La Serena

Saturday August 18.

Arrived around 8:30 in Santiago. The reciprocity fee for US citizens is now 160 dollars. It is good for the life of your passport.. I had paid the fee in 2006; my passport was still in use. I had paid 100 dollars.

Tried to get a micro sim card in the airport. No one had one. Movistar did not even sell sim cards.. But the man in the Movistar booth told us that they were available in any shopping mall, and probably cheaper than in the airport. They wanted 12000 pesos for a sim card.

We boarded our plane to La Serena. Before we left, I had purchased our domestic flight on Sky Airlines through their website. The total cost for the flight from Santiago to La Serena was $175 US.

We arrived in La Serena at 1 pm. Clear blue skies. Snow covered mountains easily visible. The taxi ride from the airport to the center of town was 5000 pesos. There was also a shuttle service available from the airport for 2000 pesos a person. The ride into town takes only about 15 minutes.



We had made a reservation at Hostal El Arbol. It had been opened less than a year. It is located on a quiet residential street, only a few blocks from the main square.


We reserved a private double room with shared bath. Our room was on the second floor. It was small but had a pleasant view of the Japense Gardens.

There were three private rooms and three rooms with bunk beds. There was a bath on each floor; a common room, kitchen and outdoor patio on the first floor.. The hostal is run by Margarita; her daughter Allie was also there helping her.

We spent most of the afternoon exploring the city on foot.

The Recova market has handicrafts and on its second floor many small restaurants. There is also a supermarket next door. We ate lunch - two generously sized hamburgers - at the colonial cafe. It cost about twenty dollars.



We visited the Japanese gardens but it was really not the right season - winter - to see the plants and trees at their peak.





In the evening we walked to the large mall and obtained sim cards for our phones from the helpful staff at the Paris department store. They were amazed by our micro sim cutter: it trims full sized sim cards to a size to fit our iPhones. We paid 3000 a piece for the cards and some minutes. Not sure yet how much credit we have on the phones.

Had a hard time finding a place that was open for dinner. The town seemed to close up early.

Vicuna - Mamalluca Observatory

Sunday August 19

Slept soundly after a night of no sleep on the plane. Breakfast was communal. There was a young British guy staying at the hostel. He had been working in Santiago for the past year. He said that the Chilenos rarely worked even though they put in long days. They come in late, go out for coffee, go out for extended lunches where they drink wine, are useless by the afternoon and then stay late but get little done.

We walked to the bus station from the hostel. Easy walk. We caught a bus to Vicuña. It cost 2000 pesos. It took about an hour. There were not many passengers on the bus. But happened to sit next to a young man from Bulgaria who was in college at Dartmouth. He was in Chile visiting is brother, who was working in Santiago, and took a side trip to some of is brothers friends in La Serena. He was taking a bus trip to the Elqui Valley for the day.

Walked from the bus station to the observatory office. There was one tour at 8:30 in the evening - depending on the weather. In the afternoon clouds had begun to roll into the town. But we were hopeful. The woman at the office said that they often dissipate by the evening. And they did.

We stayed at the Hostel Valle Hermoso. It is run by a very friendly woman - Lucianne. Our room was simple but ample and clean. It cost 24000 pesos a night. We had an adequate lunch nearby at the Social club restaurant. We spent the afternoon wandering around the town. The town has a marvelous setting among the mountains. But because it was Sunday many restaurants and shops were closed. There really wasn't much to see. But the town did have a good super mercado where we picked up some empanadas to go and some pastel de choclo (a round pastry filled with a savory mixture of ground meat and corn). We ate them in the main square. The square was odd because it had music blaring from the speakers all day and all night long.

We went the observatory office at 8:00 pm. It is just off the main square. We were taken up to the observatory in a minivan. We had selected the English language tour. There were only four of us in the tour. We began with the large telescope. We viewed six objects: Saturn, Mars, some nebula, and some distant stars. The tour guide was very thorough. She using an astounding laser device to point out constellations like the southern cross and some of the astrological signs that were visible at the this time of year in the southern hemisphere. The sky was dazzling and clear. TheMilky Way and other galaxies were easily apparent. At first we thought they were just clouds but there were clouds in the sky that night. Just stars and dark sky. Saturn and Mars were also visible in the early evening. After the telescope viewing and an outdoor viewing, there was a short power point presentation. Hen we were driven back to town. We arrived back at our hostel at 11:15.

When we rang the doorbell to be let in, the owner greeted us in her bathrobe. She also was kind enough to give us a small - but extremely effective - electric heater. It was colder in our room than it was outside. The hostel was built of all abode walls, nearly two feet thick. We needed additional warmth that night.

Elqui Valley - Pisco Elqui

Monday August 20

We were the only guests at breakfast a our hostel. The breakfast was typical for Chilean breakfasts: Nescafé powdered coffee, some tasteless rolls (no one int Latin America knows how to bake bread), assorted fresh fruits (we had a fruit called pepino - like a small eggplant - at this breakfast for the first time), some sliced ham and cheese and some fruit spreads for the bread.

