Day 33 - Sleepless Night

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There are 2 types of night bus in Chile - cama (bed) and semi-cama (semi bed!), but our only option was a semi-cama, with pretty decent leg room and seats that reclined almost horizontal. We slept until 2am, when the man behind Taryn started literally screaming in his sleep. He must have been having night terrors, but we could not believe he did not wake himself up. It was very unsettling and creepy to hear a grown man wailing like that, and Taryn and I did not fall back to sleep for some time, paranoid he was a psycho and might strangle us in his sleep! I had a fitful night's sleep after that, a reclining seat is all well and good but with your feet hanging on the floor it's just not comfortable and I longed to be horizontal! Saw a few "cama" buses throughout the day at bus stations and they don't look too different. We awoke to a fruit juice and dulce de leche biscuit at 8am for brekkie (dulce de leche is somewhat of an obsession over here - it's like caramel flavoured condensed milk, very very sweet, and features in most confectionary) and later got a juice and half a sandwich for lunch! This suited me as I had completely lost my appetite by this point.

It was exciting to traverse the desert for most of the journey - the desert was another first for me and very different to the Patagonian Panorama. We arrived at 9pm and tried to navigate our way to the hostel in the dark with some very basic directions and some help from some locals. The town looked very cool - full of small crafts and artesian stores and funky little restaurants. We were approached by lots of people encouraging us in to eat, so when a van approached us we dismissed the man inside a good few times assuming he was a taxi driver. Then he asked, "Are you staying at hostel Iquisa?" and we realised it was Roberto the owner, who everyone had raved about in the reviews of the hostel. He had come to pick us up from the bus station! Then when we weren't there he'd driven around town. We were rather embarrassed but thankful as we were desperate to sleep. He looked almost native American Indian - very dark skin and very long straight hair with strong facial features. SO gutted we never got a photo with him! We decided we were going to like this place - a much more chilled and friendly atmosphere compared to Santiago.

Chris's Corner

It's amazing how quick 22hours passes when you're watching changing and new scenery. Getting lunch on board was good but didn't stop Taryn and I grabbing a quick last Chilean hot dog in our 10 minute stop at Antofogasta. Sophie had lost her appetite a little bit, possibly due to the rise to 2400m, so bed was welcomed by the group, though I did have my eye on the hammocks at hostel Iquisa.

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