Valparaiso to San Pedro de Atacama 16 - 23 March

To Valparaiso, Santiago & La Serena 16 - 23 March 

16 March. We say goodbye to Sunny and Naomi, the hostel dogs, and leave at 7.30 am to walk the 15 minutes to the bus station. We booked the trip on line but have to find a ticket office (upstairs on the first floor…) to get the tickets printed. What? Bus leaves about on time (8.30 am) and we head south then north west then west, heading for Valparaiso on Chile's coast.   

Pretty well follow the route to the Andes that we went two days ago until we reach the border post at Paso Los Libertadores at about 10,000 feet in elevation. Slow going through this post compared to other crossings. First they check that we have our SAG forms (declaring if you're bringing in fruit & veg, or a lot of money), passport and COVID vaccination certificate.   That's a first and I panic as I can't remember where I saved my vaccination proof on my phone. 🤔   Then to passport control which takes forever as my immigration person, or their computer, are not doing well. Finally our luggage, all of which comes off the bus, is x-rayed and yes, there's something lurking at the very bottom of my rucksack so I have to open it and dig out the offending….. tin containing a spare shampoo bar. It's been minding it's own business, undisturbed, since we left London but hats off, I suppose for thoroughness.

The next stage is the road with twenty nine hairpin bends down the side of the mountain. Thankfully it's quite busy and we go very slowly.  

Call at a few towns such a Los Andes; John gets out at Vina del Mar and doesn't reappear, but I spot him in the 'co driver's' seat, having a chat and smoke with the bus driver as we travel.

Excited to see the sea at Vina del Mar and we arrive in Valparaiso bus station around 4.00 pm. Taxi to our hostel, Hostel Po. 

Reception is on the 1st floor, our room on the 2nd and the kitchen on the 3rd. We have an en suite room with a huge shower cubicle/ room - I've had kitchens smaller in area than the shower room - plus a fridge and kettle. We have eaten only two sqares of chocolate today so are happy to go to a well reviewed burger restaurant two doors up from the hostel. Unfortunately something was amiss with John's meal and he spent quite a lot of the night up with a v poorly tummy.

17 March. I go to the nearby supermarket and buy bottled water, and butter and nice bread rolls for breakfast. Take it easy in the morning and go out for a walk later. Valparaiso is on the side of several steep hills and is also street art / graffiti central.  

There are a number of ascensors (funiculars),tho not all are working, and we take the Ascensor Concepcion from a fairly average main street, Calle Prat, to a very attractive look out point, Mirador Paseo Gervasoni with flowering plants.  

Stop for a beer at a restaurant, El Paparazzo, and decide we like the look of the place and to return for dinner. It's situated pretty well above our hostel so we can walk there easily.  

Sit in the kitchen later and chat to an Irish woman who is soon going up to Oxford University to do a Master's in Viking history. She's bright, articulate and good looking, so I look forward to seeing her presenting on TV in the future. Also chat to a British junior doctor in Chile for two weeks. He wants to become a GP, which is Good News.

Return later to the restaurant - John has a pasta dish, easy on the stomach. I have seared tuna which is served with a sesame crust and is not so much rare as raw. I'm too cowardly to ask for it to be cooked a bit more, and it's actually very good, so all's well. Not inexpensive but well worth it - we later discover El Paparazzo is Valparaiso's top restaurant on Trip Adviser.

Picture of seared tuna - from the Web but looks about right!

Saturday 18 March. Today we're going to La Sebastiana, the house built in the 1950s, and inaugerated in 1961, by Pablo Neruda, Nobel prize winning poet, which is a half an hour walk away. Uphill. Despite it being quite overcast it is warm and by the time we reach a cafe, Plaza Moro, near the Neruda house, via hills and stairways, I am a soggy mess. The wonderful server (owner?) speaks good English and produces a roll of kitchen paper for me to mop myself down. He says that walking in Valparaiso is like doing a gym workout! We each have a fresh fruit juice and watch the sea mist roll in. 

On to the Neruda house (to the right of John's head in the picture) bought so he could look out over the sea; today he would be just gazing at the clouds. It's built a bit like a ship, with each floor area getting smaller as you go up. We see - all on different floors - the decorated entrance hall, sitting room/ dining room/bar, the bedroom and bathroom and, at the very top, his study. 

Neruda was a collector of things that caught his eye and the décor is definitely mixed which appeals to me. Need to read some of his poetry.

Walk (down hill!) back to the hostel to watch the Ireland/ England rugby match on tv. We've booked to go for dinner this evening to a Thai restaurant, Samsara, recommended by Mike from Lao hostel in Mendoza - it's close to the Neruda house but this time we're going by Uber, not walking!

Sit outside in a little courtyard and have the set menu for Chile pesos 23,000 (£23) of a salad starter, main+rice and a pudding. Very good food and friendly service; a treat to have such different flavours after seven weeks in South America.

