Pachamama! Part I

Having left Chile´s graffiti capital Valparaiso and arrived in Chile´s actual capital city Santiago, my new BFF Lucienne was sadly returning to Holland so I was left wondering what to do with myself for two weeks until my boyfriend (bf) came to visit. Whilst browsing the "things to do" board in the hostel I noticed a leaflet about a company called Pachamama which carried out bus tours visiting the best attractions in northern Chile - Ever since Id watched the Top Gear South America special which saw the three amigos drive from Bolivia through the Chilean Atacama Desert and finishing at the Chilean Pacific coast, Id always wanted to visit this part of the world.


The tour would take 10 days, would be all organised and I wouldn't have to think about where to go and what to see. It would also mean that I could be back to spend a few days in Santiago before the BF arrived. It sounded perfect. However perfection doesn't exist does it? No. Alas when I contacted Pachamama to find out more I was told that the 10 day tour had already started! I enquired on the Monday and the tour had started two days prior. Noooo! I explained my situation to the owner of Pachamama and he said that as the tour was hop on-hop off I could join the group further up the coast but I would have to get there myself and meet them.  Yay! Now all I had to do was get there. Annoyingly all flights turned out to be too expensive, so joy of joys, I was left with getting a bus 17 hours up the coast to a town called Antofagasta (Ill tell you more of this town later...). Typically the only tickets that were left were semi cama (you know how much I love these. NOT) and surprise surprise I would be sat two rows in front of the toilet on the bus. Anyone who has ever travelled long distance in any country will know that toilets on buses are not the nicest to places to sit near. As I had no other choice and I was keen to do the tour I decided to bite the bullet and just do it. 


Arriving at the bus station, it seemed way more chaotic than any other Id been to. I was also pretty much the only gringo there as well. A running theme in Chile it would seem. Where do all the other backpackers travel from?! The bus was late to arrive and when we boarded it was full to capacity. I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep but it didn't stop me from trying anyway. I managed to doze off a few times but I kept worrying about my backpack which I had with me (I have a large backpack which always goes in the luggage area of any bus/plane and another normal sized backpack that I carry with me which contains all the items I don't want stolen in it). This normal sized backpack is proving to be a pain, especially on buses as it is quite bulky and a nuisance to have by your feet. I dare not put it up on the shelf above the seats on the bus as if I do sleep (there may be miracles...) then knowing my luck it will get nicked. So by my feet it went. There was some sort of air con filter thing under the seat which meant that the person behind couldn't reach under and grab it. (You'd be surprised how often this happens...)


The journey was long but the scenery was interesting - mostly desert. As always the air con was on full blast, so in my attempt to keep warm I foolishly used one of the fleece blankets they provide on the bus during the journey as I couldn't be bothered to get my silk sleeping bag liner out. BIG MISTAKE. It wasn't until I arrived in Antofagasta the next day that I realised I had been bitten all over my arms, neck and legs by fleas. Well at least that is what I think (hope?!) they were...


My guide book said that Antofagasta was the main urban centre in the Atacama Desert and that it is one of Chile´s main ports exporting Nitrate and Silver. On arrival this made a lot of sense, given that it certainly isn't the most attractive of cities. Although they have created a man made beach and a new sea front avenue to make it a more pleasant place to visit (or live heaven forbid!) 


I caught a taxi from the bus terminal to the city centre and was charged $5000 Chilean pesos, which I can tell you now is day light robbery. I argued with the driver but he refused to bargain with me so in my tiredness I reluctantly paid him. Cabrón!


Needless to say when I entered the hotel reception where I was meant to meet the rest of the tour group I was not in a good mood. I explained to the receptionist that I was joining the Pachamama group and that as I was a couple of hours early could I check into my room to shower (17 hours on a bus does not a clean person maketh) and wait for them. I was immediately told no, and that I had to wait for the tour group to arrive. For the second time that afternoon I attempted and failed to bargain. I blame my tiredness...


So there I sat in reception (nice and sweaty) along with the receptionist (I use this job title loosely as she clearly wasn't doing anything else) watching Telenovelas (Latin American soap operas). For two hours. During this time we saw a car chase, a kidnapping, an attempted murder, a secret liaison and numerous terrible outfits accompanied by bad made up. All in the same Telenovela episodes. The BBC it certainly isn't. 


I must point out that I did go out and get some food during this time as the receptionist did let me leave my large backpack there...there is some kindness in her after all!


Finally the Pachamama tour group showed up and our guide Javiera (Javi) introduced me to everyone else on the mini bus. Being extremely tired I wasn't the best company and I failed to make much conversation but everyone was very friendly. The tour group consisted of thirteen lovely travellers including myself. It was a very international affair, with travellers from Canada, France, Holland, America and Im quite smug to say us Brits outnumbered them all : D


Our first stop was visiting La Portada cliffs, which are a rock formation in the sea shaped like a giant arch. It reminded me of Durdle Door in Dorset : D

We ended up all staying in a different hotel as the one we were meant to stay in - with Miss lovely receptionist - had been double booked (funny that) and could only fit the couples on the tour, of which there were two. 


