CHILE: Arica>Iquique>San Pedro de Atacama
Trip Start
Mar 03, 2006
1
17
23
Trip End
Aug 30, 2006
San Pedro de Atacama,
Chile
Monday, July 17, 2006
10th: revitalized, I went for a little hike through the centre doing the typical building snaps and squares.... a few nice plazas a nice port but nothing more...best thign was a church designed b Eiffel. The main activity was walking up to the famous battefield site where Chile fought against Peru in the war ofthe pacific in 1880 to conquer Arica as Chilean territory henceforth..... Is set up on the brown mountains encompassing the city, and consists of a museum (good), statue of mary and jesus, tomb and panoramic watchpoints...... nice walk to take me up to lunchtime....In the mid aftee, I boarded yet another bus to take me 5 hours down the coast to Iquique, hailed as the northern Chilean beach resort... Had a thoroghly exciting encounter with the interdepartmenatal customs officers mid way down.. unnecessary!!!!! so silly... and chaotic.... 1 passneger on our bus had her phone stolen without even feeling anything...quite ironic thetheft happened at a control point haha... we stayed stationary for 15mins with the crew wondering whether to get us off the bus again or carry on.. no signal either to try and call it..... could have been another passenger from another bus...
Was ever so impressed with the QUALITY of the bus..semi recliners, foot rests, headphones, air con, nice loo, Tv, snacks, clean.... amazing!!! Met this mid-aged local man who after conversing with me, randomly offered me his room that he rents from a lady whilst on businesss..... i thought it nice but had to deny subtly as couldnt be sure he was genuine... was just me....shame...
Got to beach resort destination, Iquique.
Promptly headed to this crazy family-run hostel....Name translates as "Teachers' guesthouse"...owner is a mid-aged snobby lady, with her allegedly simple-minded son helping out, and the grandmother literally on death's door... plus a maid (cleaner,cooker) and this Peruvian handyman/butler.... interesting set up in THEIR Home... have to pass throught the dining room and that to get to the patio where most of the rooms are found.. 2 cabin hut things and 1 big dorm where I obviously lodged... Collided with a gay American dude, Jesse (been living in a Chilean town or 5 months as exchange student, so a handy and reliable info/advice source), a sound English guy (Steve), a mad mid-aged single Kiwi bloke (John) and finally a mid-aged confused English chap (Gary). The latter two were soft drug talk obsesssed so after a while I left the communal patio/drinking area and got some winks..
11th: Iquique is a moderately populated coastal city, set at the foot of the sandy Atacamanian desert hills......mild climate this time of year (autumny ie low tourist season)so not bad....the hostel lads went paragliding off the mountain tops over the city and coast, so I tagged along to see... Had already done a more spectacular glide in French lake/mountain region so wasn't to enthused. Mind you, apparently, here is one o best places to do it in Lat America - conditions wise rather than aesthetically pleasing views.....seemed a good laugh... Whilst they were ascending, I took the opportunity to familiarise myself with the place and so wondered along the promenade....visiting a small, free, exposed marine zoo and walking an hour alongthe coast.
After the jumps, we finally got our lunch.... treat - John recommended this 3 course nice cheapish place and we certainly weren't disappointed...had ceviche (small marinated fish pieces in lemon juice and herbs, salad style) to start, then fish and spuds for main and flan for desert....not impressed by Chile national beer though! only complaint.. Come 5pm we emerged stuffed and decided to walk the beach and see an average sunset before returning to the madhouse and drinking a beer.....From there, we were all up for a night on the razz...long due..In Bar Barracuda, we perched oursleves on the bar and consumed "happy hour" 2x1 beers till 1:30am...chatted to bar staff and learnt wacky things about the hostel quad.... Gary ended up chundering at the hostel but i had a sensible amount! proud to leave them to it and crash out.
12th: late simple brekkie and then bought supermarket goodies for a lazy day lying on beach. wasn't quite warm enough to dip in the sea but relaxed all same. some locals were in wetsuits adn trying to surf on a swimmer's beach.. OK. At night, me and Jesse returned to Barracuda and had to try out this HUGE vicuna (llama family) steak...seriously big with huge etending bone.... shared between two... rather bloody but damn tasty...washed down with lcoal vino blanco.. cant go wrong mate. afterwards, just moped around looking at the city by night... early sleep.
13th: Festival outing witha funny ending.... despite the persistence and frowning of hostel owner ANITA at our rejections of tour offers organized direct in favour of going solo, (she actually told Jesse "I liiiiiike your money" in her distorted english accent!) we went to neighbouring village La Tirana at lunchtime for the Festival of its patron Saint, Maria Del Carmen... the place is very small and dusty and ridiculously hot (in micro climate at top of sandy dunes)...alcohol is NEVER sold of drunk up there....... the festival culminates with a mad bloody procession on bare knees and elbows to the church as a weird sacrifice... thankfulyl we only witnessed a mid week variety of dancing and processions with bands... forsome reason there is a strongchinese influence here in that the fab costumes and masks look like chinese style. all ages opf people took part and the town came alive....nice street foodstalls/fair stalls and all that to accompany.....nice atmosphere...
