Sun, Sand, Salt & Surrealism

I had heard a lot about this area from my fellow traveler friends so I arrive here with great anticipation. I had also read that Dali had visited here and was inspired by it so much that it heavily influenced his work, so I was eager to see his art in this landscape.

The main reason this amazing landscape is shaped the way that it is because any rain which falls on the plateau does not drain away due to the non-porous rock base. Its evaporation in the hot and dry climate along with it interaction with all of the volcanic minerals creates lots and lots of salt.

The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the World, and it, alongside the crazy rock formations, high altitude, blazing sun and miles of infinite flatness make for a mind bending experience. There also exist underground rivers which create steam when they are heated by volcanic larvae. This produces fields of active geysers that are just incredible to be in the midst of.

The opportunity to attend a good old rave up on the Salar (salt flat) is far too enticing to pass up on. To feel as if one is dancing on snow when it is in fact salt is a strange. The cold is too much to bear for me after 4am so I retreat to the hostel in the middle of nowhere that is constructed of blocks of salt as I witness all the craziness going on all around me. In the morning I can see a hot air balloon being filled up and I am told by a friend that I can return to Uyuni town on it.  This proves not to be the case as it transpires that it is only going up and down so as to offer superb sunrise views of the Salar. This is what can happen when there is a preposition translation issue when the balloon company is named after the town!

The party crew are all top people and I know that we will all be friends for a long time to come, so shout outs go to Zane, Lisa, Carl, Lisa and Santiago.

Now time for some civilization in Potosi. Peace.

Lost and Found in the Atacama Desert

Being without the facility to draw cash out is a pain, whereas not being able to do so whilst in a small town in the middle of the desert when tours and transportation need to be booked is a serious situation.  Fortunately, with my mother’s help I am able to order a new card have its details sent to me and the moment standing at the ATM with the sound of cash being counted in the machine is such a big relief.

Main Street in San Pedro de Atacama

The tours in question can all be arranged in the quant desert town called San Pedro de Atacama, which feels, and is, in the middle of nowhere. It is where one can venture out into the desert which is defined by hot springs,volcanic mountains, steaming geysers, minerals, salt lakes and great wildlife. Late night drinking is also the order of the evening which can make getting up to visit the sights a little tricky when attempting to awake for a 4am start!  I have never been to Israel and its Dead Sea but Chile has its equivalent here and it is strangely wonderful to be floating around in a lake having 30% salinity.

Trying to drown in this stuff!

The town also serves as the stepping stone for getting across the Chilean border and into Bolivia. 4x4 vehicles are loaded up with up to six people and drive across the desert over three days to arrive at a town called Uyuni, Bolivia.  The whole experience leaves a deep impression because the stunning landscape is unique to the rest of the World. Getting on with the other travelers in a tightly squeezed van can test ones tolerance! So despite being in the middle of a massive desert, one is actually rarely alone. Venturing too far off from the touring group could result in being left behind in some pretty inhospitable  and unforgiving terrain!

Flamingos grazing on some delicious algae!

Wow!

This feels like the next phase of my journey as departing Chile is to leave behind the most expensive countries in South America. I have been told that Bolivia is cheap as chips which will provide welcome relief to my spending rate!

See you in Bolivia! Peace.

La Serena – The Night Watchman

The dictionary states that Sereno is a masculine noun meaning the above, but it also states that it is an adjective meaning calm, peaceful and unruffled. After having spent six days here in this delightful place, I did feel muy tranquillo. Travellers and Chileans are thinking about where they will be over the Easter weekend. The country more or less shuts down on the Sunday with the days either side, its transport system attempts to fulfil our destination needs. My decision of the day is whether to travel Northwards either through Chile or Argentina. Chile has won out.

Therefore, I have made the small city of La Serena my next stop where the guided book promises a relaxing time. The main attraction here for me is the International Observatories and the chance to see a telescope working out in the field of choice for astronomers – the clear Chilean skies (as opposed to a mock-up one in London).  It also offers the added attractions of being near to pisco vineyards (Chile’s national spirit of choice which is used to make its famous pisco sour), and also being near to the Parque Nacional Pinguino de Humboldt, where, you’ve guessed it, penguins reside year-round. And who would not wish to witness these creatures doing their natural thing?

The Observatorio Cerro Mamalluca offers the chance to view the stars through a 30cm diameter telescope and the guide gives both astronomical and astrological presentations that are both informative and interesting. For example, did you know that Venus has a day longer than its year! That is to say, the time it takes to revolve around the Sun (225 Earth days) is less than the time it takes to spin once around its own axis (243 Earth days).  