We left that morning and rolled our suitcases the few blocks down to the bus station, just off the main square. Before getting on the bus we got some cash from an ATM machine near the station. The ATM fee charged by the Chilean bank was about 8 dollars!

The bus trip to Pisco Elqui only took about 45 minutes. Outside of Vicuña, the valley narrowed - squeezed in on both sides by steeply sloping mountains. Some were topped by a dusting of snow. To me, it looked like it could be a valley deep in the Himalayas except that there were grape vineyards straddling the width the the valley floor - and in some cases, sliding up the mountain sides. It was one of the most picturesque valley I had ever seen.

We arrived in Pisco Elqui shortly after noon. The bus dropped us with a block of the hostel - El Tesoro - where we wanted to stay. The hostel consists on several groups of attached cabins. All set on a mountainside overlooking another mountain side. There was a frigid pool and plenty of gardens on the property. Bordering the hostel was another group of buildings: El Jardin Secreto. It also consisted of several bungalows but also specialized in tarot reading, reiki, massage and meditation classes. We were in the heart of Chile's new age valley.

Pisco Elqui only has about 800 residents, four or five streets and dozens of roaming dogs. The town is home to a Pisco distillery which happened to be closed on Mondays, which was the day we arrived.




The manger of our hostel called another distillery - Los Niches - and found that they were open. She said it was 4 kilometers from Pisco Elqui and could be reached in an hour if we wanted to walk there.

So we ate lunch at Los Jugos restaurant just off the main square. We had only tiny pizza for about 10 dollars and two glasses of a thick fruit juice. The entire meal costs about 20 dollars. And we were still hungry. So we grabbed a couple of empanadas from a small store before we headed off to the distillery.




It did take about an hour to reach it but the walk through the valley was magnificent. The tour and meager tasting - they only gave you a thimble full of two of the piscos to taste - lasted about a half hour. Since the tour was only in Spanish, we understand about the percent and nodded knowingly the rest of the time.

When we came back to the hostel, I managed to pick a few oranges from the orange tree in the hostel's garden before settling in on our porch to watch the sunlight fade against the opposite mountain range. Then we ate at the restaurant - a simple meal of soup, veggie burger, a little of wine and a slice of cake - that was the best meal we had in the trip. The meal cost about 40 dollars.

We retuned to our cabana and turned in for the night. 

La Serena - Coquimbo

Tuesday August 21

Breakfast at the hostel El Tesoro. We checked out around 10:30. We paid 31500 pesos for the night. About 65 dollars.

We walked the a couple blocks to the square and caught a bus back to La Serena. I was about a two hour ride and cost 3000 per person.

The valley between La Serena and Vicuña contains many farms (fundos). Avocados and papayas are grown in this valley. In La Serena dried or candied papayas are widely available.

We had reserved a suite at Hostel El Punto. It was a beautiful room in a separate building on the second floor. It had a private covered porch. Spacious and attractive.

We had lunch at Daniella II - a menu of the day that we somehow screwed up. We ended p being served cazuela as well as some frijoles. Plus we ordered some empanadas. We still ended up spending about 20 dollars - our usual lunch amount for even the simplest of meals.

The afternoon had started overcast but soon sun and blue sky predominated. We took a twenty minute walk to the beach. The beach area was dominated by large white high rises. The barren, grey sand beach stretched for miles along the crescent-shaped bay. Not particularly attractive.

Wether caught a number 1 bus (500pesos per person) to the Barrio Ingles section of the nearby town of Coquimbo. The ride took about a half hour. Many stops. And it was a directo bus.

We spent about 15minutes walking around the English section. That was enough. Gritty is the adjective most often used to describe this town. There restored section was only a few blocks. Interesting but not enough to linger. We easily caught another bus back to La Serena.

A quick meal at a nearby comida rapida restaurant (ElReal) , a walk to the nearby supermarket (Jumbo - a higher class Walmart-type store) and then we returned to the hostel.

No heat in our room but plenty of blankets. The rooms get colder that the outside.

Calama - San Pedro de Atacama

Wednesday August 22

We left La Serena on an 11:00 Sky Airlines flight to Calama. We had purchased the tickets -via the internet - before we left. The one way flight for the two of us totaled about $325 US.

We arrived in Calama around 1:00 pm. They have shuttles to San Pedro from the airport that meet all arriving planes. They have a desk in the arrivals area of the Calama airport. It costs 12,000 per person to travel the one hour and fifteen minutes to San Pedro. There were only a couple of people in traveling in the van with us.

The van will drop you at any hotel in town. We randomly chose one hostel that was listed in the LP guidebook. In the first place (tahka tahka) they showed us a very basic room that cost over $110 US a night. We walked to two other nearby places. Both wanted 35,000a night but the rooms were even smaller and more basic. It was very discouraging.

 

I decided to leave Ross with the luggage at the main square (which had wifi) and took off on mine own in search of a room. I looked at three other places before settling on Hostal La Ruca. The room was light-filled and spacious but with a tiny bath. It costs 34,000 a night.

The town appeared oversupplied with places to stay and places to eat. It was strange. How could there be that many tourists to support such services? Yes, there. Were more gringos in this town than in any other in Chile but not enough to fill the over abundance of rooms available.

