Week 8 – San Pedro de Atacama to Santiago, Chile

Fred's world tour
Week 8 – San Pedro de Atacama to Santiago, Chile
17^th until the 23^rd of November 2012
In brief:

1. Nurse my thousands of bites.
   
2. Run to the ruins of Pukara de Quitor.
   
3. Float in la laguna de piedra, a highly concentrated salt lake much like the dead sea.
   
4. Dive into the 'ojos del salar' two freshwater holes in the middle of the salt flat.
   
5. Make it to the top of the supposedly 6,006 metre high, Sairecabur volcanoe on 2^nd try.
   
6. Chill out by my first beach in 4weeks at the beautiful Bahia Inglesa.
   
7. Wonder the bohemian streets of the once thriving port city of Valparaiso.
   
8. Make it to Santiago and sample western infrastructure and night life once again.

This week started with a bitter day of arguing, complaining to the tourist office and negotiating a solution with the tour operator who's Sairecabur trek was plagued with problems from the start. Its not really my favourite thing to do but with the money paid and the disappointment, I felt I had to. Unfortunately for me the man in charge of the agency while the boss is away is the guide that fell ill! Awkwardddd! They were also left with no means to pay me back as the boss took all the cash. To cut a long story short, in the end they agreed to refund my bus ticket of the bus I missed and booked me on to a second attempt to summit on Monday. Of course completely dependent on interest from other tourists wanting to go. This time they promised a better car and a different guide. As I was running out of days on my trip I had to decide if it was worth the gamble of staying the extra days. With some ruins and other local 'treasures' still left to see I opted to gamble. That afternoon I booked myself to do some sandboarding the next morning with the guy that practically invented it and also a trip tomorrow afternoon to sample the lagoons on the salt flat. With the evening spare I decided to go for a run to some ruins 3km away. This proved harder than I anticipated. Not only is it still 2,400m above sea level but after yesterdays escapades of pushing the mini van out of sand twice and trekking 7hours with a mountain-guide suffering with altitude sickness my body was pretty drained. Nevertheless, the ruins were pretty and the sunset serene.

The morning didn't go to plan as no one else fancied morning sanboarding so the tour group was cancelled. On a plus note I got to catch up with my blog and came to learn that there was interest for monday's Sairecabur trip but still nothing is guaranteed. I also found out from talking to my hostel receptionist that the 'mountain-guide' from the disastrous expedition is in fact a well known cannabis smoker, alcoholic and has not even got a hint of a mountain-guide qualification! Great to know I put myself in the hands of such a highly skilled professional to climb up to my first ever 6,000m peak! ;-)
To make up for things the trip to the lagoons on the San Pedro De Atacama salt flat was brilliant. Our first stop was a salt water lagoon who's salt content is higher than that of the dead sea. After an explanation from the guide and a few scenic pictures we were invited in to have a float. The salt content is attributed to the thousands of years of high Andean snow melting and flushing down all the salt to eventually accumulate in this spot. The centre of the lagoon has an unknown depth which made for an eerie swim across the middle of it. The water was only a metre deep until the middle where the ground would dramatically end giving way to a deepest dark abyss. This was my first experience of floating like this in salt water and it was great. However I would not recommend crouching at any point in this water as the high salt content can cause 'discomfort' right where one would prefer not to have that sensation :-o

After rinsing the salt off our faces with a modified week-killer container the guide had, off we went to the 'Ojos del salar' (the eyes of the salt flat). Initially I thought it was going to be a mystical, all-seeing, spiritual place or something like that but actually its merely two to holes in the salt flat that resemble a pair of eyes. These two holes were filled with freshwater who's level was about two to three metres below the salt flat which of course required a jump. Again this also had an unknown depth however because of the freshwater if one was to drown the body would sink to a probable unrecoverable depth unlike the previous lagoon. Naturally I somersaulted my way in and let me tell you it was very cold that I swear my heart skipped a beat because of it.

The last stop was a beautiful lagoon with a crisp white salty shore where we would see the sun set over the salt flat on one side and the Andes mountain range reflect in the water on the other side. The tour also included a pisco sour which is a traditional Chilean alcoholic drink to finish the weekend in style.

