Into the Desert, Part IV

For our last day together in San Pedro, Lukas, Megan and I decided to head out into the desert one last time for a look at the ruins of Pukara de Quitor, some sort of battle encampments that were used for many reasons but perhaps most famously in a battle against Pedro de Valdivia in the 1500s (these facts are from memory, so don't quote me!). Megan and I followed Lukas into the searing heat, and halfway there I thought we might be a little crazy because we didn't know exactly where we were going and only had a half-baked map with us. But Lukas, by the graces of god, managed to lead us to the exact spot, earning him the nickname of Moses for the day, which was only funnier because he had fashioned a shirt into a sort of turban to protect himself from the sun.

Lukas taking in the sights of Pukara de Quitor.


We hauled ourselves through the ruins to the top of the hill, noting on the way what a good vantage point we were at to spot invaders to the valley. At the top we rested, enjoying the vistas surrounding us.

A view of the valley and the ever-present volcano, which is apparently the guardian of San Pedro.
What a mess we are in this photo!

I closed my eyes! Pucha!

I am taking a peek!
Our very own Moses.
More ruins.
Lukas gazing off into the valley.


After some soothing ice cream at our favorite ice cream parlor in San Pedro--the place where I had the best ice cream of my life, by the way, a pear-flavored concoction which I ate three days in a row--we headed back for our last supper as a threesome. Megan and Luke had gotten a smattering of culinary offerings from a departing couple at the hostel, and we did our best to throw together a nutritious and delicious meal. We only half succeeded, but the beer and wine we drank that night more than made up for any lackings.

Luke with our basket of goodness.

Trying to roast hot dogs on the burner.

Lukas with the left overs, beer and pan, for his bus ride.

After a giggle-filled night with lots of horsing around, Lukas not being able to hold onto a beer to save his soul, and partying with our new pal Se Busca in the form of a head shot on a political poster (which I could never properly explain to you), Megan and I sadly bid Lukas adieu. We passed the following day looking for a new hostel, since our second hostel in San Pedro only had room for us for two nights. We mostly lolled about in the sun all day, reading. Later that night, we had dinner (vegetable filled crepes) and many drinks with our new friend Pancho, who we met at our second hostel. He took us to a bar and we sat around a roaring fire, drinking pisco sours, tequila sunrises, and rum and cokes. The roof was open, so theoretically we could see the stars, but the fire was so bright we didn't do much star-gazing.

I really enjoyed traveling with Lukas ans Megan. They are both really chill, laidback people, which initially I was mildly concerned about because I am a planner, whereas they are more go-with-the-flow. I was afraid I would overwhelm them with all my plans. And we all know I love to be bossy and have all the power. But we surprisingly got along famously, and I would travel again with either of them in a heartbeat. Also, we cooked a lot, which saved us having to eat out too much. Although most days for lunch we ate at these wonderful food stalls on the edge of town geared more toward the local population. They were cheap and filling, and we left satisfied every time.

Also, I forgot to mention in one of my earlier posts that the three of us passed an hour or so checking out this museum in San Pedro that had all this cool archeological stuff. San Pedro is apparently some sort of archeological mecca because the dry conditions of the desert keep things well preserved. We saw all sorts of tools, some jewlery, lots of drug paraphernalia, basketry, pottery, and even some sandals! It was pretty neat.

Our last hostel was heavily populated with cats. I usually don't touch stray animals, but they were so cute I couldn't help myself! Here's Megan cuddling with one of them.


Friday brought Megan and I the only devastating catastrophe of our two weeks on the road together. We had a 8:51 bus to Calama, where we had reservations to visit Chuquicamata, the world's largest open pit copper mine, which boasts such sights as trucks the size of houses. It is also the mine Che Guevara famously visited on his Motorcycle Diaries trek, where his encounter with a communist miner is credited as being the catalyst for the birth of his political thought. Megan and I were both really pumped about our visit to the mine. So we were waiting at the bus stop in the desert, bright and early, the very same bus stop where we had been dropped off nearly a week prior, and the bus never came. After waiting for about half an hour, we realized something was wrong and headed to the Tur Bus office. Apparently, due to some miscommunications and a lack of pertinent information, it became clear that Tur Bus picks its passengers up at a different bus stop. Of course, buses don't run frequently to and from San Pedro because it is a small town, and the soonest bus we were able to catch didn't leave San Pedro until noon. The hour and a half bus ride put us in Calama at 1:30, the exact time we were supposed to be meeting our tour at the gate of the mine, which is about 15 minutes outside the city. Megan and I almost killed ourselves trying to get to that damn mine. We made it to the gates 20 minutes too late; even though the tour operator had told us they wouldn't hold the tour for us, we both wanted to try. The guy at the gate cheerfully informed us we could join tomorrow's tour, but of course we couldn't because we had tickets for an overnight bus that night to Arica. Our taxi driver, though, was a hoot, and he tried to make up for our disappointment by giving us all sorts of touristy information about Calama. I apreciated the effort, but we were both devastated. However, we both decided that we are going back during summer vacay, so all is not lost.

