29th January 2003. From Santiago we headed north. Around ten hours later we arrived early morning in Copiapo, a dry and dusty town along the main northern highway. We ended up marooned there until 3.30am the following morning after a slight mix up over the onward bus tickets! This wouldn't have been such a problem other than the fact there is absolutely nothing to do in Copiapo. Surprising, being as the town boasts many firsts, including South America's first railroad, telephone lines and gasworks. We eventually arrived in San Pedro de Atacama mid afternoon the following day - a mammoth bus journey all in all. We had to laugh on the way there when we got chatting to two English girls sat in the adjacent seats to ours, they were from Dronfield, near as damn-it the next village to ours - small world!
San Pedro (pop 2800) sits slightly north of the Tropic of Capricorn, 2440m above sea level. It reaches 40 deg in the daytime then drops sharply once the sun sets in the evening. Being completely surrounded by the Atacama desert, it's a bit of an oasis. It gave us the more pre-conceived Chilean experience we'd anticipated, when we arrived in the country a month ago. We stayed in the sleepy little town around a week, other than the museum (which houses some unbelievable Inca/Atacameño mummies) and the beautiful 17th century church there's not a lot to do - which is probably the main draw factor! However nearby are some incredible geological features, and we went on some fantastic local tours into the surrounding desert. Our first tour was to Valle de la Luna after a walk through the frighteningly desolate Death Valley, where we sat atop the huge sand dunes and watched the sun come down. The colour change in the sand and eroded rock is incredible - another one of those 'have to see it for yourself' experiences. We had a little drama that night too when after a going for a drink we found the doors to the hostel locked. Not good when we had to be up at 4am the following morning to visit the El Tatio geysers! After climbing on the tin-roof and making enough noise to wake the dead trying to find a way in, the owner stirred and much to his chagrin let us in! The Geysers next morning were an incredible sight. After two hours of being thrown around in a van, we climbed to 4300m and arrived on the high Altiplano beneath El Tatio. At 6am in the morning there was actually ice on the inside of the van, we'd dressed in all our cold weather gear but were still cold. At a guess I would have said the temperature must have been around -5 to -10. The cold however does have the benefit of increasing the visual effect of the steam rising from the geysers. We literally walked across a small plateau with gushing steam pouring from the fumaroles everywhere around us. It was like something out of a sci-fi movie. Everywhere ghostly figures walking amongst clouds of steam as the first fingers of dawn creep between the mountain tops. As the sun comes up fully around an hour or so later the temperature increases rapidly and the steam is vaporized - hence the early start. It's incredible, from ice to walking around in your shorts and t-shirt in just over a hour! En-route back to San Pedro we climbed a little higher and visited a small settlement with a 400 year old church. We really began to feel the altitude. We walked 100m up a small slope to the church entrance and by the time we got there were both short of breath. We also got a chance to taste Llama (very tasty and cholesterol free apparently!) whilst there at a small adobe hut in the village. Before leaving San Pedro we also visited the Salar de Atacama, the largest saline deposit in Chile. Despite several theories, no-one actually knows how or why the 40m thick crust of salt came to be there. The views are amazing as the air is incredibly clear around the salt flat (due to the completely dry air), which allowed us to watch flocks of wild flamingoes and Avocets feeding in the nearby saline lakes. The lakes are formed beneath the salt by mineral rich run off from the surrounding volcanoes and mountains, rising to the surface in places and becoming algae rich. We learned some incredible things about flamingoes, such as; did you know their milk is red? Or that they leave their young after 2 weeks and 'Nanny' flamingoes look after the fledglings (apparently so the chicks are not forced to compete for food with the parent birds!)? At Salar de Atacama, the eastern end of Chile's widest point, we were bang on the Bolivian border which ran along the mountain ridge to our left. On the ridge we could clearly see Volcan .........? 5000+m, which last erupted explosively in 2000. Right on cue (and to the excitement of our guide) it gave a little cough and began to belch, releasing smoke and steam into the desert sky - awesome! With binoculars, along the same ridgeline towards Argentina we gazed up to the slopes of Chiles highest Volcano, over 6000m high. For those of you who are wondering how high that actually is in mountain terms - that's around 20,000 feet, Everest is 29,035 feet for comparison, so it's pretty high! To be in one of the worlds most arid desolate, deserts; looking at such a primal landscape was just a completely incredible experience. We both found it hard to believe that less than a week ago we were looking at glaciers and ice, yet we were still in the same country. The only downside to the desert - if any, is that from the second you arrive, to the second you leave, you are completely covered from head-to-toe in dust. You breathe it, wear it and eat it - constantly!
By the 6th we were back in Santiago after a 25 hour bus ride from San Pedro, via Calama and Antofagasta. This time though we'd paid the extra for the 'Cama' class coach so could at least lie out completely flat and arrived relatively fresh. We booked into La Casa Roja, where we'd stayed with Chris & Sarah only a few weeks before. Next morning we left for the airport to fly on to Buenos Aires. We made our flight; just. An altercation with the taxi driver, only resolved after a lot of gesticulating and the attendance of 4 police officers, left us with minutes to get to our seats before the plane left!