The town has about 5,000 inhabitants. But they town is clearly divided in two: the tourist town, with dirt streets and adobe-style buildings (a la Santa Fe) and the real town with paved streets but lined with one story homes, cobbled together with corrugated roofs and plywood walls.

We had a late afternoon main meal at one of the overpriced restaurants along the main street - Caracoles - and turned in early.

Anna Marie, the young manager of La Ruca, provided us with a portable heater for our stay. But it did not feel cold enough at night to use. Instead I used it to dry the socks and underwear I had washed in La Serena. Sophie, the bulldog mascot of the hostel, had her own doghouse in the courtyard common area. Anna Marie said Sophie was 17 years old. During the day she followed the sun as it moved around the courtyard, plopping herself down in the spot with the maximum rays. She would snort and bark occasionally but mostly she slept. 

San Pedro de Atacama - Valle de Muerte & Valle de la Luna

Thursday August 23

Breakfast was a desultory affair. A few items would appear - a handful of rolls, some bananas, etc. - but not be replenished when consumed. Luckily we rose earlier than many of the guests to secure our fill.

I could not eat another piece of their dry, crusty bread. I had purchased a loaf of Fuchs whole grain bread in a supermarket. I brought some slices to breakfast, toasted them and then spread on a layer of peanut butter - also purchased at the supermarket.

At breakfast we met a woman from Spain, Begonia, who was traveling around south America for several months. She worked for Proctor and Gamble in Madrid. She had just crossed over from Bolivia via Uyuni. The three night trip was torturous but one of the highlights of her trip. It piqued our interest. Could we survive an Uyuni trip?

Another young woman from Canada staying at the hostel was also planning to book a trip across Uyuni from San Pedro to Bolivia.

We booked a trip to Valle de la Luna for that evening and also reserved a spot in the Tatio geyser tour for the next morning. Both trips were booked through Anna Marie at the hostel.

We then set out to see if a Uyuni trip was possible. We sat down a very informative woman at Corillera Traveler. Her no nonsense description of the tour suffocated any hopes of us actually enduring the journey. Uyuni continues to elude us.

After our meeting with the tour agent, we had time that morning for the English language tour at the San Pedro museum. Our guide was Leah. She gave us an incredibly detailed tour of the museum in just end hour. She was able to summarize the history of the local indigenous people using the artifacts in display. Unfortunately, Miss Chile - an unearthed mummy - is n longer on display. She was taken out of public display at the request of repose natives of the local indigenous people.

We ate lunch at a vegetarian cafe Estrella Negra on Caracoles 362. They offered a three course set lunch for less than 4000 pesos.

We leave at 3:00 pm for the tour to Valle de Muerte and a sunset trip to Valle de la Luna. The tour was through Layana Tours but booked through our hostel. The tour cost 7000 per person.




 These two sites are only about 15 minute drive outside the town.

 The lunar landscape reveals its broadest spectrum of colors as the sun sets. We hike up to the largest dune in Valle de la Luna to witness

San Pedro de Atacama - Tatio Geysers

Friday August 24

The alarm went off at 3:30 in the morning. We had to be outside our hostel by 4:00 am to wait for the tour van. We had booked an early morning tour to El Tatio geysers. Again, the reservation was made by our hostel through Layana Tours. It cost 16000 pesos a person. It includes breakfast. The 5,000 entrance fee is separate.

The geysers are located about 90 kilometers north of San Pedro. We are dressed in long underwear, long pants, sweaters, jackets, gloves and scarves. It is about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. It is still. The sky is clear and star-filled. The moon set long ago. We can see Orion which was not visible in the early evening.

The van picks us up around 4:15. Our enthusiastic guide is Ozzie. We take off in the dark on the one and a half hour journey. We arrive at the park 's Refugio at about 6:00 am. It is till dark and cold. The park is at about 4400 meters above sea level. We duck into the Refugio for breakfast. There is coffee - Nescafe, of course - and crappy bread. Ross and I start laughing about the bread. The two German young women on the tour also understand. The start laughing about it. Ozzie prepares a large pan of scrambled eggs. We use the crappy bread to scoop up the eggs from the communal pan.

It is growing lighter. We leave the Refugio, hop in the van and travel the few minute drive to the geyser area.

There are many your groups already there. Ozzie tells us to stay in the paths because the earth is very unstable. Some listen to him, others don't. The sky grows lighter. The mist from the geysers is everywhere. The morning air immediately grows warmer within minutes of the sunrise. The smoke for the geysers, the sky and the landscape all grow more vivid in the early morning light. Bubbling water erupts all around you. An amazing sight.

We spend about an hour at the site. On our way back we stop at a tiny town with an old Jesuit church. Blue door, white stucco walls and a blue cross in its front yard. All typical attributes of these rustic colonial churches. We buy some freshly made goat cheese empanadas. Then head back to town.

In the late afternoon we take a walking trip out of town to a pukara - an old fortress. It is about a 3 kilometer walk. It is hot and dusty. When we get to the site we don't climb to the top. Too little energy. Besides, how much more beautiful can the view be than the views that we have already seen. We walk back to town.