So, we tried to console ourselves with sight-seeing in Calama, which from what I could tell has very little to offer outside the draw of Chuqui. We sort of wandered around aimlessly, and then ended up back at the bus station, where we spent the evening reading. Maybe it was my disappointment at not getting to see the mine, but I didn't much care for Calama.

The church in Calama's Plaza de Armas, where the steeple and the accents around the windows are all copper.

More Allende graffiti.


Megan at the park.


Me with a llama statue at the park in Calama.

At 11:35, Megan and I boarded the bus bound for Arica; more desert, but with an entirely different feeling, because we were finally on the coast!

Into the Desert, Part III

I remember when my mom started taking us to Naches to what was then Dave's cabin, I was utterly disgusted by the desert hills of Eastern Washington. They were so brown, dead, and ugly, and I had no appreciation for the earth tones contrasting with the clear blue sky. But now, it is official. I love the desert! In Chile on my first week of vacation, I discovered the magic of the desert. It helps that the geography of the land around San Pedro de Atacama is so enchanting. But I will never look at deserts the same way again.

By far the most magical day I spent in the desert was the tour I took up to the El Tatio geyser field. Megan and Luke sat this one out, so I was on my own. I really had to put some effort into this trip, since I was required to get up at 3:30, catch a van at 4:00, and then sit in a freezing, rattling van for two hours as we traversed the roughest road imaginable. I was not impressed, especially when we got to the higher altitudes. I found I had to concentrate on breathing regularly, because if I didn't and forgot to breathe at an even pace I would start gasping for breath at the high altitude. El Tatio's elevation is 4,320 meters, which roughly equals 14,173 feet! Also, that is nearly twice the elevation of San Pedro de Atacama. I felt a little out of sorts as we climbed higher and higher in the van. It was nothing explosive or dramatic, just a little unsettling to the system. However, when we got out at the geyser field, I had to step carefully around piles of vomit from the people who were poorly affected by the altitde.

When we reached the geyser field, it was still dark out and it was freezing. The landscape looked spooky, as it was still dark and the moonlight illuminated the shafts of steam that rose into the air. As the sun began to come up, the landscape was transformed and I was stunned. I have never seen a geyser before (unless you count the geyser at Flaming Geyser State Park in Washington, which I recall as an unimpressive trickle of water that occasionally omitted a bubble or two). There were so many geysers I almost didn't know what to do with myself! There were gesyers that ommitted steam, there were bubbling geysers (and even better, they bubbled at different speeds, so some were bubbling super fast with tiny bubbles, and others were lazily bubbling larger bubbles), there were geysers that exploded water like firework fountains on the Fourth of July, there were geysers that steamed from mounds of earth so that they resembled miniature volcanoes, there were geysers that slowly trickled and illuminated brilliant, mineral-stained earth. I wandered quietly around the field all morning, watching the sun come up and appreciating the changing scenery in the different hues of the morning light.

Geysers are formed, by the way, by water that is heated under the earth by magma. When the water gets hot enough, it explodes out of the ground. The reason we arrived at El Tatio so early is that, not only is it beautiful to see the sun rise up there, but that is when the geyser field is most active. Apparently, as the day drags out, the magma underground does not do its job effectively. My shitty Spanish interpretation skills missed the reason as to why. Pucha!

Me with a geyser that I liked. I was drawn to the short, squat mound. Also, please note, this is the coldest I have ever been. I have on two sweaters, a sweat shirt, long underwear, jeans, two pairs of socks, my parka, a hat, and two hoods, and I was still freezing.

Watching the sunrise and the steam rise.

Cool mineral colors! It looks like a 70's kitchen palette!

I met this cute couple, Jose and Elisabeth, who kept offering to take my picture at various sites.
A little, bubbling geyser.

Pretty! I like the blue tones of this photo.





The sun illuminating the steam from the geysers.

This geyser was awesome. It would be silent for minutes at a time, and then all of a sudden it would start exploding hot water. You can't really tell from the picture but the spray of water looked like a firework fountain. Then, everything would get really steamy. It was rad. I stayed here for a long time, watching other tourists get surprised by the eruptions.


