As Bolivia and Chile share a similar landscape in this area, much of the tour Christi and I have just completed has a Chilean equivalent, (in the Atacama Desert) but the costs are much higher here. We had planned to visit the high Chilean Altiplano and geyser fields, but lack of money, lack of motivation for another 4 am start, and the seductive clutches of San Pedro de Atacama keeps us tucked up in bed. (I’m hoping a few more snaps from the stunning southwest of Bolivia will keep you entertained until we get to our next destination).
Mind you, doing nothing in San Pedro de Atacama is costly. Our rooms are very comfortable, but expensive (expensive by the limited scope of our budget, which is US$100 per day for both Christi and I), while the delectable dining options (dinner is a salmon stir fry for me and an Asian curry for Christi) are another budget buster. San Pedro de Atacama offers the lifestyle we crave, but can ill-afford.
We spend most of this lazy day checking e-mail, uploading photos to Picasa, and planning – actually changing – our itinerary. We had planned to fly to the capital, Santiago, and explore central Chile – notably the port and cultural capital, Valparaíso, and the surrounding wineries. All very cultured, comfortable – and expensive. The new plan is to take a bus from San Pedro de Atacama to Salta in Northern Argentina and slowly make our way out of the Andes down towards Mendoza in the central part of the country. In fact, Mendoza lies at the same latitude as Santiago, but to the west of the Andes. We will return to Chile, but at the other end of this long, narrow country. And it won’t be a dry desert landscape then, but an environment shaped by ice and snow.
The weather cools off in San Pedro de Atacama in the evening and it’s pleasant to wander the sandy streets of this small town. No one, including us, is in a hurry and the seductive charm of the town is becoming addictive. It’s an expensive addiction, though, and tomorrow we’ll need to break the habit.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching ride
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