Ah, on the way we got stopped AGAIN for a suspect stupid police check....
apparently they were trying to prevent thieves from entering the plae but only looked at ID cards and that was that..... we had no docs on us due to being advised to leave all behind at hostel so had to confirm identity via radio lol... Jesse expressed his annoyance but that was that.
ooooh... and on the way back 4 hours later, there was a fight.........YES.... 1 silly young local guy refused to pay bus fare or said would pay up at the end...but he got off the bus and the conductor grabbed him by the neck and proceeded to argue etc.. then he tried to run off and nearly got run over..then in theparking lot, there was a bit of a scrap which ended ni the conductor throwing the guy back first on the ground andthen the cops arriving and arresting him.... weird sceario but certainly woke us all up!!! Jesse ran straight over to get a good view, thoroughly amused by the bizarre situation...
ANYHOW.........that eve those still left ie me, Jesse and Steve had an all you can eat Brazilian buffet in this neat palce tucked off the central grid........were pretty much the only guests so scoffed ourselves silly. Once again, I had to make tracks and squared bill at the hostel before boarding a night bus....an indirect service via Calama to San Pedro de Atacama near Argentinian/Bolivian border.
14th: had to get off bus at 3am for yet another regional BAGGAGE AND PASSPORT check int he freezing cold... of course the customs officers did little more than bat an eyelid and then sent us on our way (after unloading and loading our gear)..... 6am get to Calama and had to waitinthe terminal freezing ass off once more... after an 8am connection, arrived shortly after in groovay San Pedro... undisputed northern Chile backpackers' turf where prices are sky high (European standards) and locals are few and far between....the town consists of a plaza with church, townhall and tourist bureau, then several streets branching off.... every other shop is a bike hire, tour agency,hostel,internet caf or corner shop lol....
Reason for high tourist population all year round is due to the nature and variety of tours, day trips, and scenery surrounding the area. I mean, everyother group is of French-speaking due to the outdoor activity abundance... horse-riding, cycling, hiking, climbing...... etc etc... something to see and do 3korso in every ccompass cardinal point direction...ranging form geysers to salt flats to ruins to hot springs....valleys....
Now.... coming to the best bit now...accommodation for the 2 days...... Jesse had been there the week before and had recommended this unusual but unique rustic place.... this woman who runs a kiosk chiefly targeted at passing lorry and bus drivers passing over the official CUSTOMS point crossing to Argentina. she has been doing up her rustic housing and making it into a guesthouse......has 1 room ready at mo..... price is half thatof the central hostels.... hot water to shower is geenrated from a manally it wooden fire stove outdoors lol.. chickens dogs and cats are roaming about happily... get the picture?
Senora Nancy's former kitchen and lounge have now been taken over by a cool chilean chef............he is renting a room at her palce whilst beingthe OWNER of the eating quarters... equally wants to transofrm that part into a troursity gastronomical gourmet place BUT ata goodprice to rival the extortionate central resturants....so he has barely got things runnning.... once a week, Carlos has to go to Calama, 3hrround trip and buy fresh food to equip himself.....
So....that morning I dumped my stuff in my nice room with ensuite facilities (family of4 live in box-sized rooms though?!) ... had breakfast local style at the market for great value........ then booked myself on the cheapest tour I could find to see the death valley,moon valley and sunset......3pm departure and 7pm return......consisted of an outing to diff places with a guided explanation in spanish.. first say dinosaur valley (rock formations ressemble)..from there we could see a bitofthe Atacama salt falts.. nothing on the Bolivian one though....afterwards we saw the death valley (name of disputed origin - 2 most plausible theories are that the Belgian discoverer badly pronounced the spanish translation of Mars Valley (Valle de la Muerte = death instead of Valle de Martes = planet Mars)...OR death valley beacuse the ancient indigenous people had to walk long distances with their livestock in weather extremes - freezing cold by night and backing hot bye day in the world's dryest desert where no rainfall has been recorded in 50 years in this sector.. no clouds... world's clearest skies here constantly..... ie much livestock etc perished ie DEATH........ despite the disputed name origin, the scenery and craters were stunning... we walked 30 mins down the valley in between the sauring sandy rocky mountains, taking in the vivid formations..........
Onward bound to the moon valley... easily associated due to its flat, cratered surface with several mounds and white coating etc......lovely...... we then mounted the dunes and sat downin tby the masses to watch sunset...dead quiet with beautiful skies spanning 360os. Obviously the stars began to flood the sky which was special.... made me think of home a bit I have to admit..
Was slightly diappointed to learn that Carlos the chef back at my "home" had gone to buy supplies so had to settle for a burger in local tea shop....was shattered after previous night travelling and the day's activities, so went to bed early and warpped up for 0oc overnight temperature (which I Felt non of- yay)....
