Chile

Chile: Arica, San Pedro de Atacama

24.04 

T: Bus Cali La Paz Arica  80 BOB 6:00 11h

F: Chile Chungara

S: Arica, Morro de Arica, Catedral de San Marcos (Eiffel), Plaza Colon

T: Bus to San Pedro de Atakama Turbus 22:00 09:25 (+1) 12,800 CLP

25.04

S: San Pedro de Atacama: Valle de la Muerte, Valle de la Luna

H: Eco Camping Waira

26.04

T:  Bus Andesmar to Salta 8:30 10 h 20,000 CLP

F: Argentina

1000 CLP (Chilean pesos) = 1.41 EUR

Arica

Chile was the most far away point of my journey with San Pedro de Atacama at 11,800 km from home. Still it was much nearer than Melbourne which is my record with over 15,200 km distance. One day I'll go to Easter island, which is also Chilean territory, then it is just a bit further away. After descending over 4000 m from the Chungara pass it was good to be back at sea level.

Kisi Kisini volcano from Chungara pass

Chile is perhaps the most elongated country in the world, over 4000 km long narrow strip of land between the Andes and the Pacific. It also has some of the driest regions in the world in the Atakama desert. I had 5 hours to spend in Arica before the night bus to San Pedro de Atacama so I hurried to the coast to catch the Pacific sunset and nearly missed it as there is a free opening to the sea only below the Morro de Arica rock.

Pacific sunset at Arica

Arica: San Marcos church 

The city was quite lively, at the central square there is the San Marcos church designed by Eiffel. In the evening I took the Turbus to San Pedro de Atacama. There was some customs control south of Arica,  and yet another strange schedule break: at Calama every one was forced to descend as the bus had to go "for gasoline" and we waited for over an hour for it to come back, there wasn't even a place to sit at the terminal. Then we went on into Atacama desert.

San Pedro de Atacama

Atacama desert

I had booked a place called Eco Camping Waira, someone with a great sense of humor had written in the description that Internet is available only in the "conference area". In fact this was a place about 20 minutes out of town on a dusty road with clay brick bungalows.

Eco Camping Waira

Three beds in my bungalow had already been slept in, the fourth looked made and somewhat clean. I dropped my backpack and went for a desert venture.

Valle de la Muerte

What you see is not snow, it is salt left when some water evaporated. My water finished, I thought it wise to return back. I washed nearly everything I had to take advantage of the dry wind. Walking around in shorts I noticed also my Honduran dog wound had finally healed after nearly  a month of lymph oozing. I went back to town, there was a bench in front of the library where one could use the open wifi and wrote a couple of messages and posts. Back in the camping I avidly ate some tomatoes and white cheese from a local market, I had missed both for quite some time after so many pollos con arroz. There are a lot of clay buildings in San Pedro, even the local church, you build with what you have.

There are a lot of desert adventures offered in San Pedro, but having been in Sahara I imagine a desert should have sand dunes and one should ride a camel rather than a jeep. So I rested and next day took the Andesmar bus to Salta.

Not really part of this epic journey, next year I was on a business trip to Chile’s capital Santiago and could finally fulfil my youth’s dream to visit Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
So I can share some more interesting photos. First the capital Santiago de Chile. It was a very long flight from Rome so I had a long walk from the airport bus terminal to the hotel. First stop was the presidential palace “La Moneda” where Salvador Aliende was killed during the Pinochet coup in 1973. I remembered several years later Dean Reed was shooting in Sofia the movie “El Cantor”, dedicated to Victor Jara and I was jumping in a mass scene chanting “El que no salta es momio”.

I believe in Chile and its destiny

Don Pedro de Valdivia was a Spanish conquistador, second in command to Fransisco Pizarro and Chile’s first Governor in 1540. There are other buidimgs from the colonial period in the center. But wherever I go I end up in the fish market.

The Gran Torre Costanera is the tallest building in South America at 300 m. Very nice surroundings and a great park on the other side of the river. Finally, the Sheraton hotel where I stayed.