Agua Del Desierto Hotel Calama

Calama - <br>They were right, the Lonely planet , when they described this place as "a shithole" !!<br>I got into my hostal - Los Nativos - about 4pm and decided that I was staying in a shithole within a shithole, I climbed two flights of narrow wooden stairs to a wooden landing that had little boxes leading off it, the landing had been constructed on top of a single ...

... a lot. There really is nothing to do here, we spent a few hours wandering around the aimlessly, we headed out to the mall on the outskirts of town to kill a few hours there, and have lunch there (turned out not to be a good move - worse KFC ever), there was an ice dancing troupe in town , and they would be playing in a big top adjacent to the shopping centre. We bought ...

... money. And less tourists. However, finding a place a good place to eat was more difficult, it seems like everything is a variation of a fast food type restaurant. But I like it. What I like even more...? When Becky and I were in the Atlanta airport we realized both of us had forgotten our plug adapters and we talked with Brookstone and another company ...

... Well, I was only planning on staying one night anyway as a stop over on route to San Pedro de Atacama. As, according to the guide book, there is no cash machine in San Pedro so it advises stocking up here before heading off to the desert. Now being in San Pedro I can confirm their are infact 2 cash machines, one for Mastercard and one Visa. Although they cant be relied on to be working much of the time ...

... un dia de lloguer... ens demanen disculpes i ens diuen que tornem el cotxe a Calama... i nosaltres que s'oblidin de que paguem el recàrrec per deixar el cotxe a un altra lloc... que ja ens han fet perdre el dia i que tan ens fot tornar-lo a Calama com a Antofagasta, si cal... i que "bueno vale"... Per si de cas, comprem els bitllets d'autobus a Calama, dues de les tres plaçes que quedaven per divendres (també tenen cullons, hi ha dues companyies que fan el trajecte de ...

... green green fields... and on and on! I´ll post photos when we get home. The salt flats were definitely the strangest landscape I´ve ever seen. It feels like the moon up there, about 3000 metres above sea level. The air is thin, and all you can see for miles around is pure white salt dried into hexagonal shapes. It´s unbelievably unforgiving, very hard to be there with the wind blowing salt into your eyes and drying out your throat ...

... the scenery was stunning but what is also amazing is how variable it is. It changes from desert like conditions to lush vegetation over the course of a few miles depending on the altitude and aspect of the mountain ranges. Then on the trip to the clouds they dropped us off at the salt flats which are a totally alien place to see. So flat, so big and so hostile...all the guys working there wear ...

... flats, we stopped at the Isla de los Pescadores, which was bizare enough in just appearing in the midst of the whiteness, but also covered in huge cacti (up to 12 metres high). Again, I managed to commit a child´s error - stabbing my finger on one of the huge spikes which looked as if it would give way under pressure. It didn´t. From here, we went to our overnight stop of San Juan. It is an incredibly depressing looking town in the middle of bleak, rcky waste lands and makes ...

... a fantastic birthday treat for me from Richard. It was an eco friendly hotel constructed from adobe - sun dried mud and straw and looked like a very lovely oasis on the edge of this desert town. To do it justice you really need to see the pics attached - it was sensational. Pablo ranked it as the best hotel he had ever stayed in for its unique nature. After checking in, we were taken to our room, or "hut" that was absolutely beautiful - bed on a raised platform, doors ...

... fromt eh top though are pretty nice. A lot of the buildings are painted in different colours and there were a lot of arts and crafts shops up there with a few nice restauraunts aswell. Pretty nice place to spend a day or two walking around. We got and overnight bus anyways further north, did´nt know what to expect but god Bus Eireann should come over and take a look at them, plush or what! The seats go back just about enough for ...