Sunday 19 March up, pack, say our farewells and get an Uber to the bus station for a fairly short journey, around an hour and a half, to Santiago. Then spend a bit of time trying to find the (different and badly sign posted) other bus station that we leave from tomorrow. Wander the back streets with our luggage until we find Terminal Borja, which is on the first floor of a big shopping mall - every other bus station has been at ground level.  Find the ticket office and get our on line tickets for tomorrow printed (!!) and then walk through the mall, after getting directions from a security guard, to find the metro station. Using our BIP passes that we bought when in Santiago before we travel to the station for our hostel and walk the 12 minutes to Tambo Verde hostel. Nice en suite room on the ground floor and good to have a shower.

Go to our 'go to', the Krossbar for a couple of beers and a snack then back to the hostel.  

Have a zizz then out again to the Krossbar for supper - I have a pisco sour and John a coconut rum cocktail to accompany. Nearly 4 miles walked today according to my app.

Monday 20 March. Up and pack, pick up sandwiches (as we won't get breakfast) and off to the metro at 8.00 am. It's busy - rush hour of course - and a bit of a scrum to get out of the station but we get safely to the first floor bus station by 8.40 am. On our way at 9.30 am in a very comfy bus (unfortunately run by a company called 'Cikbus') north north west on the Ruta 5 to La Serena. Rolling hills looking very very brown with drought.

After the town of Llay-Llay we are in very low clouds and the land is a lot greener, with trees and crops in the fields. Thankfully the mist clears and we arrive in the sunshine, in La Serena, after a six hour trip.   

Get a taxi to our apartment building, part of a complex of high rise blocks with a lagoon pool and overlooking the beach. Once we've persuaded the security guard to let us in we pick up the key at reception and take the lift to apt 405. Small kitchen/ living room, bedroom, walk in wardrobe, and bathroom, plus balcony with great views over the sea and south to Coquimbo.

Walk to the nearest supermarket about a mile away - John does a great job in carrying all the groceries back to the apartment. The price of food in Chile is quite high but very drinkable wine is inexpensive. 

Dinner watching the sunset.

Tuesday 21 March. First thing we watch workmen in waders sweeping sand out of the bathing lagoon - what a thankless task as they have to do the same again tomorrow, and the next day...

After breakfast I set off with a backpack of laundry to go to the nearest laundry service (according to Google) about 0.8 of a mile away - once I find it the lady apologises and says she only does 'ropa de cama' ie bed clothes, so I walk our shirts and undies back. Later in the day we go to the man made beach outside the apartment - John goes for a swim in the lagoon (I paddle) and we watch the seagulls and condors swooping around. Watch (UK) TV in the evening.

Wednesday 22 March   Decide to visit the (real) beach today but can't get through the fence that separates the apartment grounds from the beach. So we walk into La Serena town centre instead, about 2 miles away. A bit run down, but attractive colonial style buildings including a cathedral and several churches (all locked up). It was founded in 1544 and is the second oldest city in Chile after Santiago.

We wander around, stop for a beer and then head back to the apartment via the supermarket for a couple of items. Our apartment is wonderful for the sea views but one would definitely need a car if living there. Stop at reception to ask about a taxi or Uber to the airport tomorrow and a very helpful chap contacts his friend Othir, who is an Uber driver, and books him for us for 0800 hours.  

Thursday 23 March. Up in the dark, pack and down to reception. Helpful chap comes on duty at 0800 and phones his pal to make sure he's on his way (he is). I didn't tip Mr Helpful and tipping is a Thing in Chile so I'm still not sure if I committed a faux pas…

Very busy and very slow traffic through the town - rush hour of course - but we get to the small airport in reasonable time. Check in, have a coffee and our JetStar flight to Calama takes off a few minutes early. Supposed to take an hour and a half but we land 15 minutes early, after flying over the desert and past mountains and volcanoes.

The trip would be 14 to 16 hours by bus and about the same price.  

We've arranged a transfer from the airport to San Pedro de Atacama, about 65 miles away and are met by someone holding a sign with John's name on it. 

Bit of hanging around but then we're off with other passengers in a mini bus. At regular intervals we pass roadside shrines  to people killed along the route,  a reminder that the roads here are definitely not that safe.

The journey takes about an hour and a quarter and we're dropped outside our hostel, Chill Atacama Harickunter. We're early so there's no-one to let us in until we WhatsApp to say we're here and Leonard appears.

En suite room on a courtyard with shaded seating. 

Unfortunately no kitchen facilities, not even a kettle - we hadn't read the small print. Walk into town just 7 or 8 minutes to the centre; very dry and because we're at altitude (3160 metres above sea level) I can feel my heart rate is up just walking.  The local architecture is 'adobe' and shack.   

Every other shop is a travel agency offering day trips and travel across the Andes to Uyuni in Bolivia. Hoping our hostel landlord can advise on best / safest agencies. Our plan is to acclimatise here for six days, so that when we cross to Bolivia (up to 4350 metres) we won't be affected by altitude sickness.

Buy some beer and head back to the hostel and are startled when it starts to rain. Not very much nor for very long but not expected (even though January to March is 'rainy season'). Out for a pizza in the evening to Pizzaria La Manada; London prices (everything's pricey here) but the best pizza we've had all trip. Take away the food we can't eat in a beautifully wrapped package to be added to our fridge, which produces more noise and heat than chills the contents.