Chile - 01.02.2014- 1st Post

Our South American Tour

After a 2 ½ hour flight from Heathrow, we left Madrid airport at 23.55 hours on New Years Eve.  We could see the firework celebrations over Madrid, and were treated to a few glasses of bubbly by the airline staff and finished with a large glass of whisky to bring in Hogmanay.  After flying over the Atlantic, Brazil and Argentina we drifted over the Andes to land safely in Santiago some 13 hours later.

Santiago - Chile (01.01.2014) 

As we were here in 2013, we had seen most of the recommended sights, just the hill of San Cristobel to see, which was via a funicular.  Here you had a perfect view of the city and appreciated how vast it is.  

As the railway system in Chile is virtually non-existent, you need to rely on buses and flights.  The buses are well organised and reasonably priced.  We decided to take the bus to La Serena, 6 hours and 500 Km north.  Having purchased tickets in advance, we arrived at the bus station well ahead of time.  There are literally hundreds of buses coming and going per hour, we were told to watch for our bus arriving between platform 30 and platform 41.  Ten minutes after our planned departure, still no bus.  Forty minutes later still no bus – we were convinced we had missed it in the pandemonium – the bus finally arrived, an hour late – and nobody seemed to be bothered!!

Our semi-cama seats were extremely comfortable, very wide, similar to business class air travel. Two thirds through the journey, we noticed the bus was not travelling as fast as it previously had and over the next 20 minutes it got slower and slower until, at a snails pace – ‘Phutt’ we were at a standstill, and in the middle of a wilderness.  One of the bus crew came to explain the problem, as the only non-Chileans on board and not understanding the Spanish explanation we were left in the dark.  During the next half an hour, the word ‘Kaput’ was used several times.  The crew were frantically throwing bottles of drinking water at the engine – we assumed from this that there was an overheating problem.

Eventually they managed to re-start the engine and we made the next town for running repairs.  We were extremely relieved to be spending the night in a bed instead of among the brushwood and cacti in the foothills of the Andes.

LA SERENA (04.1.2014) 

We were a little apprehensive in booking our hostel called Diaguitas as the name  reminded us of the one-way ticket to a hostel in Switzerland!  

Is this an inmate trying to escape??

We should not of worried – Maria greeted us with open arms and kisses, as if they were greeting long lost friends, and so started a friendship that was to last the 4 days.  Over bottles of Vino Blanco, sign language and Google Translate, we learnt all about Maria and Nelson, and them about us.  The place it self was pretty naff, but their hospitality more than made up for it.

La Serena is a lovely place, clean and tidy with lots of street vendors and restaurants, but no bars – there is some law that alcohol must be served with food - but we did find a way around it !!

We had a trip to Isla Damas, some 100 Km north of La Serena and were treated to Humboudt Penguins, Peruvian Boobies, coloured Cormorants, Sea Lions and finished with a pod of Bottleneck Dolphins swimming around our small boat.  

After 4 nights in La Sarena, it was back on the bus for our 800 mile trip to the Atacama Desert to the town of  San Pedro.  We had ‘full-cama’ seating for this 17 hour overnight trip and it was superb.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA (10.01.2014)

 An oasis in the middle of the Atacama Desert (the driest desert in the world).  They have tried to keep their identity by building the façade of their houses and businesses the same as around 100 years ago, so you enter a small door in a restaurant thinking it’s a tiny intimate place to find a 60 seater behind it!  All single storey of course, as it’s in an earthquake region.  It’s a really atmospheric place and look forward to spending the next 6 days here. 

It’s hot – VERY HOT !

11.01.2014

Visited the La Tatio geysers – superb – still comparing them with the Bolivian ones just a few kilometres away over the Andes – these were more spectacular, an extraordinary site.  Skipped the swimming in the thermal ponds – maybe the water was more than warm enough but the air temperature at 7am was too cold to even think about it!!

12.01.2014

What a cracking day.  Visited the volcanoes and their lagoons – absolutely stunning, every bit as good as the Bolivian ones we saw in 2012 if not better.  Chile has 150 volcanoes, 35 still active, you can see Mt Lascar from our hostel, last eruption 2009 !!

Onto the Atacama Salt flats, the third biggest in the world, behind Bolivia and Salt Lake City.  We could not understand why it looked so different from the Bolivian one which was totally flat (it resembles a hugh ice rink) whilst this one was so hugely crystallised – our guide soon enlightened us – the Bolivian salt flats experiences rain which flattens the crystals while the Atacama has no rain.  

14.01.2014

Another super trip – this time to the Valle del la Luna  (Moons Valley).  It certainly lived up to its name, just as you would imagine the moon’s surface to be.  All shaped in the last million years or so by the wind and by the earth’s tectonic plate disruptions.  It seems that there are hundreds of acres all with different landscapes just 30 Km from San Pedro.

We have come to the end of our time in northern Chile, tomorrow we head 2,300 Km south to the Chilean Lake District.  We’ve really enjoyed these last two weeks and hope that the coming weeks can offer just as much.