There was a thermal bath where you could take a dip. I love swimming, but I would have to be nuts to strip down to my swimsuit in that cold! However, I did dip my hand into the water, and it was nice. I just didn't want to fuss with being cold and wet after the fact. I know, boring, but I was happy with my choice. I used the extra time to wander among the geysers some more.


After sufficient time at the geyser field, we started the long trail back down to San Pedro. Along the way, we spotted many vicuñas, which are a camelid related to the llama. They kind of look like llamas, but smaller. They have the same long neck, but their faces look a little more goat-like. Our van didn't stop, so I don't have pictures, and all I kept thinking is how I would be letting my shutter-happy mom down if I didn't have a picture of a vicuña. Apparently, they are an endangered species!

We stopped to peek at this strange plant. It looked like lichen, but it was hard and it felt kind of like the scales of a lizard. After you touched it, your hands smelled like pine. Apparently, Bolivians use it in their stoves.

As we got closer to San Pedro, our van stopped in the town of Machuca, where we could buy snacks at a little shop on the corner of town. I ate a cheese empanada, and, best of all, llama shishkebab! The llama was the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. Seriously. I think I will be fantasizing about that meat for the rest of my life. It was so delicious, seasoned to perfection. I ate two sticks full, and as I was waiting for my second one to come off the grill, I was chatting with the cook about what seasonings he uses, if you can buy llama in the stores (you can't), where he keeps his llamas, etc. He told me everyone calls llama "carne lite" because it doesn't have any fat and is low in cholesterol. Oh man! It was soooo good. The meat was so tender, the onions sweet! Because I chatted with him for so long and built up a rapport, the cook gave me an extra-loaded stick, which I can't even say I savored because I gobbled it up pretty fast! Yummy!

Llama shishkebab, which in Chile is called Anticucho de Llamo.


I think this was the best tour I took in San Pedro. I would do it again!

Into the Desert, Part II

We spent Monday shopping around the markets for gifts and relaxing at the hostel. Megan and I started looking for a new place because our supremely unfriendly hostess at Hostal La Ruca would not let Lukas join us on the patio or for dinner since he was not a guest.

On Monday night, we took the Tour of the Night Sky, something that I had really been looking forward to since I have always been drawn to astronomy. Basically, you take a small bus to this guy's house on the outskirts of San Pedro, where he has eight different telescopes set up in his yard. He explained to us simple astronomical facts about how the earth, the rest of the planets, and our galaxy are situated relative to the rest of the universe. He showed us how to use the constellation of the southern cross to find the direction south (take four and a half of the lengths of the long arm of the cross in the direction the cross points to the horizon and there it is). He showed us the closest star to Earth. I learned that all the stars we can see with the naked eye are in our galaxy. He told us lots of other cool stuff that I forgot already, too.

Then, we were set free to look through all the telescopes. We saw Mars, which was a bit of a letdown since it was really far away and only appeared as a yellow splotch of light. We saw a dying star, which looked similar to Mars but less bright, and a nebulae, which is a star being born. It looks like a pocket of mist, and apparently that is all the material starting to coalesce into a star. We looked at several different views of the moon. We looked at Saturn, and it was so clear you could see the rings. We looked at Jupiter, which you could see with the naked eye as the brightest light in the sky besides the moon. Under the telescope, we could see its red stripes and three of its moons! That was perhaps my favorite part. Another really cool view was of this amazing star cluster. Viewed through one of the telescopes, it looked like a blur in the sky. Then, we looked at it through a more powerful telescope, and it was like an explosion of stars. There were so many! I spent a lot of time looking at the cluster. It was fascinating.

We were able to take photos of the moon through one of the telescopes with our digital cameras.

After the telescope time, we spent some time looking at constellations. Our guide pointed out many of the well known and lesser known constellations we could see, and explained why they northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere see different skies. We also learned the myth of Jupiter, Orion and the Scorpion (one of the many constellations our guide pointed out to us). Apparently, Jupiter (Zeus) was mad that Orion and the Scorpion kept fighting, so he banished them to opposite sides of the sky. So, when you see the Scorpion, you will never see Orion because he is on the other side of the world. We also learned about the different names and images different ancient cultures saw in the constellations. It was pretty interesting. After our constellation-gazing, we went into a room with two rings of chairs situated around a table of candles. The roof was open so you could look up and see they stars. We drank hot cocoa and talked more about astronomy. I was in love! I wished my brother and dad had been there with me!

