7th Dec
Only a short trip today, which was just as well as we
still haven’t quite got our internal clocks adjusted after the 2 hour change
from Peru into Chile. Last night was cold – I needed the inner liner for my
sleeping bag and it was tucked away out of reach ! I had been trying to do my blog outside last
night just in flip flops, and my feet got cold – I got to sleep OK but woke up
at 2 am and then had trouble getting back to sleep – Cold feet as well as
things on my mind, I guess !
Anyway, after reading and lying there for most of the
night, eventually got a couple of hours sleep between 6 am and 8 am, when of
course I had to leap out of bed and start packing up.
Not a bad little camp site, with Gabriel our host
obviously being a bit of a collector !
Type writers, cameras, and all sort s of other things in his garden
! His main income is from his cabanas
which we understand are fully rented out to the mining industry from the copper
mine, so he is obviously doing OK. But
his showers were hot (if primitive !), and his wifi worked (eventually !), so
life was not all bad !
We didn’t get moving until after 10, and as a point of
reference to anyone wanting a campsite in Calama, I correct the co-ordinates as
provided in iOverlander – I will correct them later in that website. Once again the co-ords had been taken from
INSIDE the camp site, rather than out on the road at the entrance. This means that a Sat Nav may try to take you
in to the co-ords a back way, which means it issometimes hard to find the
correct entrance. We were about to give
up last night and head out of town, but luckily persevered and managed to see
tents through a hole in the wall, and to contact someone over a hedge to tell
us the correct entrance. The correct co-ords out in front of the main
gate, on the street, are S 22.27.555 W
068.55.033.
From the camp site it was off to the supermarket for
supplies – Marko the cyclist had last night told us that they had really good
stocks of varied goods, many of which he hadn’t seen since the USA, so we went
shopping. He was right, they were well
stocked, but we only needed a few staples and fresh veggies, and were on our
way by about 11.30 am.
Going out of town, we saw about 50 windmill generators –
First ones we have seen for a long time, and a good place to have them
considering the almost incessant wind that blows here in the Atacama. We drove across the (un)exciting desert for
an hour or so, and it was lunch time !
So we stopped out in the wilds (and wind) of the desert, and had a good
picnic with some lovely fresh bread rolls from the supermarket, plus lots of
fresh filling – Like Avocado which is just SO good, plentiful, and cheap
here. Janet wanted a photo out in the Atacama to show its vastness,
so went for a wander – Duly recorded !!
By 1 pm we were starting to get close to San Pedro de
Atacama- A place everyone seems to rave about, with its adobe buildings and
restaurants in the middle of the desert.
First we spied the volcanos that surround the town, and then we dropped
into the town from the altiplano, with the last few kilometres being
spectacular through the rugged moonscape.
We had noticed several police cars parked out in the country, and when
we arrived in San Pedro, we realised why – There was some kind of marathon run
on today !! An Atacama Marathon and fun
run (different distances), so the small town with narrow streets was packed –
As was the accommodation – the first two camp sites were full, and we were
lucky to get in at a third – Unfortunately this one had no wifi so we have no
connection in San Pedro at the moment.
Once we had found accommodation, we wandered up into town
– It is not a very big town – Maybe 5 or 6 streets in each direction. But it is all tourist shops and agencies and
restaurants and Cabanas – Quite pleasant if you are into that sort of thing, I
suppose. We wandered around, found the
main square (unfortunately full of loud music and blow up arches for the finish
of the marathon run) and the church which is supposed to be worth seeing –
Closed for repairs for 18 months – 4 months more to go !! Hmmmm.
Found a little touristy arcade with the normal touristy stuff in – Janet
found a few bits for the kids, but it was the usual stuff of stuffed llamas, fridge
magnets, and other paraphernalia.
After looking around for a while, we found a nice little
restaurant and despite having had a lunch on the road only about 3 hours ago,
they had some excellent empenadas that we couldn’t resist, washed down with an
ale and a (sin azucar) limonada for Janet. A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon
in a town that, to be honest, I didn’t find too inspiring. Its only saving grace for me was that most of
the people were Chileans or Argentines or even Brazilians – We found relatively
few European or American tourists. I am
sure that if there had been no marathon, no blaring music, and the church had
been open, it would have been more pleasant to me, but to be honest, I can’t
wait to get out of here tomorrow and back into the sleepy little country towns. And interestingly enough, several of the
people we spoke to had the same reaction to the town – A somewhat false and
over done tourist destination that might appeal to some, but for the people who
are traveling longer term – We prefer it out in the country and the wilds, away
from the madding crowds. As for the dosed up hippies doing push ups and
cartwheels and yahoos at the main street junction – Yes, well………….
Just my personal
opinion, and as the saying goes, we are all entititled to them !!
Hot during the afternoon, and the desert wind got up,
with several sizable willy willies blowing though and stirring up the dust, but
fortunately we were able to find a shady and sheltered parking spot and had a
pleasant couple of hours reading and dozing, and studying maps and chatting to
other overlanders trying to find the best routes SE into Argentina, as, like so
many, driving the Aticama rapidly becomes old hat, and there is supposed to be
some beautiful scenery crossing the Andes, and then running down through
Argentina before turning back west to Santiago. I guess we will find out over
the next few days !
Photos here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0161CalamaToSanPedro?authkey=Gv1sRgCKbGveDDhfmerQE#
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