Sustainable Peoples Blog 12
San Pedro De Atacama- Don Raul Hostel
6/19/08
12:50am
It was another glorious travel day today for SP, though nothing so strenuous as our recent jaunt to the South. After 2 days of false starts due to logistical problems, Marcela and I finally boarded a flight for Calama this evening. Transportation to anywhere in Chile is always a cocktail. We began around 5 in Santiago, with a shuttle to the airport, followed by a 2 hour plane ride, then 2 more hours from Calama to San Pedro via shuttle. The moon was full tonight as our van trundled along the semi-paved highway 23 that heads south east from Calama to San Pedro. We arrived, starving, in San Pedro about 11 and were dropped right at the door to our hostel.
Let me give you a few quick facts on San Pedro de Atacama. Here, I am currently at about 11,000 ft above sea level, though not on a mountain. I am 20 miles from Bolivia, 35 miles from Argentina, and dead in the middle of the driest place on the planet. Due to that last fact, the water in town shuts off at 9pm every night, and in the 10 minutes I’ve been writing this, the power has already gone out twice. I am prepared though, and will forge ahead blogging, even if it means continuing by the light of my little petzl headlamp.
The place looked quite nice, with a sort of desert theme. The whole lobby smelled pleasantly of mesquite smoke, which is to say, it smelled of BBQ food. The first inclination I got that I was not longer in the first world, however, came as soon as the door to my room opened. It wasn’t the room that was the problem- the room was just fine. What I didn’t expect to see was a cat fly out of the room though the door I had just cracked. It’s a good thing I’m a cat person.
No matter though, for I was starving. Marcela and I wandered out into town, and eventually found a place that was still open, even if it was only really open because tonight Chile won a soccer game against Venezuela. We were welcomed in, and served the largest and most delicious empanada I’ve ever experienced. In case your not familiar with them, empanadas are sort of miniature calzones, or pocket sandwiches, usually a few inches across, and filled with cheese, meat, vegetables and whathaveyou. THESE empanadas, however, were the size of large calzones and were filled with warm beef, marinated vegetables and cheese. Think of it as being filled with what you’d find in delicious stew, without the water added.
So we feasted, had a drink or two, and headed back to our home base. Tomorrow will begin early, with a trip to a rental agency, to see what out best options are for getting where we will be going. For now though, it is time for bed. Just being this high up for this long is exhausting, and I need to save energy for the rest of the weekend.
Well wishes to all, and stand by for another podcast travel episode maybe tomorrow.