Buenos Aires turned out to be a fantastic city. Steeped in history and home to a fantastic mix of architecture, (not to mention 13 million inhabitants) we fell in love with the place straight away. It's achingly cosmopolitan - surprisingly so. We spent three days enjoying the narrow cobbled avenues, walked along Avenida de Julio (the worlds widest street) and also explored the barrios, such as Boca and Recoleta. The latter being where we saw Eva Peron's tomb in the mind blowing but macabre cemetery which resembles a small town. We also visited Casa Rosada, the Presidential Place where Evita (and Madonna!) gave her many speeches from the balcony overlooking the square. We had to leave B.A in the end as the shops there began to drive us insane - we could have spent a small fortune on a new wardrobe with ease!
We caught the ferry across the muddy waters of the River Plate (50km!) and arrived in Colonia, Uruguay, on the 11th. Founded in 1680 by the Portuguese, Colonia is incredibly picturesque around it's historic quarter (Barrio Historico). Hidden behind thick fortifications the Barrio is a maze of tight cobbled streets and stucco colonial houses, inclding Uruguay's oldest church - Inglesia Matriz. While there, we borrowed two rickety old bikes from the hostel and cycled over to nearby Real San Carlos. After a few hours I felt at one with the bike, I think it was the way the saddle was painfully angled. We relaxed in Colonia for a few days before bussing over to the capital Montevideo, spending only a night there, but managing to explore most of the central area. Surprisingly, it's not the most inspiring of cities, not a patch on B.A it's richer cousin just over the water. While there we ate a few average meals, with Anita from Belgium (who we met back in B.A, hi - if you read our journal!), but to be honest even they were pretty bland and grey - which unfortunately is how I'd describe Montevideo if asked. It's only saving grace are the pretty sycamore lined Plazas, which provide a nice shady place to sit and watch the world go by, over a Patricia or two. From Montevideo we again headed north by bus. Overnight on the 15th we crossed the border back into Argentina, arriving in Santa Fe early the following morning. Santa Fe is not the prettiest of Argentinean cities, however it does have some nice historical architecture dotted around the river side and main square. We ended up being stranded for three days as there was no onward bus to Paraguay available, so we spent our time wandering around town and generally relaxing.
Lunchtime on the 18th saw us arrive in Paraguay after an awful journey across the border, the bus was packed with locals (some people stood the whole way!) and we both caught a heavy cold from the decrepit air-conditioning system. We managed to find accommodation (a recommendation from a taxi driver) easily enough, and although pleasant it did have a bit of a cockroach problem. We decided to spend as little time as possible in Asuncion. Again, as in Montevideo, with the exception of a few pretty historical buildings the city is very grey and bland. We did a small walking trail around the city to take in the main landmarks, including a naval gunboat moored on the river which is now a museum which was quite interesting. The one thing that did amaze us about Asuncion was the number of armed soldiers patrolling the streets. Every shop, store and street corner had 2 or 3 soldiers, armed to the teeth, standing around. Although Asuncion is described as a dangerous city, I began to wonder how it could be with the cast from a Rambo movie dotted around the streets.
Another 6 hours on a bus the following day saw us enter Brazil. We found a cheap hostel in the center of Foz do Iguacu, but moved the following morning, after meeting couple from England (Rob & Maryke) who put us onto an even cheaper place across the street. ’Foz’ is a quite nice city, and a welcome stop after Asuncion. We found a fantastic Parillada (all you can eat meat grill) where we ate most nights as it was cheap and the meat was really good. There was a serious risk of eating yourself to death in there, the waiters pounced every time they saw your plate nearly empty, carving you huge pieces of meat straight from the parilla. The whole thing including 3 beers only cost us 4 pounds! The main reason for coming to Foz is to see the Cataratas, or waterfalls. We took a bus back over the border into Argentina as the falls border both Argentina and Brazil. We kept our heads down at the border control when we spotted a huge sign saying “The Falklands belong to Argentina” – yeah whatever! The falls are one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen. There are around 270 individual falls crashing over the cliffs down to the river below. The Argentinean side of the falls are really well presented. There are walkways that allow you to literally stand right next to the water crashing past only feet away from you. The finale is the `Devils Throat` a horseshoe section of falls where the water crashes down before erupting hundreds of feet back into the air in clouds of spray – incredible. We also took a small speedboat under the falls themselves, the driver takes the boat really close to the torrents of water, to the point where you can’t see or breathe there’s that much spray! Needless to say we both looked like drowned rats when we got back to shore. The following day we visited the Brazilian side of the falls. The view is very different, more panoramic which allows you really get a feel for the sheer size of the falls. Again the finale is the Devils Throat, although this time you walk into the horseshoe from below with the falls towering above you, an awesome sight. We also visited the Itaipu dam, the worlds largest hydroelectric project, dubbed one the modern wonders of the world. It’s an awesome sight, an 8km long concrete monstrosity stretching between Brazil and Paraguay. Apparently at the height of construction they were mixing enough concrete to build an 8 storey tower block daily! The sad thing is that to build the dam they had to flood a section of falls supposedly even more impressive than Foz do Iguacu – which is hard to imagine. We drove right along the top of the dam, so for a brief period found ourselves back in Paraguay. 3 countries in 2 days, not bad going eh!
We booked our onwards tickets to Rio for the 22nd. This time at least we didn’t have to worry about finding accommodation as we pre-booked, knowing we may struggle with Christmas and New Year being a busy period in Rio. So we headed off to the station which turned out to be another adventure!
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