on arica and traveling solo

welp, lets see. its now the 7th of may and lots to update. probably wont be posting any new photos until i get home, which as it stands is the 6th of june. but i will for sure be taking lots of them. anyhow lets see. i think we left off in Santiago, set to head north into the desert.

So we rented a car, a small Chevy Corsa, strapped my bike box to the top and took off. Maps and streets and signs in Chile and Argentina don´t usually tend to make sense, and this was a recuring theme all throughout our time in the south, but maybe the capital city of Santiago would be different? Wrong. We got lost, rather horribly I might add and ended up driving around for 2 hours, downtown, on highways and other roads trying to find route 5. Eventually we did and it was a major relief. Driving all night was the plan. We had a lot of ground to cover, in the end it was 1600 km or so (1000 miles) in 24 hours. I was in the back seat while Thomas and Ralph switched off driving since I can´t drive stick. We spent the majority of the night listening to Rage Against the Machine, trance, and various other obnoxious artists good for keeping people awake and late night driving. At midnight we stopped for caffeine and energy drinks and by 330 i was asleep in the back.

I woke up around 715 and we were 150 km away from San Pedro stopped at an old abandoned town. It took us just a short time and we were there. Higher elevation and the surrounding mountains and landscape of San Pedro is unlike any other. It´s like stepping onto Mars, or the moon. The actual town of San Pedro de Atacama is quite idyllic. Old adobe houses, bright colors, narrow dirt streets and Pepper Trees. It was a really nice place, and the town it seemed was unchanged despite the incredible amount of tourism the place recieved. The first night we drove out to La Valle de La Luna (The Valley of the Moon) and took photos while the sun fell out of sight. Let me tell you, watching the sunset in the Atacama is an experience all its own. The colors were incredible. Like a fire descending down the volcanoes and altiplano in the distance. Really impossible to capture on camera or with words, you´d just have to be there to see it. That night we slept like babies.

We woke up the following morning and had plans to visit the salt flats, flamingoes, and Laguna Misconti. We arrived to the salt flats and took a stroll and it was amazing to see all the various vibrant colors. Purple, red, green, yellow, orange, all visible at various times. There were in fact flamingoes and lots of lizards. We took a lot of good photos and saw lots of amazing dry salt structures. We left in the late afternoon for Laguna Misconti and arrived just before sunset. Perfecto. We were at a pretty high elevation, nearly 3800 m and it was apparent when we hiked around the lagoon. The waters were blue and surrounded by volcanoes and peaks and once again we would witness the amazing colors during sunset. This time the hills turned gold. Things like Saffron, Tamaric, Goldenrod, come to mind when I think back to that evening. The next day we planned to visit the Geysers at El Tatio and apparently it was necessary to arrive very early. 90 km on less than adequate roads, we´d heard that tour operators leave around 4 am.

We woke up at 415 and planned to be on the road by 430. We headed out, I fell asleep in the back seat and woke up about 10 km out. Upon arrival, we paid the fee and drove the short distance down to the geysers. Steam was rising and the smell of sulfur was strong. We all agreed later that we´d arrived too early. It was much better lighting later in the morning, and far less tourist groups. Nevertheless it was amazing. Like stepping back in time to the earths´ early beginnings. Geyers, bubbling pools, vibrant colors from minerals, it was awesome. We arrived at 630 and didnt leave until quarter to 10. And then we had the plan to visit some Incan Ruins about 30 km north and west of El Tatio. Finally we decided to take a shorter, gravel road to our destination. Upon embarking on the road we saw a sign telling us of the bad state of the road ahead. We had no idea what we were in for in our small, no-clearance-whatsoever-chevy corsa, but we were in for an adventure. We climbed high into the mountains, and right off the bat it was apparent that the road was far more suited to a modified 4 wheel off road pick-up. Along the way the drive was amazing. Mountains, more volcanoes, pre-columbian ruins, and old incan trails. We stopped so many times to take photos and remove rocks from the road. Our highest point was just over 4300 m (nearly the equivalent to Mount Rainier) and it was crazy to think Thomas and I were out there running around moving rocks. Eventually we made it to a valley and passed an old abandoned hydroelectric project. There was light at the end of the tunnel for us. And just when we think this, disaster strikes and we pulled up to an unpassable river crossing. maybe 3 or 4 feet deep. And so maybe 10 km from our goal we had to turn around. We were in jeopardy of really getting into something bad. Our fuel was running low, we didnt have much food, and it took us 3 hours to drive 20 km and we were in a Chevy Corsa (refer to photo: http://espaciocoches.com/wp-content/chevrolet-corsa-classic-2007.jpg). We were all disappointed, angry, and frustrated, and it was highly apparent on the ride back. Ralph pulled off some miracles climbing up some of the hills, keeping us on the road and preventing us from getting stuck. At one point Thomas and I had to push the car up a hill and when we got to the top Thomas said he almost cried he was so happy. Eventually we got back to geysers and even back to San Pedro. There was dust on the car, in the car, in our hair and eyes and when we got back to town and our hostel, we were all exhausted. As Thomas said, there was no other way to end the trip. And that was that. We got back to town, grabbed some dinner and headed to the bus station. I was dreading it. Scared to be alone and traveling into Peru. We said goodbye, good luck, thanks, and embraced and I boarded the bus for Arica.

Sleep last night was minimal but I arrived into town early this morning and took a long nap in a nice big bed. Tomorrow I head north to Tacna, Peru and begin my long trek through the southern regions of Puno and Lago Titicaca and then to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. It will be an adventure, a challenge, but I know I can rise to the ocasion. I suppose thats it for now. Not sure when I´ll get a chance to update next but maybe in Puno. Ok I´m hungry and wanting to get out of this chair! I hope you´re all well. Thanks for reading :] talk soon! Chao chao!


Zach