Dec 11, 2007
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I slept well. The hotel had a good shower with hot water. The breakfast room was nice and the food decent. The TV was on, but could not receive the TVN Channel! It looked like I was the only occupant in this hostel at the present time. I went in search of the local tourist office. On reaching the place, I found out that they open only at 10 AM. I purchased some postcards and stamps. Each costs costs around CLP 600 (US$1.5) including postage. The
tourist office was open by now and I obtained a local area map from there. I visited Iglesia San Pedro and spent some time there taking pictures. The Pukara de Quitor (Stone Fortress from the Inca Times) was a 3 Kilometre hike (2 Miles approx) and I decided to do it later. I visited a few tour companies and obtained the different tour options available and their prices.
I visited ´Cafe Teirra Todo Natural´and order some break (made from different grains) along with some fresh juice and a coffee. This passed for Lunch! During this, I compared the tours/prices from different tour companies and decided what I wanted to do and when. As I was flying out on Saturday Morning, I had 3 1/2 days to do the various tours.
I settled on a company called ´Desert Adventure´. The lady at the counter knew how to make a sales pitch. She threw a 4th trip for free after I had purchased 3 trips. I was getting 4 trips for CLP 30000 (US$ 62 approx.). Of course, all tour companies quote only their costs. The entrance fees to the various parks are NOT included in these tours and will have to be paid by the tour participants upon reaching the respective parks. The entrance fees range from CLP 2000 - CLP 4000 (US$5-9) per park / per person.
I was told that if I was to pay in Cash, the discount would be better. I decided to conserve the cash and paid for the tours by Credit Card. It remains to be seen whether I am making a good decision here, as the Credit card companies in the US charge a service fee for all transactions done outside the US.
It was around 12:30 AM by now. My first tour to ´Valle de la Luna´(Valley of the Moon) was not starting until 4 PM. I walked back to the hotel. More than the heat, breathing the find sand is what affects you. [I am writing this close to Midnight and it still feels like my lungs are filled with sand]. Although this is not as bad as the Sahara (which I visited during my trip to Morocco in 2004) where the sand occupies every orifice in your body and even multiple showers in the same day are not enough to rid the sand from your body.
The Internet services are quite expensive here (CLP 800 - US$ 1.7 for an hour). I completed the postcards to friends and family and did what most Chileans do. I had a nice siesta from 1:30 to 3 PM. I mailed the cards and reached the tour office in time for my 4 PM tour. We were doing the tour in a Minivan and it was packed to its capacity (15 people). We first stopped at a Mirador Viewpoint) to take in the ´Valle de la Luna´. After spending around 20 minutes here, listening to the guide´s explanations and taking pictures, we headed to the ´Valle de la Muerte´(Death Valley). We had a short steep climb from which to observe the
canyon.
Many of us in our group were shocked to see a woman with a Baby (less than a year old) and her husband carrying a stroller do this climb as well. I would called them ´2 Morons with a Baby´. Bringing a baby in this environment is in itself a bad thing as even adults find difficulty breathing here. Bringing a stroller was perhaps their calling card as being ´certified Morons´. You are on a valley floor in the middle of the Atacama desert. Did they xpect paved sidewalks here?
We spent a good 45-minutes or so walking through the valle de al Muerte and watched some kids to sand boarding. Sand boarding here carries a bit of risk as the bottom of the sand dunes are quite rocky and one could get seriously hurt. If you really need to do
Sand boarding, do it in the Sahara (pristine dunes and not even a pebble to be found). We headed to see the ´Tres Marias´(Three Marys) formation before heading to the Big dune from where we would observe the sunset over the ´valle de la Luna´.
We were not allowed to climb the big dune as it had shifted by 4 metres during the recent earthquake (a few weeks ago). We were to use a passage on the side and walk to the top of the dune. The walk to the top almost killed me! Climbing on sand is quite different from climbing a rocky hill. I guess climbing on sand is akin to climbing a mountain with 2 feet of snow! The entire lot of us in our group were totally wiped out from climbing this dune.It took us close to 15 minutes to get our breath back.
I took lots of pictures of the changing colours of the valley caused by the different stages of the setting sun.
The couple with the baby also made it to the top of the dune. I guess the baby might be bewildered by what Mama Moron and Papa Moron did to him/her when he/she was little. Needless to say these morons were with a different group.
Some of the interesting folks who were part of my group. An English gent (53 years old) who was travelling south America for 8 months. A German High-school kid who was travelling south America for 3 months before heading to college. A Dutch couple with their 2 sons (aged 7 and 9) who were travelling in Chile for a Month. THIS I understand and approve as the Children are at an age where they can comprehend what they are seeing and doing.
Upon our return to La Serena, I headed to La Casona (also recommended by my guide) for dinner. I had a fettuccini with Vegetarian sauce along with a ¨La Hoya¨ Cabernet Sauvignon
(2006) from Colchagua Valley which had a light nose, was medium bodied with a Medium finish. There were a group of musicians performing live at this restaurant. In all good dinner, wine, restaurant and music.
I have 2 half-day tours tomorrow. I think I finally cracked the code for sending text messages internationally. While MOVISTAR recommends that you use the Code ´01810´before entering the country code, this was not working for me. I tried the old method of using a "+" symbol before entering the country code. It worked and I even received responses from my friends. An old friend of mine called me and we chatted for 20 mins. All incoming calls and
messages are free. Of course, those with PRIMITIVE services [Verizon] were unable to send international text messages. They were able to receive my messages, but I could not receive
their responses. T-Mobile rocks.
I spent time transferring pictures from my Memory card to my portable hard drive, wrote my diary and went to bed.
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