Chile - Across the border and beyond - 6th to the 10th Feb

We did eventually get into our bus and drive into Chile.

Literally 10 minutes away fron the "remote" Bolivian immigration control there was a main road linking Chile and Argentina, which was paved, painted with lines, signs and crash barriers.

This was a very clear sign that we were in a differnt country.

The nearest town to the border in Chile was San Pedro de Atacama, which was once a quiet sleepy backwater town set in a natural oasis. nowadays it's full of turistas like us who travel from Bolivia to Chile/Argentina, or vice versa. There are many things to see here and we went to see some of them (SanPedroDeAtacama)

Sleepy San Pedro in a quiet moment...

the second oldest church in Chile...San Pedro de Atacama

There was a thriving culture here long before the Spanish Conquistadors came.and the local Jesuit priest (Gustavo Paige) did a lot during his stay here to excavate and catalogue the artefacts that the previous cultures left. The museum he created is an excellent place to visit for its displays and to learn about the development of different cultures in this very arid environment.

Small tray for sniffing halucinogens...pocket size for handy travelling

They were makers of fine wooden items, medicine box with motar and pestle...

...and gold...

..well maybe not pottery....

 We also went to see the Valle de la Luna...one of many unique landscapes hereabouts...

sea of tranquility or Atacama?

...these are the three Marias...the stones not the women in the picture..

The landscapes here are raw and fashioned by time, wind, rain, and humans who climb them and break them. If you look at the ground here you can see, if you rub the mud off, that the salt forms large crytals that are translucent like a misty lens looking into the worlld below.

Speaking of misty eyed views...have a look at this one...

Looking back to San Pedro de Atacama in the rain with a rainbow....

...and looking back over the Valle de la Luna....

After the few days in San Pedro de Atacama, we had some bus journeys to do to get to Santiago.

First stop is Antofagasta this is the first major town we encountered in Chile...

...outside Hostal 1127.....

Its squeezed between the mountains and the sea, and is a port that is thriving. A little further north a new mega port is nearing completion that will serve the markets of the pacific rim with minerals from the rich Chilean hinterlands.

Antofagasta in action...

Leaving Antofagasta we head south along the coast on Route 5 and the scenery is...

...arid...

semi arid...

lusher than semi arid.

Our next stop is La Serena...and after 13 hours we arrive...

...in an old colonial town....

Certainly the northern part of Chile is very....european in its culture, people, look and feel; this could actually be Spain,

...side street off the Plaza de Armas...

...feria de artesanal in the Plaza de Armas...

We were tired after the 13 hour journey to La Serena and its relaxed atmosphere helped to chill us out...there are long afternoon siestas and people tend to eat out late...but as ever our road goes ever south and we are nearly at Santiago. Its only a 7 hour journey away.....

Santiago just further confirmed our feelings of Chile's european feel...

..here is the rather grand Post Office..

here is the Teatro.....

Cafe Literarios were created because of the high taxes on books, the cafe would buy the books and you could borrow them or read them here..They were also places for discussion, both literary and political.

...this sign is protected as a national monument , and was rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of Sept 2010.

We booked a cycle tour with Bicicletta Verde around the city....

...our transport...

...and not as dangerous as you might imagine, the car drivers in Santiago are very considerate of pedestrians and cyclists.

...Siobhan having her boots cleaned of Bolivian mud and being revitalised with some care.....

We visitied the Museo del Arte Precolombino and found these characters...

...Funerary idols larger than life....

Which on closer inspection reminded us that we would be visiting Easter Island in a few weeks...

eerily like the large Moai figures on Easter Island...

But most poignant of all was this quiet street, a blobk away from la Moneda, the presidential palace. here at no 38 Calle London, 2000 people were tortured to death for presenting a threat to the Pinochet regime. This is one of many such houses throughout hte capital that were used to suppress the people that opposed what Pinochet stood for.

Calle Londres is now a quiet street

Salavador Allende Gossen, his statue ironically stands right outside the Ministerio de Justicia....

We were in Santiago for only three days but really loved the place. It's so easy going, so european, but not, so different, but yet familiar.
Now we head even further south, over greater distances to the end of the world.....