‘I’d say 11:45 when we get through’, I replied to Jason’s bet on the time we crossed the border over to Chile. We were waiting for a while at the Bolivian border for the shuttle, now queueing for the Chilean side and it was taking forever. Let’s just say that I lost the bet and by the time we reached San Pedro de Atacama, it was past lunch time and I was famished partly because I was so hyper all morning and just couldn’t sit still…like Tigger!
San Pedro is a small tourist town, very tourist and not much else. There’s a tour company at every corner and everything was expensive since we’re in the middle of nowhere. I was on the Moon Valley Sunset Tour the next day and the beautiful landscape looks fragile to the touch. The rocks are like crumbly sandstones set among one of the smoothest sand dunes I’ve set my foot on. I missed the sunset while chatting and getting to know the guide, thinking I could afford to miss one.
On Christmas Day, I decided to cycle to the lagoon so went to the rental early and started cycling out. All was good until a cute little dog, Princesa, decided to follow me. I crashed not far from her home while trying to shake her off and turning too quickly on gravel road. She came over to check on me and hung around while I got myself up and cycling again. Princesa followed me all the way to the lagoon, which was nearly 10km away and the guards there were kind enough to look after her while I dipped in the salty lagoon. I needed the dip after the crash, praying that my knees are intact.
On the way back, I was thinking to just cycle back the same way in the hope that Princesa was able to recognise her home. About five kilometres from the lagoon, a four wheel driving towards us stopped and a woman frantically shouting the dog’s name opened the door and Princesa jump straight in. I informed her with the little Spanish I know that dog followed me, I tried calling her and there was no answer. She thanked me and drove off.
Valparaíso was the next destination and it was two night bus ride away, hanging out in La Serena for the day. So window shopping and working on my writing at the station were on the itinerary. I can feel that I was starting to feel tired, drained from the long night journeys and I was happy to arrive in town early, get some food shopping done at the market and chill for the rest of the day.
The city is full of history and the thing that stuck out for me was one of the reasons for the economic depression, the opening of the Panama Canal that took away most of the business since most ships would rather pay to use the canal than to sail round the tip of South America. Valparaíso was one of the main ports, heavily influenced by European communities with amazing artistic productions displayed on streets, impacted by earthquakes over the years and the effects can be clearly seen today.
I would have liked to spend New Year’s Eve in town but the accommodations were just too expensive, so I packed up and took a short ride to Santiago. Big busy city for new year celebration, that’ll be interesting for someone who said she doesn’t like the city. Hmm…a flaw in the plan, live and learn!
In some ways I was glad to be in Santiago and in a hostel that I’ll be joining the Dragoman group for the last leg of my trip from Santiago to Rio via Ushuaia. I settled in and cooked most days, enjoyed the city as much as I could plus caught up on writing. Santiago’s highlights would be the markets and the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino.
New Year’s Eve was a quiet one as usual with cooked dinner and watched films until the count down. There was a group having a party at the hostel that kinda spoiled the dinner part since they took most of the kitchen items with them and left practically none for the rest of us. Fireworks could be seen from the balcony near the kitchen. I went to bed soon after, having had enough of the night.
It was a good week of discovering what Santiago and Chile is all about and more importantly, had some ‘me’ time before joining a group of 20 for eight weeks of trucking through Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Fingers crossed that I’ll get some time to write and reflect on the next leg of the journey.
With a blink of an eye, it’s been three months since I started in Mexico travelling on my own with little knowledge of the region and plenty of horror stories of things that had gone wrong. It has been one of the most enlightening, fulfilling and satisfying journeys in my life.
On with the next part of this awesome journey…
Reflect-Action > Reflection 
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