San Pedro de Atacama

So, the plan was to write about San Pedro as I was there, but I got a little distracted.  Also, the internet was not the most reliable in the world, so you probably would have ended up with some interestingly disjointed entries (although that's probably not too different from what you get now!).  Anyways, so I'm going to at least try to get down some of the trip today, because tomorrow we're off on another adventure to Easter Island!  This trip will only be for 4 days (we lucked out being able to go at all; it's usually prohibitively expensive just to even get there), but I'm excited nonetheless.

Anyway, back to San Pedro.  We had reserved a shuttle to get us to the airport for our 11:20 flight, but when you reserve, they ask you only what time the flight leaves, not what time you want to be picked up.  Consequently, their reservation system slotted us to be picked up at 8:00 for an arrival time at the airport of 9:30--I guess they want to be safe in case of any delays or anything, but we were actually the last group to be picked up on that shuttle so we got to the airport around 8:40.  That was fine--the benches were actually pretty comfortable so we could rest a bit before our flight.  There was even an awesome shop called "Britt Shop Chile"--I felt quite honored!  It's a coffee/chocolate company, and they were offering free samples of both in the store, so we even got a nice breakfast while we waited. 

We walked around and checked out the other shops for a bit, then decided to find our gate.  Originally, we were scheduled to leave from the bottom floor.  We left during one of the coldest days in Santiago, and for some reason, many of the doors on that level were left open.  Let's just say it wasn't the most relaxing place to try to take a nap.  Even Scott had to get all bundled up!  Luckily, they soon changed the gate and we moved upstairs where it was a little warmer.  We even got to sit next to a Dunkin' Donuts and enjoy the delicious scents of fresh doughnuts.  That didn't last too long, either, and soon it was announced that the gate was changed once again.  At least we were getting some exercise that morning!  We were getting a bit nervous because by the last gate change, it was only about 10 minutes until the flight was scheduled to take off.  But we got to the gate and there was still a large crowd milling around (in a nice, straight line, of course.  This is Chile), so we didn't worry too much.   There were no more announcements, but no one seemed to be too concerned so we grabbed a coffee and sat down to wait.  Finally, about 10 minutes after our scheduled departure time, there was an announcement that the flight had been delayed.  Oh, well; that just gave us more time to enjoy the coffees.  Another half hour later (and with everyone still in nice line formation) another announcement was made that we were to go to yet another new gate.  Oh, and hurry, because this time we really mean it--we're leaving SOON!  Of course the new gate was about as far away from the current one as it was possible to get in this airport. Everyone got out of line and headed to the new gate.  This time, the line was not as orderly as the original.  We lined up to show our boarding tickets, and were then herded onto a line of buses waiting to transport us out to the plane.  We were on the last bus, and by the time we got on the plane, it was nearly 1:00.  We were definitely ready for a nice, relaxing flight to San Pedro.

Unfortunately, the wind had different ideas.  The entire flight was incredibly turbulent--which was especially fun because there seemed to be more than the usual number of infants and first-time fliers on this flight.  Of course, every time we hit a patch of turbulence, the babies began to cry and there were great shouts and screams from the newbies.  At least it wasn't as bad as my flight into Santiago, when the man behind me was so nervous that he kept grabbing the back of my head.  Even with all the delays and distractions, we successfully made it to Calama by about 3:00.  Of course, we still had an hour ride to get to San Pedro itself.  We could have gotten a taxi into the town center of Calama and then taken the city bus to San Pedro, but we decided to save ourselves the hassle and just take the shuttle directly from the airport.  It was a bit more expensive, but it would be more efficient and relaxing.  Or so we thought.  

We were the first couple on the shuttle, which meant that we got to pick the "good" seats.  Unfortunately, it also meant that our luggage was the first to be put into the tiny storage area in the back.  I had a soft duffle and Scott had a backpack--not exactly mean to be squished under large, hard suitcases.  Oh, well--this is a small, rustic, backpacking town, right?  How much luggage can everyone else be bringing, right?  Apparently, a lot.  There was still a while before we were going to leave, so I took a quick bathroom break and while I was gone, two families also bought tickets for the shuttle.  One was a family of five and another a family of three.  The family of five had about two suitcases each, so even though they arrived at the same time as the smaller family, they stayed behind to help arrange them in the storage area.  The shuttle was getting pretty full, and the smaller family had a child who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old, so they tried to get in and get seats together.  Apparently, however, the larger family had somehow "reserved" all the seats in the last three rows (which, by the way, was a grand total of 8 seats), so when they boarded the shuttle and saw the boy sitting in "their" seat, they were not pleased.  

