Caldera

Trip Start Sep 11, 2008
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Trip End Jun 05, 2009


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Where I stayed
Hostal Millaray
(Caldera hotels)

Flag of Chile  ,
Monday, April 27, 2009

We got another nice bus through endless desert from Antofogasta to Caldera 6 hours south. We stopped at a small town bus station on the way where an old guy came over to us and gave Lucy a free spiritual healing while everyone from the two buses there watched and laughed. Caldera was totally deserted when we got there late afternoon. The town looked a bit like it could be New Zealand, it was grey and overcast but not cold. We stayed at Hostal Millaray on the town square which is exactly as the guidebooks describe it, ramshackle but comfortable and friendly.
We went down to the small beach and port, both of which were deserted apart from a few kids jumping off the pier and collecting huge sea snails. It was beer o´clock so we headed to a pub which doubled as a nice restaurant and nightclub and was completely empty apart from the owners who were lovely. They told us how the town and neighbouring Bahia Inglesa make all their money in the summer months, December to February and we were there at the wrong time. The next day at Bahia Inglesa was the same, just a couple of tourist couples wandering around a very small mainly closed down town. We found a little beach shack restaurant open though and Lucy ordered some live oysters, ostiones vivos. Except ostiones are actually scallops and they were very much still alive, pulsing and rippling having been freshly opened in a way oysters never do. We ate them anyway and they were tasty. We found another place open and had seafood empanadas then tried to go fishing but the tide had gone out too far.
That's about all we did, the sun never came out and we weren´t brave enough to go swimming as it was just a bit too cold. We enjoyed it all the same, both places are small and pretty and we enjoyed the lack of tourists.
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