BrianDavidCrane.com

NOTE: There are no ATM machines or banks in San Pedro. If you are going, get cash elsewhere before you arrive!Leaving Tilcara early Sunday morning, we caught a bus with Geminis to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile for 66 pesos per person. Unfortunately, I was not feeling my best (more on that later) and spent the day sleeping and trying to read El Túnel by Ernesto Sabato. We reached the Chilean border around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and crossed into Chile without a problem. Along the way, we randomly picked up Emmanuel (from Paris) and Manuela (from Switzerland). Both ended up staying in the same hostel as us: Hostal Edén Atacameño (which cost 4000 Chilean pesos per night - around $8). The facilities were pretty nice - community kitchen and soft beds with free internet.By the time we were settled in San Pedro de Atacama, my stomach was in bad shape. I went to sleep around 9:30 only to wake up at 12 and throw up in the floor. I was sharing the room with Emmanuel and Manuela (both of whom were awake) and, needless to say, they were not thrilled (neither was I…but I felt a whole lot better).On Monday, we rented some nice GT bikes from La Tienda for another 4000 Chilean pesos (this the same place we changed Argentian pesos for Chilean pesos) and headed out into the desert to visit another La Gargantia del Diablo. It was a fantastic place as we biked in between giant caves and other rock formations from the desert. It is almost winter here and the sun during the day was still extremely hot.After returning to the hostel for a quick change of clothes, we headed out of town on the bikes to watch the sunset over Salar de Atacama. Fantastic, lunar like views - it was very peaceful and very awe-inspiring as I could once again see the hand of God in his creations. Monday night Daniela, Gali, and I were ready to leave San Pedro de Atacama as it was roundly agreed to be a gigantic tourist trap with high prices and no way of getting money (except to take a 1 1/2 hour bus to Calama). We bought some bread, tuna, wine, cucumbers, olives, and tomatoes and, before dinner, decided to head out for Uyuni, Bolivia the following morning with the tour company Cordillera.Before leaving the following morning, though, a bit of trouble ensued with Emmanuel and the sleeping situation. Manuela originally wanted to change rooms with D&G (Daniela and Gali) because we would be getting up around 7 to leave for Bolivia. Emmanuel apparently did not like this idea and decided to go to sleep in the original (vomit) room and lock everyone out for 15 minutes -¨sleeping¨ through our knocks, the managers knocks - and basically being a jackass. Welcome to hostel life! I was way too tired to argue with him but I think Manu got our point across in French when he finally opened the door.On the whole, San Pedro de Atacama was everything it was promised to be and more: a launching ground to see the surrounding area but also a giant gringo capital that left a bitter taste of Chile in my mouth.

No related posts.

Posted in Uncategorized |

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.