After almost a month traveling around Bolivia, our first couple of weeks in Chile were spent in the north of this long, thin and diverse country. We started our journey in the hot desert at altitude and then we descended to more humid lush ground where fruit, vegetables and vines flourish. From adobe houses baking in the sun to pink peppercorns in the vineyards, here are our travellers’ tips for North Chile.
San Pedro de Atacama
We crossed the border between Bolivia and Chile at San Pedro de Atacama. We did this as part of our Uyuni Salt Flats tour. We first had to pay an exit fee of 15 BOBs (£1.40) each on the Bolivia side of the border (a hut in the desert!) and then board a bus that the agency had booked for us as part of our package. After a short drive of less than an hour we arrived at the Chilean side of the border which is within walking distance of the centre of San Pedro de Atacama. We found the border guards here very rude and they really went on a mission to search our bags and root out any fruit or fresh produce. We had to relinquish some “extremely dangerous” limes and some contraband honey, but as we had declared them, we did not get into any trouble!
San Pedro de Atacama is a very small desert town on a plateau at 2400m above sea level. The town itself is pleasant and compact and you can immediately see that is was a place where people come to chill out and have a fun time. The hot dry climate also helps; it was the warmest we’d been for some time. There are two main areas; the leafy plaza de Armas and a street called Caracoles where most of the eateries and tour operators are. In fact, the town is little more than a place to pick up tours of the surrounding landscapes and relax afterwards.
We knew that when we arrived we would have just completed the 3 day nature tour on the Bolivian side, so we didn’t book anything ahead. It turned out that a lot of the tours did exactly the same; taking groups across the border back to Bolivia, and we felt like we had seen enough lagoons, deserts, geysers and weird rock formations… for the time being! One tour that we thought of doing was stargazing, but we reasoned that as we were travelling on to the Elqui Valley soon (supposedly one of the best places in the world to admire the night sky), we should just do it there. This is by far my biggest regret during our adventure so far! Keep reading to find out why…
La Serena
After a 15 hour bus journey with a company called Tur Bus (apparently the best, but not a patch on Peruvian buses!), numerous stops, check points and pickups, we arrived in La Serena, a humid seaside town. La Serena is one of the oldest towns in Chile and as such it has some fine architecture. We found it a little gloomy, probably because it only comes alive during the summer months when Chileans escape the cities for the sea. Luckily we had only booked a day either side of our 2 day expedition into the Elqui Valley, which is only about an hour away by local bus.
TIP – Tur Bus. Foreigners cannot book using the Tur Bus website because a national ID is required. You must ask a Chilean to help you or go to a Tur Bus office/travel agent.
The Elqui Valley is famous for two things; star-gazing and pisco, which is a brandy like distillation made with grapes. The pisco sour cocktail, like in Peru, is very popular but it is made completely differently. It’s still delicious but also lethal as gets you drunk very quickly! Our base was Vicuña, a sleepy little town with very little to do, but nestled in a picturesque vine filled valley surrounded by mountains.
TIP – Try a refreshing dessert called a Terremoto (earthquake in spanish). It’s pineapple sorbet drenched in a slightly alcoholic pink grape juice. It’s easy to find in the supermarket and costs about £2.50 for a whole litre.
We were so excited to be doing a stargazing tour, but unfortunately, destiny was not on our side. After a sunny clear day, the clouds blew in and our tour was called off. Even the tour guide said that this was very unusual. It was lucky that we had had the foresight to go out on our own the night before to get some practice in with the camera, as we did manage to see the Milky Way very clearly, and get a couple of good shots, despite almost freezing to death!
TIP – We are photography enthusiasts who are still learning on the job. We turned up without a tripod or a remote control for our DSLR camera. Both essential for keeping the camera still during the long exposure required for photographing the night sky. We also only have a 18-105mm lens, and it is becoming ever more apparent that we need a more powerful zoom!
Slightly dejected, we left our accommodation to travel back to La Serena via a pisquera called Capel which is run by a collective. Capel is the largest and most important in the area. It was a dingy damp day, off-season, and when we turned up it almost looked like it was going to be closed to visitors. As it turned out, we were the only visitors, and we started to wonder whether we wanted to stay. But, we had paid our £4 each and we were going to stick it out. We were so glad that we did because our tour guide was very attentive and we got to have a private tour. The tour was in Spanish, but she spoke slowly and made a genuine effort to make sure that we understood. We also ended up being followed around by a cameraman who was from a Chilean TV channel. We dutifully tramped around and posed with our free samples at the end. I think that we actually ended up with more free samples than were included in our ticket because he needed to get the shots! So, we felt like we’d got bang for our buck with the tour, and who knows, maybe these two dishevelled travellers ended up on prime time Chilean TV!
So, what is the lesson to learn from our experience in Norte Chile? If you see an activity that you want to do, especially if it is weather dependent, just do it – things might not be what you think they are later down the line, or you might not get the chance due to a few clouds (I thought we’d left all that behind in the UK!). Also, some activities that seem like they are going to be boring can turn out to be surprisingly pleasant, especially when free alcohol samples are involved!
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