Even though the mother of the smaller family was obviously unhappy about not being able to have the whole family sit together, she did have her son get up and move to a different seat.  She made a comment under her breath, saying she didn't realize that seats could be reserved and that she didn't think it was such a big deal.  The larger family, believing that they were far superior to the rest of us, could not stand for this kind of treatment, and the mother and father both began to yell at the mother of the smaller family.  She didn't really want to argue, so she just told her son to be quiet and behave in the back seat while she moved up to the front to get away from the conflict.  Because there was not more room in storage, she left a small briefcase with her son in the back.  This meant that it had to be near the father of the large family, so he did not have as much leg room as he had probably hoped for. Again, the larger family felt that they did not deserve such treatment, but this time took their complaints to the driver of the shuttle.  

The driver apologized for having to put the extra luggage in the seating area, but explained that trying to put it in the back with the rest of the luggage could create a safety issue (the only place to put it would have been in a place where it was likely to fall on the heads of the people in the back seat).  He told the boy that he could not place it directly in front of the door as he had done, but that it could stay in the seating area as long as there was still room to exit the vehicle in case of an emergency.  Finally, fed up with this horrendous treatment they were receiving, the parents of the larger family both left the van in a huff.  Their three teenage children remained in the van, entitled as ever, ignoring the rest of us who just wanted to get on our way after already having been delayed at the airport.  

fauerzaesp.org

Shortly, the parents returned to the shuttle, this time with the police.  If any of you have ever seen Chilean police, you know that they can be pretty intimidating, especially for people who are not used to such heavily armed guards.  They always seem to be carrying at least one gun, and often wear bullet-proof vests and even helmets just for routine activities.  While this made us and the other gringo foreigners a bit nervous, it seemed to have no effect on either of the two feuding families.  In fact, at this point, the argument became so fierce that more police were called over until there were the two couples arguing, surrounded by four police officers.  By this point, they had been pulled out of range of the shuttle, so I could no longer hear what was being said.  The argument continued for a few more minutes, when suddenly we were surprised to see the back of the shuttle opening (it was mostly surprising because we were all so focused on the scene off to the side to notice that the driver had walked around to the back).  

The mother of the large family yelled something from afar, and the teenage children got out of the shuttle and began to help (i.e. shout orders to) the driver as he removed their suitcases from the back of the van.  Another driver from the same company came over and transferred these bags over to another shuttle.  We were all a bit confused as to what had just happened, but I, for one, was relieved that the family was leaving--I had been concerned that their heavy luggage on top of my duffle bag was going to break some of the fragile contents inside (like my camera!).  And after all this drama, we were definitely ready to just get out of there!

So, the entitled "rich" (but apparently not rich enough to get private transport) family headed off to another shuttle, and the rest of us spread out more in ours with the extra seats and finally departed to our destination.  The ride was just over an hour long, but at least it was quiet and relaxing.  We passed through the Valley of the Moon on the way in.  We didn't really manage to see much of the rest of it during our stay (it was a bit far to bike to, and the tours were really expensive), but don't worry; we saw lots of other neat things during our stay!

www.laskanas.com

The shuttle dropped us off right at the door to our hostel (no easy task since it was situated at the end of a very narrow alleyway).  I was a bit nervous about our accommodations, because I had chosen the most economical option and the reviews were not all the best.  As the week progressed, though, we were pleasantly surprised that the hostel more than exceeded our expectations (except for one memorable incident that we will get to later.  And that wasn't the fault of the hostel, it just happened to occur there).  We checked into our room, dropped off our stuff, and walked the short distance into town to get our bearings.  Even though it was only about 5:30, we were pretty tired out from the day's events, so we decided to grab an early dinner.  The restaurant we found was on the main street, but was dug into the ground so that when you sat at the table, your head was about at the level of the street.  This is probably to keep it cool during the hot summer days in the desert.  Unfortunately, this is winter, and it was starting to get dark.  I ate dinner dressed in all my layers (including long underwear!).  They lit the fireplaces just as we were leaving (that's what we get for being early diners, I suppose). 

After dinner, we walked around a bit and bought some necessities at the convenience store on the main street (we weren't sure if breakfast was included with our room or not, and besides, you can never have too much tea and oatmeal).  We checked out some of the shops, which mostly sold imported artisan crafts from Peru and Bolivia, and then headed back to the hostel.  The internet was out that night, so we watched a couple of episodes of "Cheers" that Scott had brought with him, and were in bed by 9:00, ready to begin our adventures the next day.