So we entered our last new country via the border control at San Pedro de Atacama, one of the most stringent places outside of Australia...we were a bit worried about our flamingo feathers and saw a rather irate South African couple have a lovely shaman mask confiscated due to it being made of goat horns!! After lucking our way through with Cath again charming security staff (she really has a knack that is lost in HR of diverting people's attention when needed) we continued into town and unloaded our bags from the bus. Given that Cath wasn't feeling too great my unintended diversion (map reading was never a great skill) didn't help either of our moods and we were glad to find some slightly overpriced accommodation and have a snooze.
We had arrived in the tourist mecca of San Pedro on the feast of San Pedro and San Juan, this meant parades galore and lot's of locals partying and drinking til late. We tried to keep up but after our exploits in the Salar we could not and retired at a very respectable hour.
The next few days found us trying not to spend too much money (San Pedro benefits from being one of the main routes into Bolivia and so prices are hiked considerably) as well as trying to build ourselves back up with as much nutricional goodness as possible...mostly from cuppa soup! One great trip we managed was out into the desert at night time to hear a very amusing French chap talking about stars and the night sky (and a bit better informed than dad and Brian in the back garden in Le Cellier!!) After taking photos of Saturn and her rings and looking at Crab Nebula we were invited in for hot chocolate and a further chat about our celestial blanket.
Next stop was La Serena, a cute little hostel and an overnight to break up the journey. The only thing to say about this place was that it was where I taught Cath how to play Cribbage...and she is still 5 - 2 up overall wins.
The capital of Chile, Santiago, was a bit of a mixed time for us, we had some fun at a wine farm (me a little too much although no golf balls involved this time) and some cool art museums but there was a lot of moving around due to some booking errors with the hostels were tried to stay at...and I finally got a decent haircut so I won't be coming home looking like a yeti!!
Valparaiso and Vina de Mar are both just outside Santiago and provided us with two days of great exploring, the first is a haven for artists and travellers alike and we walked the mural and graffiti filled streets snapping happily away. The hostel we stayed in is owned by one the of the writers for a well known travel guide book and so they knew all of the ingredients for a great stay...we were not disappointed!! Some good conversation and decent wine added to the experience and the next day we bravely set off on a mission to find the Chilean team set up due to a tour by my football team, Everton de Chile, in Vina. After arriving early-ish we trotted up to the stadium after a visit to the tourist information centre...then we trapsed to a shooping centre on the tip off that we might find a shirt...no luck but hot dogs galore!! Next was an even smaller retail outlet on a street quite a bit our of the way, success but still not an overwhelming result. After having given up the hunt we headed for the tube as we had to get back to Santiago...only to stumble on the headquarters and trophy room of the Chilean Blues!! Stunned we walked around for a few minutes before realising we were now about 15 mins late for our bus...PANIC!! With 5 minutes to spare we made it and no more excitement followed for a time.
After leaving Santiago we were truly on our way, we were headed for Pucon, a South American outdoors wonderland...just not while we were there. We arrived just after it started raining on a Tuesday and four days later we were still waiting for it to stop, more importantly we were waiting for it to snow as the South African boys were now only a week away and we needed to have something for them to snowboard on!! We were very lucky to have found a homely hostel (called Ecole) in which to hibernate for those four days; good food, some great company and plenty of reading and sleep allowed Cath to shake her persistent Chile cough and me to..well sleep lot's. Some evening hot springs and trips to the chocolate cafe were as exciting as it got but we had needed a break and got exactly what we were after!!
And so we say goodbye to Chile, travelling over the pass into Argentina and Bariloche hoping for some snow...although it doesn't look good...
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