Radisson Antofagasta

... ima curu (koju sam upoznala u vina del maru) i jos mi objasnjava kako je on drugaciji od drugih cileanaca i kako on ne vara, za razliku od drugih. Da da. Da sam ja htjela, prevario bi on tu svoju curu vec 15 puta. Kad ovdje kazes ne, nista im to ne znaci, makar ponavljao 15 puta. Ali ja imam moc suptilnoga vrijedanja ljudi (hvala braco na poduci!!) i (kako mi je rekao couchsurfer u santiagu) nisam bas zenstvena tako da uz pomoc toga, nakon upornoga ponavljanja „sale ...

... into Residencial El Cobre, a hostal in the center recommended by my Bradt guide. At first you could tell that it was dark and somewhat run down, but not that you haven´t seen run down places in South America (or even the US) before. They tried to make the room somewhat perky with light purple walls. (Why do hostels always use the brightest paint colors in the oddest combinations?) The bed was not inviting, but ...

... toilet cubicle, stroking the image of his trashy dream whilst the bullies broke the doors of his castle. Tropical Victor, allergic to the cold, with a hatred of Gothic fortitude and no stomach for dissecting corpses. How his parents wrung their hands as they thought of the terrible lack of future in store for him, a man of their kin, their blooline, working supermarket shelves or painted orange and hawking budget flights in some godforsaken travel agency ...

... there was amazing! The best thing though has been spending Christmas with a Chilean family, its not that much different to Christmas in the UK (think my gifts and traditional UK Christmas stuff went down well), lots of visiting family (Benjamin, Pedros dad got dressed up as Santa to deliver gifts) and eating lots lol. Visited Pedro's aunt in Mejillones, a small village just outside of Antofagasta ...

... on the cliffs to pounce on us. Although, one of the girls on the tour, who is well equipped in the chest area, had her hair in pigtails one day, and one of the Dutch guys said to one of the Germans "It's Hiedi mit ze Grosse Booben!" She wasn't impressed. The next stop was Mano del Desierto, the big hand in the desert. It is supposed to be a symbol of environmental awareness, saying give a helping hand before we are over-powered by the ...

... en Jako s'ha desesperat (ara, mentre escrit ja li ha passat força), a mi, però, m'ha agafat un atac de riure que encara em dura (ara mateix m'estic descollonant... he ben agafat el ritme). Anna, que deies de Xile????? Això em sembla que no ho vas superar ni al Perú (espero, bé, almenys aquí el país és segur, això si). Res, que ens quedem a Calama a esperar a demà a que ens portin el cotxe a les 4 de la tarda, per marxar pitant cap a Argentina (refent una mica la ...

... for my brain a little too much. Gaysers enigmatic and thrilling. Trying to capture the ambience destroyed by crowds, all of a sudden I realized that I cannot hear properly what has been told. My bones getting hot, and my stomack asks for freedom. It is a moment when you secretly say - please not here, not now, not dying. Guide was very helpful with until the bus, where he gave me a dose of extra oxygen ...

... for as far as the eye can see in every direction, with just the faint hint of surrounding moutains in the distance. I imagined the top surface to be loose and nearly broke my foot when I took a kick at a pile of salt, only to discover that it is as solid as ice. In fact, one could have believed that we were driving across one of the Poles, rather than a huge salt flat and the rough surface soon took its toll - blowing up the front right tyre of our Toyota. About halfay into ...

... so we could find our hotel. Eventually, after asking lots of people, we finally found the tourist office, were given directions to our hotel, only to find that it was just down the road from the bus station and we´d just spent the last 30 minutes walking in a very big circle to find this out!! So, we headed down the dusty road, in the heat, and feeling a bit wobbly after a rather sleepless night and the altitude - 2,500m. It was all worth it because our hotel was absolutely ...

After Santiago we headed for the coast for the town called Valpariso. It is a UNESCO world heritage city because the old part of the city is built up on this high mountain that you have to get these chair lifts (more or less) up to the top. They are just wooden boxes (still the originals more or less) which feel like they are about to fall apart and the look of the old fella lettin you in doesnt give you too much confidence either! The ...