I will be having company for the next 2 weeks, as Pedro, my friend from Rio de Janeiro, arrived yesterday afternoon to join me up north towards Bolivia.
As there is a free day in San Pedro de Atacama before we depart for Bolivia tomorrow morning, I signed us up for a tour to Laguna Cejar, which also includes spots such as Ojos del Salar (Eyes of the Salt) and Laguna Tevinquinche.
Almost anyone who comes to San Pedro de Atacama usually ends up having a lack of sleep for at least one day, to visit the Tatio Geysers. I was no exception as I had booked a Geysers tour, which required that I get up at 3.30am.
With less than 4 hours of sleep, I dragged my feet to get ready and waited for the bus pick up to arrive, which came only at about 4.40am.
Our first stop was of course the Tatio Geysers, located about 1.5hrs away from San Pedro de Atacama, and at a height of 4,200m. Upon arrival, Solly who was also on the Sand board tour yesterday, said that the temperature is –6 degree celsius.
I knew it was going to be cold, but I didn’t realise it was going to be THIS cold!
I had read up about possibilities of doing Sand boarding in Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley), and have also read about a tour called Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) which also includes visit to Valle de la Muerte and the salt caves.
So when I walked around the town in the morning, and chanced upon an advertisement offering exactly what I wanted, I was thrilled! I quickly enquired and signed up for the tour that departed at 4pm in the afternoon.
Spent the last 23.5 hours of my life on a bus from Vina del Mar to San Pedro de Atacama… the longest ever bus ride I had taken in my life! My butt was getting numb from all the long hours of sitting, and to make it worse, cama seats were sold out, so I was left with just semi-cama.
Thankfully mid way through the journey, passengers got off, and I had a spare seat next to me to stretch my legs.
I have to say though, Argentinian buses are definitely more service oriented and better than the ones in Chile. First of all, for a 23.5 hour journey, one would expect that they would be serving 3 meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Turned out that only breakfast and lunch was served, and there was no information prior to taking the bus about what meals would be included.
Breakfast comprised of a juice and a biscuit, and for lunch a small pathetic bun with a packet of apple juice. It was fortunate that I usually have some biscuits of sorts in my bag, which lasted me through the rest of the journey.
Toilets were also appalling. 18hrs into the journey, the stench of the toilet could be smelt on most of the deck, and there was no ventilation in the later few hours of the bus ride! Not pleasant at all, and especially after being on the bus for so long, the least is to have some clean air!
So I was truly glad to have arrived in San Pedro de Atacama late in the night. I am now officially in the desert!
1.5 hour north of Santiago lies Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, which are located side by side each other, about 10 mins apart.
There aren’t much attractions to see in both Valparaiso and Vina del Mar though, however between the two, Vina del Mar is much more pleasant, as Valparaiso is more old and run down.
Barely a couple of hours after arriving into Vina del Mar, I was invited to go clubbing with Gerardo and friends at a disco called “OVO”.
It is part of the casino and located in a building covered with glass panels, next to the beach. Apparently there is usually a high cover charge to go in, but it seems Gerardo knew someone at the club, so we got in for free
I don’t go clubbing much, but this is one of the nicer clubs that I had been to since my trip in South America. The club was packed, yet still sufficient space for you to be moving around without feeling too squashed up, and music that played was really good.
The only thing that annoyed me, was that smoking was allowed in the disco, and many people in Vina del Mar seems to smoke. So by the time we left the party, I was smelling of cigarettes… yuck!
Nevertheless I had fun with Gerardo and his friends.
There is still one place left to visit in Santiago and that is Cerro San Cristobal.
Pablo took the time off work to accompany me and we decided to take the easy way out and took the funicular to the top.
As I walked around the streets of Santiago, I find myself comparing very often between Santiago and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Overall, Santiago is more compact and with lesser sights to see, though I 
Transportation system in Santiago is also definitely much more efficient than in Buenos Aires.
I managed to cover most of the major sights on foot within 5 hours, including lunch.
After being in communication with Max over a year about his lighthouse home, it was great to finally get the chance to visit it!
The most amazing thing is that this was personally built by Max, so it piqued my curiousity further in wanting to see this place he calls home.
There are 10 thermal centres in Pucon and many of the locals here have recommended that I visit Los Pozones.
Los Pozones is located 35km away from Pucon, with the option of getting there through tour agencies’ with a departure time of 8pm or on a shuttle service.
Not keen with squeezing with the crowd at night and as I will also be leaving for Curanipe on a night bus today, I took the shuttle service from Pucon town to Los Pozones, which is a 1 hour bus ride away.
The only problem with the shuttle was that the service was rather irregular. I was lucky I managed to hitch hike back, which in itself was an amusing experience (see below for more details).
While planning for my trip, I had read up about the white water rafting possibilities in Pucon and was looking forward to doing it. Despite having a sprained ankle, the intent was still very high! Call me stubborn! :D
The rafting takes place along River Trancura, offering a decline equivalent to grade 4. I arrived at the pick-up point at 3pm and together with another 10 people, we were brought to the starting point for Rafting.
The weather has cleared up a little today, though there were still some low lying clouds.
I was going white water rafting later in the afternoon and since there were a few hours in the morning free, I invited Geyson to accompany me to Lago Caburgua, located about 22km away from Pucon.
It was extremely serene and quiet as there were hardly anyone around. Geyson mentioned that during summer, this place would be absolutely packed with people and boats. I think I prefer the tranquillity the place has to offer now as compared to having to squeeze with the crowd in the peak of summer!
Pucon is a small town, with a lot to offer especially for the adventure enthusiasts.
If I had not injured my ankle, I would probably have trekked up to Volcano Villarica (2,287m high), a trek which takes 7 hours. It is not an easy climb and I hear that some people give up halfway.
At the top, one can look into the crater with close-up view of the lava lake averaging 1,250 degrees celsius. In fact, just last night, I can see the peak of Volcano Villarica glowing from the town. Amazing sight!
As usual, wanting to know what the local popular drink is, I asked Geyson, who shared it was Pisco.
Geyson said Pisco was a drink which originated in Peru, but is hardly drank 
There is also option of Pisco Cola, which is basically Pisco mixed with Cola.
So we went to the store and bought a bottle of Pisco Sour for me to try. It was good and really easy to drink!
Definitely way way way much better than Fernet!!!
I thought the ash situation in Bariloche was bad, but as I made my way on bus towards Pucon, Chile, the roads near the border crossing was much worse. At some points it looked as if it was covered with snow!
There were also piles of ashes in some parts, and the air was extremely foggy! It sure looks like it is going to take months before it will clear.
There were some really beautiful scenery along the way though, which I could imagine the town / villages would have been a really pleasant place to visit if without the ashes.
I left Stefano's house at 7.45am to catch the 8.07am train to the airport, which later required switching to an airport shuttle from T2 ...
