Mar 18, 2005 - Taltal

We were told that a little town called Taltal was not only a very cool place to stay, but had numerous camping facilities. We were a little disappointed when we searched the town to find nothing of the sorts, so we took a cab which cost 2000 pesos a few kilometers out of town to a beach where we were told by again, numerous people, that we would be able to camp there. Not only was it very late, but it was pitch black out and when we arrived at the beach we saw a sign saying that it was illegal to camp there! Wew had to pay another 1000...

Mar 17, 2005 - Antofogasta and its Stupid Transportation System!

I think that the only reason we went to Antofogasta was to see Monumento Natural La Portada, a stack of marine sediments, which have been eroded into a natural arch by the ocean. Its a very popular destination and probably the most visited in all of Norte Grande. Not only did we spend an extremely long time looking for a hostal the night before, but we spent about four hours trying to find the right bus that would take us to the monument, the road to the monument or even the airport, which was a little further away...ANYWHERE! I guess there...

Mar 16, 2005 - San Pedro de Atacama and Tatio Geisers

It took a little while, but I finally persuaded Mike to travel inland, away from the ocean, towards the Atacama Desert-the driest in the world! On our way to San Pedro de Atacama (near the BOlivian border) we were going to stop in Calama and visit the largest open-pit copper mine in the world just north in a town called Chuqicamata, but we figured the post cards we bought were sufficient enough! San Pedro is a cute little town made of little adobe buildings. Its very relaxing, but San Pedro relies on its turism industry, therefore, the...

Mar 11, 2005 - San Pedro De Atacama, Chile

Oasis town in the middle of the Chilean desert... Sounds romantic. Right? There was no romance. Well there was a little when we cooked a spaghetti lunch and spaghetti dinner and fed it to eachother because going out to eat was too expensive. San Pedro feels like a ghost town minimally refurbished to resemble a tourist trap but with very few legitimate attractions. We stayed in a 5x5 foot adobe shack for like 10 bucks each, along with a German girl named Andrea. The owner lady was very mean and naziesque about kitchen usage (una hora!!! una...

Feb 26, 2005 - La Serena - San Pedro de Atacama

Liebe Freunde, Nach fast 3 Wochen in La Serena mit seinem schoenen Strand und malerischem Staedchen war ich dann doch wirklich froh endlich weiterzukommen. Der Weg fuehrte zuerst nach Taltal einem kleinen Kuestenstaedchen suedlich von Antofagasta. Dieses Staedchen war eine Ueberaschung der positiven Art. Wieder mal hat es sich bewahrheitet, dass man abseits des "Gringotrails" die schoensten und authentischsten Erfahrungen macht. Neben einem zauberhaften Zentrum mit begruenter Plaza des Armas, ziert eine himmelblaue Holzkirche aus dem Jahre...

Feb 22, 2005 - San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

A tiny tourist town close to the border with Bolivia. Small one story adobe houses and hostels and dogs wandering the streets. Went to see Valle de la luna, and valle del meurtes (something like that). Trip to the Salar de Atacama, salt flats made from salt rocks. This place is packed of minerals (lithium mostly).

Feb 16, 2005 - San Pedro de Atacama

Photos added Nov '05 - all from Rob's slides Quite a good bus ride in the semi-cama class got us to San Pedro without too much fuss. The first part of the trip we had seen before on our Pachamama trip to La Serena, and after that to much further north it was night so by the time we woke we were near the coast and ready to head inland again and on to Antofogasta on the coast, then inland to Calama and finally San Pedro (about 6.30pm). The trip from Antofogasta through the Atacama desert was quite amazing as the landscape changed from one...

Feb 16, 2005 - San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

San Pedro de Atacama is a small town of about 4900 people. It is the jumping off point for tours into the Atacama Desert. I had seen enough of the desert for a while so I headed on down to the city of Antofagasta where there were a little more resources for things like the internet, restaurants, hostels, etc.

Jan 26, 2005 - CHILE- San Pedro de Atacama

Well arrival in Chile meant no more altitude excuses when trekking or doin any kinda exercise, but could blame it on the 30+degree heat. Every time you take a breath it dries up any kinda moisture in your mouth, it is so hot and so dry. the atacama desert, one of the driestest places on earth, 50mm of rainfall a year! So at least, found some real sun, yippeeeee........ Decision of the day was not to do the traditional tour to Valley de la luna(moon valley- known as the heart of the atacama desert, where the sunsets are renowned for being...

Dec 27, 2004 - Feliz Navidad...

A small groovy town in the middle of the desert in the far north of Chile! We got dropped off here after our tour of Salar de Uyuni. There is a lot to do in the surrounding area, but because we´d felt we´d seen alot of it at the Salar planes we spent our first afternoon there just relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere in the town. Relaxing seems to be the main activity in the town! Later that evening we met up with our group from Uyuni tour for our Christmas dinner, we went to this pub/restuarant. We had an excellent time although for Bev´s...

Nov 28, 2004 - Dashing around!

Hello again - seem to be making a lot of entries recently, but that`s cos I`m running around S. America at such speed! Arrived in San Pedro de Atacama this morning after a long and not desparately comfortable bus ride (the film was called Hell Boy and it was just as bad as it sounds!) and have already made plans to get away again. Shame really because San Pedro`s actually rather nice, a very sweet little village, quite close to the Chile/Bolivia border with little streets and houses made of adobe. It`s a bit of a travellers centre and full...

Nov 24, 2004 - Calama

The bus from Bolivia dropped us in San Pedro de Atacama, but we decided to get moving and caught a bus to Calama. We stepped out of the bus in Calama and stepped into another world. It was a real chock. It was - like home, kind of. And we´ve apparently been away for quite long, cause we were overwhelmed by the cleanliness, that cars stop at red lights and that everything looks so "nice". The standard of living shot through the roof in a few hours and everyone had nice clothes, all the little ladies with big bundles of whatever on their...