The next day, we set off bright and early to a place called Baquedano which is home to a  train cemetery. On arrival we were told that the engines abandoned there were used to transport nitrate which was mined. Due to the this being one of the driest places on earth the engines have resisted corrosion so everything there was perfectly preserved for us to clamber over and pretend we were the Fat Controller (or should I say Sir Topham Hat as he is now more commonly referred to due to political correctness would you believe?!) of Thomas the Tank Engine fame.

Ye olde water tower for le trains

Walking towards the cemetery through the arches

Thomas?

After much choo chooing we eventually left and took a road compacted with salt all the way along the Tropic of Capricorn. I wasn't actually sure what this meant, and despite much explanation by Javi, our guide, I've shamefully still forgotten so I've just Googled and can now confirm that it is of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth.


Having driven 150km, we finally arrived at the Atacama Salt Flat which is the largest in Chile and second in the world behind Uyuni in Bolivia. It is also the worlds largest and purest active source of lithium which is used to make batteries and other random boring things.

lorries (they look like toys) carrying lithium 

the thin white line in the distance are the salt flats

The salt flats themselves were magnificent, albeit I did struggle to see them with my crappy sunglasses due to the glare from the light bouncing off the salt. Note to self, must purchase a better pair of sunglasses, ones which actually offer UV protection. As for you dear reader, shhh don't tell my laser eye surgeon that I wasn't wearing decent sunglasses..

Blinding

Walking on the salt flats was a bizarre experience. Firstly because, despite their name, they aren't actually flat in a lot of places! This is due to the tectonic plates, of which there several all pushing into each other which cause earthquakes resulting in the ground pushing up. Secondly they were very crunchy to walk on and sharp in places . Needless to say I kept my walking boots on and tip toed my way around. A quite impossible task with such clompy footwear...

Not so flat, Salt flats

Watch where you walk!

Being travellers we attempted to take photos like most other travellers do, i.e. getting a bottle and adjusting the picture so that it looked like we were characters from the Borrowers on top of it. It took us forever to get a half decent picture so, as well as a trip to a sunglasses shop, I've also made a mental note to practice taking similar pics before I get to Uyuni which I shall be visiting soon. 

Mini me

After crossing the Salt Flats we stopped briefly in an Oasis village called Peine to swim in some rock pools and grab some lunch and pay for the first of many toilet stops throughout our seven day journey. South America it would seem has a roaring trade in charging anyone to go to the toilet. Forget spending a penny. Here its all about spending several hundred or even thousand pesos depending on which country you're in. You then have the delight of maybe being given toilet paper (I tend to carry my own mini roll of Andrex soft) and then disposing of said tissue in a bin. Yes that's right dear reader, used toilet paper goes in a bin here. Not in the toilet. This all makes for a very pleasant toilet experience as you can imagine. 


Anyway, I digress. 


After the Oasis we continued North to a Flamingo Nature Reserve. Having not been able to capture on film the flamingos I saw back in El Calafate, Argentina, I was looking forward to getting up close and not so personal with some pink birds in Chile. I was in luck! Despite the ridiculously hot weather (we were in the middle of a desert after all) we did manage to see these amazing birds. 

The James flamingo - its the type of species, they don't actually belong to James!

the area surrounding the birds

Finally we arrived at San Pedro de Atacama which looked nothing like Id imagined it would (I must stop having expectations of places). Rather it looked straight out of the western area of a theme park like Chessington World of Adventures. All the buildings were very low and built mostly from adobe (Natural building material made from sand, clay and water. Not the software company). It was quite touristy and sold amazing artisan items, mostly from Bolivia but at Chilean hiked up prices. I therefore (with great restrain) refrained from buying anything as I knew I would be able to get it cheaper in Bolivia. The knitted alpaca doll will just have to wait.

San Pedro de Atacama Church

Local cowboy

We were supposed to do a trip to the Tatio Geysers which are supposedly the highest and largest in the world. Unfortunately this trip got cancelled due to Snow which had fallen up in the mountains which meant driving conditions would be difficult. I found this reason rather hard to take in. As with my shock at finding out there was snow on volcanoes, I was also perplexed by the fact that there could be snow in the desert. We were all very annoyed at the trip being cancelled as we had deliberately not stayed out drinking too late as we knew we had to be up at 4am for the tour! Typical.


As I don't want this entry to turn into War and Peace, Ill tell you more about the rest of the tour in my next blog update.


To be continued...