I just found this in my blog ‘drafts’ folder.. I didn’t realise I hadn’t posted it.
Today’s post comes to you from a clay hut, 70km north of the Tropic of Capricorn. I’m in the Atacama Desert. Having survived the 18 hour bus ride here, I am now quite tired.
(Me- looking quite tired in our hut- by Joff)
Tomorrow we have a full day of activities sorted for us going to see geysers and great salt lakes. In the evening we’ll be going to the observatory to learn about the stars and the Andean astronomy. I suspect there will be a great deal of tiredness from that, starting the day at 4am, and finishing up after midnight. We’ve had to pack everything in because we leave on Saturday. Mostly because Joseph only has one week left in Chile, and we want to go to Machali to stay at our relatives house, then go back to Santiago to do the grand shopping that Santiago encourages.
(Me- looking quite tired in the plaza in San Pedro de Atacama -By Joff)
Personally I’m having to re-think some of my packing. My fathers wonderful old leather carry bag is proving to be more of a hassle because it’s quite heavy even without anything in it. The massive pack I have is good, except one of the zips is breaking slowly. All this and I’m two weeks into my trip. I guess because I’m using my dad’s old bags its likely that they wouldn’t survive the whole journey. Its not like I think I actually have packed that much. T’Nealle and Sarah might think otherwise, but I honestly left most of the stuff I took to Auckland, in Auckland.
I keep thinking about how nice it would be for friends to see some of these places. I have vague memories of a lot of it, from earlier visits. This is my 4th journey to Chile since 1985. La Serena is very familiar. Having only spent a few hours in Santiago so far I have no idea what the city will be like when I go there. I remember the metro lines, and the buses. The question will be more if I am able to hold my own getting tickets, and not getting lost.
(Me- looking quite tired outside the Church in San Pedro-By Joff)
I think I might spend a day at San Cristobel and Santa Lucia, go to some museums and galleries and such. Try the cultural thing rather than just shopping. Mostly because there is currently nowhere to put new purchases.
I’ve written a swag of postcards to people, and endeavor to write some more soon. I haven’t written one to the log cabin yet. I’ll wait till after Atacama, and Machali. So I can write about something different.
Ok as promised some pictures from Pisco Elqui: (taken by Joff from meatload.net)
The plaza.
Lunch at the Old School- Pastel de Choclo and Ensalada Chileno
waiting for lunch at the old school
On a Pisco Tour.
And in Coquimbo, they have built a large monument to celebrate something religious. Nobody builds religious monuments better than the South Americans
Here is a video I shot after a few too many mojitos in Coquimbo.