Moon and Mars Valleys
Day 236 – San Pedro de Atacama, Chile I was supposed to go on the Moon Valley sunset tour last Sunday, but I got a bit sick and the agency agreed to reschedule it to Tuesday. (We got a water blackout the same day, nothing like being sick when there is no running water.) We…
El Tatio geothermal field
Day 233 – San Pedro de Atacama, Chile Today was my first big tour. Painfully aware that waking up an entire dorm at 4am with one’s alarm and then digging around one’s stuff, coming and going, is rather perturbing for other’s sleep, I had all ready in two bags: my clothes for the day and…
Life in a small town
Day 232 – San Pedro de Atacama, Chile San Pedro de Atacama is a relatively small town -the active centre can be crossed in less than 5 minutes. But it is really concentrated, each house -traditional adobe house- a shop (mini-market or souvenirs), an excursion centre, a restaurant or a hostel. The occasional bank. In…
San Pedro de Atacama
Day 229 – San Pedro de Atacama, Chile So I’ve finally reached the tourist’s Mecca of Northern Chile, San Pedro de Atacama. For that I missed a bus Monday morning, yesterday, because I hadn’t understood when the lady told me it was leaving from in front of their office, not at the terminal 50m down…
Caldera
Day 227 – Caldera, Chile I’m grateful for my host in Vicuna to have sent me herr in Caldera rather than my original destination, Copiapo. It is nicer to be in a small seaside town than in a bigger, inland one. When I arrived last night, I started planning in my phone my next leg.…
Another transit day
Day 226 – Caldera, Chile I finally learned why I can’t buy bus tickets online. Apparently, foreign credit card don’t really work. That makes me dependant on ticket offices… and sometimes, you van’t buy tickets for destinations that don’t include your location. That mostly means buying your bus at the last minute. With the uncertainty…
Cactii and stargazing
Day 225 – Vicuña, Chile Vicuña is a town dedicated to Gabriela Mistral, a famous Chilean poet who was born here. So the main plaza is named for her, there is a museum dedicated to her, and so on. I will have to find some poem to learn more! Vicuña is also in the centre…
La Serena
Day 219-223 – La Serena, Chile La Serena is a coastal city, with a colonial city centre, huge apartment blocks on the outside and a long beach. I didn’t avail myself of the later, but I enjoyed the city centre with its Plaza de Armas, and in particular the Japanese Garden. I especially liked the…
Transit Day
Day 218 – La Serena, Chile I woke almost early today -I had a bus to attempt to catch. My hostel informed me that they couldn’t really call a taxi for me, people were rather using Uber here. Since I wasn’t feeling like installing the app, I decided to catch a taxi at my usual…
Adventures in Valparaiso
Day 217 – Valparaiso, Chile Today was a series of little frustrations. (Well, the breakfast at the hostel was good, so the day started well.) I took out my nap of the city and decided to tour the area outlined as being a UNESCO Heritage site. I went down to the harbour (very commercial, little…