a cab to the hostel i picked from LP, it was full so the cab driver said try the one opposite, there is vacancy so i checked in, it was crappy but doable. I don't like big cities so Santiago was not really fun for me, walked around a lot to many areas, I found a pedestrian mall, chilled out a bit at a market restaurant, went to La Moneda, sitting in the main square i noticed a tourist bus pull up full of American retirees, the tour guide has a placard she waves around so her group won't lose her, oh also had a look at an excellent exhibit of the works of Jean Artriste Bertrand in the same square, I remember seeing the same exhibit in Helsinki years back.the next day I walked to the another side of town, I walked so much my right foot was sore, I bought a pair of shoes that is most comfy for me as I can't walk anymore in my sandals, i was limping. took a shuttle bus to the airport and off I go to Boston.

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