The next day Lukas, Megan and I took a tour out into the Salar de Atacama. We made several stops along the way and ended up at a lagoon in the heart of the Salar to see flamingos!

On our drive, gazing out into the desert landscape, we saw a small herd of llamas running at full speed through the brush. It was an incredible sight. I have only ever seen domesticted llamas, fenced in on farms. It was like, where are the fences and feed troths? They run in a straight line, following the leader. They look pretty solid as they charge across the land.

Although you probably can't tell, those are llamas and wild donkeys.


The first stop we made was to descend into the canyon, as our guide talked about some of the flora and fauna of the area. It was nice to get out and walk. Memorable moments included Lukas pegging me in the back of the neck with a nut in its shell while I tried to take shelter next to an old man, me trying not to kill this little French kid who kept wacking the ground with sticks, and learning about Incan irrigation methods.

A view from down in the canyon.


I thought these trees were cool. Incidentally, Megan was really fun to travel with because she is really into plant biology, and she was always stopping to poke her nose into some sort of bush.

After our escapades in the canyon, we stopped at the village of Toconao, visited a small church, and then hung out at the plaza. I was continually apalled by the French tourists on our tour, who freely snapped photos around the town with little respect for the local people and the fact that they were being disruptive. For example, there was a kids day camp playing in the middle of the plaza, and this fat-assed old fart walks right up to these sweet kids playing with these colorful streamers, shoves his camera at them, and starts clicking away. I was appalled. You could see the sickening glint in his eye, like he was so pleased with himself for getting a perfect shot of the "native" children. I almost vomited all over him.

After our short time in Toconao, we headed out to the Salar de Atacama. The Salar was formed by giant, ancient, inland salt lakes that dried up and left behind beds of salt and pockets of mini salt lakes. The salt lakes are the habitat of brine shrimp, which is the main diet of flamingos. For this reason, the Salar de Atacama is home to large flocks of flamingos. We rocketed out to the flamingo viewing area on a road of salt that looked like compacted snow.

Here are the salt fields. They are not perfectly white because, in the desert climate, dust is blown onto the salt, rendering it brownish in hue.


A closeup of the salt.

Pretty!


The sun cast a golden glow on the salt formations.

Those light pink dots in the streak of water at the horizon line are flamingos, I swear!


The Salar de Atacama at sunset.


As we were watching the sun set, three flamingos flew right over our heads! The photo makes them seem much farther away, but they were so close we could see the black beaks and the black and magenta feathers under their wings. Their bodies were light pink. They look so goofy flying with their spindly legs and necks outstretched, the big horns of their beaks pointing the way for their giant flapping wings.


The three pals at the Salar.


Flamingos at sunset!


I loved our visit to the Salar. The landscape was so bizarre, and to see spots of pink in the desolation of the desert was amazing. I thought about my mom a lot, and how she would just love to get out there and start snapping pictures of all the wildlife!

Into the Desert, Part I

Getting to the desert was more difficult than I thought it would be. I left Chillan on Friday, July 11 at 3:00 p.m. and we didn't arrive in San Pedro de Atacama until 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 12. Lukas and Megan, traveling from Los Angeles, met me in Santiago after a scare in which their bus got a flat tire and we were not sure they were going to make it in time to catch the bus to San Pedro. Aside from a two hour layover in Santiago, I spent all of that time on a bus. The real kicker was that on my trip up to Santiago, I tried to turn on my ipod and the damn thing wouldn't turn on. Yep, the dreaded moment has finally arrived. My ipod is dead. R.I.P., old friend. I have been expecting this to happen while I was in Chile, especially since it has been a little fussy lately. I wish it could have held out a little longer, especially considering all the buses I sat in on my two week adventure. Oh well. I tried to look on the bright side. At least I would be more present to chat with people on the bus!

This, too, backfired! From Santiago to Calama I sat next to this daft old woman who drove me a little nuts. At first I thought she was kind of cute. She needed help using her cell phone and working her reclining chair. However, after she tapped my leg at three different intervals in the night to get up and use the restroom, her cuteness had worn off and I was more or less ready to boot old piddle puss out of seat 7! This, combined with the fact that she was rather chatty and I didn't understand a word of what she said because she was old and kind of mumbled and I am not a native speaker. Then things got weird. She asked for my phone number, which I gave her, and then she proceeded to call me five times while we were on the bus! I was supremely confused. I kept telling her, okay, I've got your number! She just looked at me and returned my puzzled look with a grin. I was relieved when she got off in Calama, and I rode the final hour and a half to San Pedro in much appreciated peace.

