Chile, first part to Santiago

We entered via the small, remote and very straight forward border crossing at Ollagüe. Even though we had already had a long day, given the flat tire and the lunch break on the Bolivian side, we agreed to carry on to Calama. That turned out to be a good decision, and we arrived to the hotel in time for dinner.

What surprised us was that the desert looked so different on the Chilean side, almost as if the border had been drawn based on the look of nature. We saw more salt flats, but not of any size close to the Uyuni one. The mountains were more gently sloped, and chocolate coloured. The road was very different too, sealed and easier to manage.

We spent 3 nights in Calama, and spent one day driving to San Pedro de Atacama. San Pedro is a very famous place and attract many visitors from all over the world. Star gazing is one of the most popular activities, but as we were there when it was a full moon, the tours didn't go. The place turned out to be another place with nothing much to do or see, if not going on a tour.

Calama is a mining town, and we saw one of the machines in a parking lot. It was quite big...

The highlight was the food. Since leaving Ecuador we hadn't seen much in terms of vegetables, and in Calama we got a buffet of them for dinner. As a welcome drink we got Pisco Sour, which we really should have had in Peru but never quite got around to.

Our next stop was Antofagasta, on the pacific coast, and finally we were back at sea level. It is another city dominated by mining, and still in the desert.

Antofagasta was welcoming us with blue skies, but already the next day it had turned grey. Not quite the same view! Our next drive took us to Bahía Inglesa, well known beach resort about 5 hours south. As it was low season it was a bit empty, but pretty with its white sand bay. Some people were swimming.

The next day we left for another 5 hours drive south, to La Serena. This turned out to be a huge city, with its tourist strip along the coast. We were unlucky to get accommodation just next to a disco, and in the middle of the night we had to move. And that was after specifically asking for a quiet unit. And with a disco that is running every night!

Our final leg to Santiago was another about 5 hours drive, and since we left Bahía Inglesa we have watched the desert change from rock and stones to first little green plants, then with yellow flowers, adding white flowers, and then purple ones along with yellow of different hues. When the bushes turned up we thought we had finally left the desert, but it was a false start and it took a while before we saw greenery with added trees.

Santiago greeted us with all the plants and green hills. More about Santiago in the next post.