Hola San Pedro de Atacama! Here we are in the vast expanse of desert in Northern Chile after a lovely 20 hour bus ride in the ¨semi-cama,¨ or sort-of bed, section of Turbus. It was quite delightful and although we didn´t actually get out or stop anywhere, we received three snack boxes. That´ll do it for me. We also drove through La Serena on the way (about 6 hours north of Santiago) and it looked really beautiful so I definitely regret not making a weekend trip there. Next time.
Jamie is sitting at the computer next to me and I think he just farted. In an internet cafe. Poor other customers who had no previous warning that they were in the presence of a savage American. Speaking of savage, yesterday on teh bus I spilled my peaches all over the floor and had to deal with that sticky peach smell for the rest of the ride. Whoever decided it would be a good idea to serve peaches on a 20 hour bus ride was asking for trouble.
We arrived in Calama this morning around 9 am to find that it is exactly the shithole that Lonely Planet describes. Fortunately, although we originally thought we would have to head back there to get a trip into Bolivia, it now looks as though we´ll leave directly from this town and never ever have to enter Calama again. No tears about that. We just bought tickets for a 4 am trip to the geysers tomorrow which promises to be butt-chillingly cold. Apparently there is also an option to swim in the hot springs afterwards but I´ve heard the term ¨hot¨is used pretty loosely so I´m not getting my hopes up. Tuesday morning we´ll leave for a 3 day expedition into Bolivia riding in a 4x4 with other tourists who with serious luck won´t turn out to be dumb bitches. I think we´ll be seeing a significant amount of things made of salt during this adventure, which sounds just to my liking. I´m also enthused for the cheapness that will come in Bolivia. No doubt it will satisfy my itch for consumerism.
Hope all is well back in the estados. I hear the NY State Senate is in shambles (what else is new) and that Delmar has a new farmers´market.... I´ll be happy to hit that up upon my return. July 16... plan those parties.
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Julie,
ReplyDeleteThe following things made me laugh hysterically as I was shirking my duties at work and reading your blog instead.
1. "Tuesday morning we´ll leave for a 3 day expedition into Bolivia riding in a 4x4 with other tourists who with serious luck won´t turn out to be dumb bitches." for obvious reasons.
2. "I hear the NY State Senate is in shambles (what else is new) and that Delmar has a new farmers´market..." mainly because these were precisely the ONLY two things my mom could come up with to tell me last night when I called home for the first time in weeks.
Sounds like you both are having a blast!!