As we are about three hours shy of a full moon, the night sky is too illuminant to see as many stars as at other times, but at least it means that we can observe the Moon very well. We are informed that the best time to see our galaxy in its entirety is between June-August. This is due to the Earth’s positioning at this time of the year in relation the galaxy plane.  Enough physics for one day I think!

The Valle Del Elqui is a beautiful verdant valley surrounded by hot and dry earth, which I always find rather striking.  It has Pisco distilleries and New Age travelers who settle here and sell their artisan range of UFO centric jewelery, minerals and tie-dye clothing. I even buy a ring which changes colour according to my mood. Today it is blue so I am meant to be feeling Relajado.

Lunch consists of chicken at a restaurant which cooks its meat in solar heated ovens. What a good idea!

Our tour guide, Alan, talks for Chile into his microphone in a strangely odd tone of English which I reason he has picked up from his English Grandfather’s side of his family. Throughout the day I practice saying Inglaterra  with its rolling rrrr sound to him whenever relevant, to which he then responds in jest, then later initiating. During one of his afternoon soliloquies to the tour bus group he prompts me, but unbeknownst to him, or to anyone else, I am fast asleep behind my sunglasses. Only the gentle prodding of my delightful neighbour awakes me whereupon I pronounce Inglaterra once more a few embarrassing seconds later than he wished for. This did amuse me and a few others rather. But what is one to do when one is feeling hot and tired of the bellows of an uninteresting tour guides voice I ask?

The Parque Nacional Pinguino de Humboldt consists of a series of three small islands where sea lions, penguins, cormorans and sea lions inhabit year round. I love being out on the sea on smaller boats during clement weather and to see such wildlife is wonderful. Jorge, our tour guide this time is a delight to be with as he is funny, very well informed, relaxed and just knows how and when to say the right things. In other words, he is not in love with the sound of his own voice!

The old fashioned place that I stay is very chilled as it is run by a family. Despite the place showing signs of neglect, it has a homely charm given by the use of old family bed linen of cartoon characters, the three cats wistfully playing in the garden of old sofa furniture. Maritza, her brother, son and cleaner are such charming hosts and I relish practicing my Spanish as we hang out in the kitchen (thank you Google Translate also!). I just love the quirkiness of choosing to stay in a place which is not advertised online or in the guidebook, because you just never know what you will find.

Despite having my trainers stolen from a department store changing room and my also losing my wallet at the bus station as I depart, I am sad to be leaving as I know that I have left and made some lovely Chilean friends there.

So Santiago!

I had developed the incorrect impression that Chile’s capital, Santiago was very much the poorer relation of Buenos Aires. In fact, it has much of what BA can offer but without the prospect of being mugged, dissed or stepping into dog poo on every corner. Smog rules this city the same way it does in Athens and Mexico City (I think) which is a pity, as the Andes Mountains would otherwise provide a stunning backdrop to proceedings. The city can rightly pride its artistic self because the street wall art and paintings, sculptures and contemporary art relief work that can be found in many of the metro stations, for example, means that no art gallery need be entered on a hot sunny day in order to get a daily uplifting and thought provoking fix around town.

The city walking tours are a great way of appreciating this manageable city with its busy markets (I just loved the dedicated avocado shop), well maintained squares, new and old photogenic buildings extremely friendly inhabitants. Even the street dogs are super friendly and look healthier than any others I have seen anywhere in the World. 

However, it is a pity that the completed work on an upstream dam has resulted in the city’s main artery, the Rio Mapocho, to not be the river that it once was, as something went badly wrong in either the planning or execution of the restoration process. 

Due to my needing to get a move on in my Northerly migration through South America, I cannot spend enough time here, but it gives me yet another good reason to return to this wonderful town and country.

Peace

Hot springs and even Hotter Collars!

Just outside the town of Pucon, Chile, there are the Termas Los Pozones, a complex having series of six hot spring pools down in a valley. My idea was to have a relaxing soak and do some star gazing after trekking up and down the Volcan Villarrica. The problem commenced as my minibus picked up a gang of young, French, drunken adolescents and went downhill from there. Drinking is prohibited but it did not stop most groups taking in alcohol masqueraded in coke or water bottles, or not at all. Now, I love a drink but when people start to have loud disagreements in and around the pools it really is not cool.  Two of the  patrons were patrolling with torches for alcohol just like German soldiers around a POW camp perimeter!

