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.