Upon my return to the city I went to the trek agency to confirm that the hike was happening tomorrow and to my relief it was!
Excited to try and summit the elusive Sairecabur, my first 6,006metre mountain I was up and ready at 5:30am. The car was better, the guide seemed good and group was great. We had an American, a Spaniard, a Columbian and the Chilean guide. We made it up passed both places where the van got stuck previously so all things were looking good. Last time we started climbing at 4800metre and this time we reached 5,500m by car as our starting point. I could already smell the summit!

The climb was technically quite difficult, the altitude made things harder and the blistering cold was very noticeable. We persevered and in 2hours 20minutes, at 10:40am on the 19^th of November I reached the summit with the rest of the group 20-30mins behind. I think because I did the trek from 4,800m to 5,555m two days ago I was more acclimatised than the others. The view from the top was magical. I could see the 'laguna verde' (that's not so verde) on Bolivian side where I was earlier that week and the salt flat of the Chilean side. The 360 degree view was beyond impressive and took time to digest. At the top there was a small book within an orange case for all the summiteers to sign. I checked my altimeter on my phone and unfortunately it showed 5,971m unlike the promised 6,006m from the travel agent! Surprise surprise.

After some food and group pictures we headed down. The wind was picking up and for this reason summit attempts here are always done early morning. Our trek down took time as some of the group started to develop altitude issues. The only thing one wants to do in this condition is sit and rest but actually the best thing is to continue down the mountain where the symptoms would dramatically improve.
The sense of achievement from the climb was immense and i'm glad I hung around to try to summit again even though the altitude was not actually a 6,006m peak as promised. Wikipedia also marks it as 5,971m peak. We got back to the city of San Pedro de Atacama around 3pm and I wasted no time in booking my bus for that night down south and making a few purchases. One of which was a few beer bottles for the guys at the travel agent as a thank you for sorting out the 'issue'.
On Tuesday morning I arrived at Capoipo from my overnight bus, I transferred to the coast village of La Bahia Inglesa and spent the day on a white sandy beach sipping refreshing drinks and tasting the fresh seafood while listening to the waves crash. One of the dishes was 'cerviche' which is basically raw fish marinated in lemon. Very tasty.

Soon that day was over and I had to catch my next overnight bus to Valparaiso the port town near Santiago. Once the economic heart of Chile as a stopping port for ships navigating from the Atlantic to the pacific. Valparaiso saw its wealth plummet overnight upon the opening of the panama canal. Its bohemian feel mixed with colonial architecture gave it a very unique feel. The sprawling houses over the steep hillsides was very marked. To help citizens move up and down them the Brits built 'elevators' and 'funicular' type constructs littered round the city. Unfortunately only a few of them are now operational due to the cost of maintaining them.

Having arrived early that morning it meant I was able to join a free walking tour which works based on tips. It was great. This American guy called Chris took us round some of the big sights and also quaint little unknown places. One of the nice touches was when we stopped at a woman's house where she's made traditional biscuits and gave us free samples. At the end we also sampled some Pisco the chilean alcoholic beverage. On the tour the graffiti art was special, the steep streets charming and overall the tour was a must as an intro to the city. All funded by generosity and tips.
With pointers of places to go from Chris, the guide, my first stop with a swiss couple was the house of Pablo Neruda the famous Chilean poet. Perfectly placed and with 5 floors of unique interior design. The audio guide was a fascinating insight into the man that became a national treasure.

From there I walked towards the hostel via the upper road soaking up the city and once back in the hostel I enjoyed a shower, a flat bed and a kip before heading out to dinner with the guys from the tour group to sample local delicacies.
My last day in Valparaiso comprised of seeing some more graffiti art that was fresh from a recent competition, a boat tour and riding another elevator.

wining graffiti competition house

Satisfied I had 'Valpo' covered I headed to Santiago that afternoon on a one and a half hour bus journey. The hostel was a brilliant, red, colonial building recently refurbished in Barrio Brazil. It had a pool, huge communal areas and a great group of people. To finish my epic week I spent friday on a 'tours for tips' walking tour of central Santiago and tasted the typical Chorillana (French fries, finely cut onion, spicy sausage, beefsteak and, crowning it all, one or two fried eggs). The afternoon I spent time by the pool chatting with other guests and then we all had a huge barbacue meal at the hostel which was very filling. I then went out and sample Santiago's famous night life and met some cool locals.

Next week I head to Easter Island to marvel at the Moai statues and spend my last days in Latin America before heading to Australia.