As for the rest of my bus companions, they left a little something to be desired. In Copiapo, a group of about six gringo backpackers got on the bus and filled the seats surrounding me. They were the kind of Americans that made me ashamed to share their nationality. They were the sort that expect the world to bend to their will. For example, a guy and his girlfriend wanted to sit together, but they had bought tickets to seats 1 and 3. They tried to just sit where they wanted, but the bus employee needed to sit in seat 2 so he could do his job. Well, you would have thought the world was ending. The girl huffily switched seats, and then she and her boyfriend woke up the man sleeping in seat 4 to see if he would switch with them! Of course, they didn't speak Spanish very well, so this all created a lot of confusion, and when the man had enough and went back to sleep, one of the gringos said very sarcastically, "Gracias, señor!" My face was red with shame and outrage. Eventually the man woke back up and seats were switched, but I noted that he had much less legroom in seat 1. Obviously, my sympathies lie with him.

We arrived in Calama and got settled in our hostel, with one hitch. Lukas didn't reserve a bed at our hostel, so he boarded up in one across the street. The next day, we woke up and lolled about in the gazebo of our hostel, making plans for the day. We decided to get aquainted with San Pedro, and took a stroll around the streets. San Pedro is a tiny town in the desert that, from what I can tell, survives almost soley on tourism. This leads to the usual annoyances, which for us included gringos at every turn, high prices for food, and everyone trying to sell you something. However, there was one or two main streets catering to tourists, and then we walked even one block beyond and discovered a very laid back, comfortable and cute town.

This is the church in San Pedro, with a roof made of cactus wood, which I think is endlessly cool.


Here is a typical street in San Pedro; the early hour that the photo was taken means the streets were not yet swarmed by tourists!

So, what did we decided to do with our Sunday after exploring San Pedro? We decided to rent bikes and ride them out into the desert, to a destination called Valle de la Luna, known for its lunar landscapes and breathtaking sunsets. I was mildly horrified by this plan since I haven't been on a bike in years and am more than a little out of shape. Plus, we were at high altitude! Despite my frequent proclamations to Lukas that I am a slow rider, he was a good coach, we soon found ourselves on bikes headed into the sandy hills. We were accompanied by Pat and Ivonne, a darling Swiss couple we met at our hostel.

On the road! Ivonne, Megan, Lukas and Pat.

The scenery we gazed at on our ride. The cordillera surrounding San Pedro is littered with volcanoes.


Our first stop was a rock formation that had been carved by flowing waters that blasted through the volcanic rock. Left behind were little caverns and trails, all capped by the white spray of salt. We took the quick 20-minute hike through the trails and caverns.

My traveling companions starting our trek into the caverns.


A typical vista on our hike. We ended up entering the cave you see pictured, which went so far that we needed the lights of our cell phones to find our way out the other side. I love how the rocks look like they've been sprinkled with powdered sugar.


Pat and Ivonne tackle a cavern. In several spots we had to crawl on our hands and knees, which gave me a lovely scrape on my wrist. Battle scars!


After our short hike, we hopped back on our bikes and rode them up a huge hill, which I think would be more appropriately called a mountain. I pussed out and walked my bike most of the way up, which surprisingly didn't take that long. Our next stop was the parking lot of Valle de la Luna, choked with tour busses, bikes, and tourists. We then hiked up a sandy path and crested a hill which provided the vistas of the surrounding valley and its extraterrestrial landscapes.

Ascending.


A vista of the Valle.

Me, utterly destroyed by the bike ride and subsequent sandy ascension, posing for a photo op. I loved how smooth the sandy hill behind me was.


Lukas awaiting sunset from our perch.


The sun going down, casting a rosy glow on the distant volcanoes.


Hazy and getting darker.


After the sun went down and we felt satisfied with the views, it got cold, fast, so we quickly hopped back on our bikes and got the hell out of there! The ride back was long, and a bit unnerving since we were riding in the dark without flash lights as tour buses and other cars zoomed past. The light of the moon was mostly sufficient, although every so often the road would get rough, which was surprising in the dark. I hung back and went my own pace, and was rewarded with the sight of a shooting star. An hour or two later, we reached the hostel, starving. We tried to make beans and rice, but we hadn't soaked the beans long enough and forgot how long water takes to boil at high altitudes. Luckily, I had some peanut butter with me, which got us through the hunger until dinner was more or less ready.

Pat and Ivonne, being from Switzerland, had never tried peanut butter before. Here he is contemplating his first bite!


His reaction? "It's horrible!"


Meagan and Luke eating their beans and rice in our hostel's kitchen cabana.