Chile!?!

Well i know i said i wasn't going to chile, But from Bariloche i headed to Mendoza, which i realised as i browsed my lonely planet, was just too ridiculously close to chile not to go, just a 10 hour bus ride. The drive through the andes to get to valparaiso is stunning, and that alone was worth heading over there.

I didn't go to santiago, because wiord on the street is, unless u stay with locals while ur there, it's not that great and i already felt pressed for time, so first to valparaiso on the coast, and then up to san pedro de atacama. Valparaiso is an odd town, nested right next to uber glossy vina del mar, another seaside town, it is the grubby sister. And notoriously dangerous. For some reason i stayed in the worst part of town, and felt quite unsafe for the first day. When i finally explored the town properly, and walked for at least an hour away from my hostel, i relaxed, a bit, and saw that it does have some character after all. There is an outdoor art exhibition of sorts, where local artists have grafittied and painted murals all over the houses that are nestled up the hill around the town, but again, still not safe. i met a girl who was very sneakily mugged and other stories of that nature keot reaching me, so i didn't takew so many pics, which is a shame. I keep thinking i should have taken more pics in rio too, but i guess my mental pics will have to do!



I left valparaiso pretty quickly and took a day bus up the coast of chile, which was so attractive and constantly changing. Rocky cliffs to sandy plains, to little shacks on the beaches.
San pedro de Atacama, or sp if u will, is a tiny town of about 12 blocks hewn from sand in the middle of the atacam desert in northern chile. A lot of people go from here up into Bolivai on a 4 day tour to see the salt flats. Knowing how ridunculously freezing at night (it hits -25degs) it would be at that time of year, i decided instaed to see all the marvels of the area surrounding the salt flats as seperate day trips. Good decison. I saw some fabulous things, underground caverns, sand dunes, boiling geysers bursting from the ground, hot springs at freezing o clock in the morning (never taken my clothes of so fast, or put them back on so quickly after either, brrrrrrrrrrrrr) salt lakes and lagoons, desert for miles and a lake so salty, that when u swim in it, u float, because of the hifgh salt concentration, zero gravityesque and quite surreal. Plus my nipples nearly fell off from the cold, jesus. Painful is not the word. But worth it : )

The geysers were so hot, we boiled our eggs and our milk in them for our brekkie!!!

sun rising over the steaming geysers

I was with a good group of people as well, met some lovely quebecois girls and had many mini adventures, including the best hot chocolate i've ever had, and a mild flirtation with a hunky man in the coffee shop who talked to me about dostoevsky, all very refined...just like me...ahem. Oh and did i mention itr was f***in freezing! I built my first fire from scratch (go me!) just so i wouldn't succumb to hypo.

There was a mini adventure in the hostel where an 18yr old english boy was so wasted, he wet himself. I've told this story to others and it seems to be quite common... boys, come on. And the poor europeans and argentinians in his dorm room were horrified, he was standing there, swaying, covered in pee...

And then i left, replete with all the beautiful things i had seen, back to argentina, to my last stop there, Salta, a town near the border of Bolivia, winding all the way back, through the andes...


More Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137889&id=222304166&l=8da26936f9

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137892&id=222304166&l=f4140c6d5d

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137894&id=222304166&l=0730e573ce