San Pedro to Santiago

Sunday November 7th.

The shuttle bus picked me up at my hotel, and transferred about twenty of us to the airport in Calama, about 100 kms away. My flight was of the ´milk run´variety. I took off and landed three times in the same plane. It went from Calama to Iquique on the coast, and then to Antofagasta and finally to Santiago. I had a window seat facing east and had a beautiful view of the the Pacific coast of Chile as we flew south. The coast is very dry and barren as it is along the Atacama Desert.

Arrived in Santiago about 4:00 in the pouring rain. I didn´t have a hotel booked and had heard something about the airport not being the safest place, so I found a booth where a woman was making reservations for hotels. She set me up in a hostel for two nights and arranged a shuttle bus to take me and other travellers to the ´centro´district and dropped me off at the Hostel Americano. Not the nicest place I´ve ever been, but at least there is a friendly, helpful woman who speaks English at the desk.

As I said my computer crapped out, so I spent the evening reading and typing some emails on the hotel computer. The have a small resaurant in the building and I found out that they were about to feed forty Chilean miners who stay here every Sunday night. So, instead of going out in the rain, I had dinner with them. Couldn´t speak to anyone, but the typical Chilean dinner was a small salad, which I ate with some trepidation about water, and a bowl of lentil type soup with pieces of sausage in it. Not bad.

Then I climbed into my soft, saggy, bed with all my clothes on, in my cold, damp, room and read for a bit before falling asleep. (and no Mike, not feeling sorry for myself, just relating facts).

One further thing: When I got to San Pedro de Atacama, I needed to get some cash, so I found an interac machine and withdrew money. For $418, I got 200 000 pesos! Turns out I keep getting more of whatever currency it is.