If their actions seem a trifle heavy handed then think again: the evening ended around midnight when we saw the flashing lights of a police vehicle and yet another situation. I later found out that a wine bottle had dropped and smashed into one of the pools. I do not know the upshot but I am sure it was one big hassle to say the least.  There is something to be said for paying higher end prices in order to exclude much of the idiocy of others.

Yours unhappily!

Heavenly Lakes and Dharma

The Lakes District is an area which can cater for the needs of most people in terms of trekking, touring, adventure and adrenaline activities and sight-seeing. I was not sure what I was going to do here but I upon arriving in Puerto Montt in Chile, it was apparent that the Chilean people were all very friendly, self-respecting and welcoming; much more so than elsewhere I had experienced (I have come to conclude they are thus because the population is about 80% Catholic and evidence would suggest that a large proportion are practicing ones, unlike what I have seen in much of either Argentina or Brazil).

Puerto Varas, Chile - Puerto Varas is a small town on the coast whose German design and feel is as a result of many of them immigrating to Patagonia during the previous two centuries.  It was not what I was I was expecting but it helped to provide a relaxing environment, even if it didn’t feel very South American.  Chile’s supermarkets have goods that are just not sold elsewhere, and this is due to its free trade with the US. It was also gratifying to see whole roasting chickens turning on spits at the deli counter! 

My hostel was a nice one to  relax in after spending four days on a boat. It has a guitar hanging around, and I can never resist banging out some pop tunes for others to sing along with. In fact, I have heard more Western rock and pop music here than I ever expected in the hostels, bars buses. They also love the band A-ha and so I often ponder just how much these former pop stars receive in royalties across the globe.

Cochamo, Chile - After a few days of catching up with myself in a comfortable quite, private room with a double bed, I decided to go to the Cochamo valley for some trekking. This was only  after being informed by others that it was a beautiful valley resembling  Yosemite National Park in the US. Good enough for me then as this is a place on my ‘to visit’ list. This gorgeous valley is only accessible by foot, horse and helicopter. I elected to go by horse firstly because I did not wish to carry my gear, and secondly, I really wanted to ride a horse again after such a long time.  I was just amazed at just how a horse could negotiate such muddy and rocky terrain with up and down gradients with such care and ease. I also surprised myself that I could handle sitting on and holding on with ease, notwithstanding a bout of saddle rash. Ouch!

The refugio in which I stayed felt like a ranch in the middle of nowhere, which it is, and has much rustic charm. Being run by two lovely Argentinian women who spoke hardly any English gave me a much needed opportunity to practice some Spanish. The treks themselves were some of the hardest that I have undertaken due to their gradient but the beauty of the forests and mountains more than made up for my aches and pains.

Bariloche, Argentina- After a few days I headed back into Argentina and to the fairly large town of Bariloche- famed for its chocolate, lakes and skiing in addition to all the usual adventure activities on offer. I again elected not to do too much here apart from hang out in the evenings playing pool and making friends at the hostel. I did spent one day sharing a car hire with a good group of boys from Israel to visit the famed seven lakes. It was fun to drive again after three months and to skid around on some rough road, albeit on the right hand side and left hand drive.

Pucon, Chile - After another few days it was back across to Chile and to Pucon and its massive volcano. This small town has its own cozy alpine style look and feel to it and is where I took the chance to have some fun. The climb up to the top of the volcano was quite arduous but the group of six was good value and the reward for scaling it was to witness an active volcanic hole bellowing out acrid sulphur (enough to induce quite a headache) and great panoramic views. 

Another day was spent canyoning and canopying in the beautiful surrounding forest. Canyoning involves abseiling down waterfalls of about 100 metres and into cold waters, surrounded by an ethereal circular formed rainbow around me (I really do hope that the photos taken of me are sent by the large and young Israeli group I did the activity with). It was special fun to hang out in thin air on a rope, however, the next time I will ensure that I am not doing it with a load of tiresome, loud, stupid and irritating female Israeli’s!  Canopying was fast and fun as I zip lined back and forth across the valley for an hour.  I may receive some pics of this event also if I am lucky.

The problem is that as I no longer possess my small party camera, and I cannot expect anyone to take a half decent pic with my larger Nikon, I am currently relying on others to take pics  involving anything to do with crazy parties, heights and water. I shall consider investing in one again at some point.

I also paid a visit to a hot springs complex in order to relax my weary limbs, but more of that episode later.

Peace.