15th: Had anticipated Steve's arrival (English chap from Iquique) that morning as he was following my route basically... cool.... so picked him up and got Senroa Nancy to set up another bed in my big room and so she did contently.. very happy to have to company and business...... likewise, I told Carlos I would definitely be dining there that night as Jesse had raved about his cooking..... He lived for first 15years of life in Lima, Peru as dad Peruvian... then went to live with divorved mother in Chile capital, Santiago where he studied home ec..... graduated from theonly french gastronomical college in the continent a few yers back and has since left Santiago, stressed out from cosmopolitan life...made a break for touristy San Pedro, some 20 hours north and has started this catering business recently....generally only feeds thehungry lorry drivers but is devising a masterplan for adverts, furnishings...you name it.....
In the day, I met up with this young Chilean guy Juan Pablo whonow lives with family in Valencia, Spain..... met him on the valley tour the day before and we agreed to accompany eachother on an intensive biking circuit.......firt went to the musuem whichcontained all about the Atacamanian civilisation pre inca to post spanish colonization....... had frightfully humane mummies there:
......tools, models, artificats of all description. fascinating. Hired our decent quality mountain bikes and purchased our bakery goodies for lunch..............off we set...
Now, Juan-P (JP) is a keen cyclist......so I was sceptical about his ambitious 60k roundtrip to hot springs in Puritama and back (36miles ie De La Salle school walk distance round the Island of JERSEY in 10hours or so!!!!)..he was interested so I agreed...neither of us had our swim suits and I couldn't bebothered to continue cycling along this seemingly neverending long road with the imposing volcanoes never getting any closer.........
soooooo we ended up returning half an hour into the ride... he admitted it was mad!!!
Instead, we did my preferred excursion, comprising of 4 diff places of interest, with at least some varying topography and sights along the way...was a 35k loop in total with long stop offs...
Replensishedwith water and sunscreen we made our way at a nice pace.....first call was Pakara de Quitor - some ruins 3k north of San Pedro.....being chilean, JP scammeda discounted entrance fee and we climbed the ruins to get a panoramic view of the valley,town and mountains in the background. had a long late lunch there andmoved on 2 mins up road to the Cueva Del Diablo or Devil's Cave.. with no torch or ligther betwen us, we dumped our bikes and entered the cave regardless only after ensuring it was safe and doable....after dirtying our clothes and scarmbling up and down the stones and feeling our way in the pitch black, we emerged into broad daylight a couple of times through the cave. was a cool adventure.......
3RD stop was the Quebrada Del Diablo or Devil's gorge/ravine...another 3 or 4ks north..had to first cross a river by taking off shoesand walking bike across it was that deep... entered in the thingy and cycled around this narrow, windy route with the rocks towering above and leaning over us......quite funky.... could see the sun starting to set above us so we exhited and headed back...eliminating Catarpe archeological site/ruins from our agenda. Made it as far as the initial Quitor site and climbed the ruins high enough to appreciate the sunset....again, pure silence to the extent one could hear ears ringing......the ticketman was chasing and whipping this cheeky sheep which kinda spoiled the moment but hey.
All in all, a nice envigorating hardcore offroad bike ride but ended up more tanned and feeling fit......
The day fo course ended with a great meal at the residence with Steve and other recruited eager diners. though we waited til 8:30 or so to eat, the wait was unquestionably worth it...starter was a spanish tortilla, and main was chicken... but everything was prepared from scrath and by Carlos alone..... loads of herbs, spices, sauces and love/passion added tothe taste.... was a right laugh and very impressive....could see him preparing away contently in the kitchen visible through a hatch... no complains especially for the price..within 6 months or so, I see him with a hugely successful rustic touristy restaurant with many choices on the menu..staff employed and decor amazing...Equally, for Senora Nancy....if peoplelike me keep spread ing the word, can envisage her having a very busy home!....painting and furnishing is in progress for both aprties already, in what is REALLY a basic, poor environment.....
Come 11pm we finish our night caps courtesy of the house and chill in front of the tele to the likes of finding Nemo and news.
16th: sadly had to leave San P for pastures new due to time restrictions not at all due to boredom....really could have done with a day extra there to do anotehr activity and sample more exquisite food..did have beakkie there......ample coffee and this delicious omelette with spanish sausage (chorizo) and cheese....properly garnished again... certainly puts my bread roll and scrambled eggs brekkie to shame throughout Peru and Bolivia lol!!!
By 10 30 am I had abandoned the town and was making my way to Antofagasta......5hours trip..thankfully no customs stops (think it's due to drug smuggling issues above all, but unheard of checking frequencies!!!).....got here today mid pm and decided immediately I would continue on to La Serena tonight.... Antofagasta is not at all pretty except for spme English Georgian period architecture a clock tower ressembling Big Ben in the main square.... port smelly and ugly and city centre plain...did a once over of the basics in 3 hours and then sat down to write the second half of this blog before 12 hour night bus to wonderful La Serena...may meet Steve there.
Will only be treating you to a couple more of these wrestched blogs now as only have 5or so weeks left.. Nooooo.. Do think I'll be ready to come back to home life at end of Aug though but not necessarily "face the music".
Well done to all those 2006 uni graduates. May the summer vibes be with you all!
Ciao for niaow.
A ",)
