Rio to Santiago

Santiago is a strange place. Its a pleasant city, but with very little to do. It isn't even really a very good place to relax for a few days. It just seems to be a city of shopping streets and ice cream shops.

Although, the surroundings are incredible. When the pollution is blown away, you can see the snowcapped Andes fairly closeby.

And this is where my holiday will finish. Tomorrow morning I fly back to London from Santiago and will have to re-enter the real world. Looking back on my holidays, I always find it difficult to remember how I felt when first arriving in my first destination. I think the feeling of nervousness soon gives way to acceptance - when travelling there can be some unexpected hurdles which you gradually learn to overcome. Travelling can certainly put English efficiency into perspective.

Travelling across Latin America has been difficult and easy for different reasons. It is easy because the route I have taken is one well trodden by tourists. But the main challenge has been the language barrier, especially in Bolivia. If I come back to South America again I shall certainly make a point of learning a good amount of Spanish.
Furthermore, I feel I have only just touched the surface of the culture here. The countries have a very mediterranean feel - I still find it frustrating when shops close for siesta. But at night the cities come alive and you can spend hours in restaurants and bars eating good food and talking to other strangers.

I have also been surprised at the distinct differences in culture between the 4 countries. Brazil is obviously different due to the Portugeuse influence. Bolivia is also very different I think partially due to poverty. But the faces of the people show that there is still a very large indigineous population here - also reflected in the styles of clothing (including the crazy bowler hats that the old women wear). Even Argentina and Chile are very different countries. Argentina appears to embrace the Latin spirit much more obviously than in Chile. Although with the geographical expanse of both countries, I am sure that the culture is very widespread within the countries themselves.

I would love to come back again someday and visit both the Patagonian region of Argentina, and the north-west of the continent, around Columbia, Peru and more of Bolivia. Maybe one day - I shall have to stick this idea on the list.

San Pedro de Atacama held a few surprises for me. It had been described to me as a backpackers haven.

In truth it was a village with loads of overpriced food and local tours.

But it didn't stop me from using it as a place to recover from Bolivia, get some warmth back into me, and relax for a few days before taking the long bus south - to Valparaiso.

Valparaiso is very near to Santiago, about 1.5 hours away. But it is on the coast and this is a landmark for me as it shows I have completely crossed the South American Continent from East to West coast.
I dipped my feet in the sea to celebrate. But the water is far too cold to swim in.

Valparaiso is a city built on hills. And the best way to get up and down those hills is to take the 100 year old 'Assenco' trains. They are ridiculously steep trains but are a good way to see the city. And the treat at the top is always a small community of buildings in a very traditional Chilean style.

I have been here for a couple of days already, and am planning to move onto Santiago tomorrow afternoon. For capital city fun. One of the guys I met in Rio de Janeiro currently lives in Santiago, so I have a friend there to show me around and celebrate the end of my holiday with.

The area between Uyuni (Bolivia) and Chile is littered with national treasures. The past few days I have been part of a trek to cross this terrain by land rover.

This was hard work. In the daytime the sun was scorching but in the nightime the desert sky was way below freezing. The journey was really bumpy was the whole experience was worth it.


The first day we sped over the Salar de Uyuni - the worlds biggest salt flat. It is like crossing a huge, hard, white desert. In the middle of this is an 'island' which we explored at will before tucking into lunch. That evening we carried on and ended up staying overnight in a hotel where the bricks had been made from the salt.

The second day was spent heading south towards the border with Chile, passing a couple of volcanos and several lakes of strange colours. The night was spent in a freezing cold hotel... well, more like a shed. Electricity cut off at 7pm for bed.


The third day we woke at 3.30am in order to see several geysers and volcanic steam whilst the sun rose. Then we headed onto an outside thermal bath before taking breakfast and finally heading onto the Chilean border.


So now I am in San Pedro de Atacama. I have reached Chile a little sooner than expected, but am intending to take it easy here for a couple of days before heading south towards Santiago. I have a couple of stops planned along the way, but it would be hard to beat the past couple of days.

The road from Salta to the Bolivian border was typical of Argentina. Stress free and completely smooth. Even the border crossing into Bolivia, which I was dreading, went without hitch and I was in Bolivia by 8am. Actually, 7am considering I crossed another timezone.

My plans for Bolivia have changed. Although I am still only halfway through the holiday - with another 2 weeks to go - it is evident that getting around in Bolivia is not without its problems. Roads are unpredictable and bus stations are nasty places to be.
So I have decided not to visit La Paz - which also means I will not be visiting Lake Titicaca. This is a big shame, but from speaking to other travellers, I risk being disappointed by these places.

This means that I now have enough time to take a full trek through Salar de Uyuni. This is the worlds biggest salt desert. This should take a full 4 days and I can continue on from here into the Atacama region of Chile.

So, for the time being I have come to the city of Potosi.

It still took me a good 18 hours to get here, even though it is not so far from the border. This is the highest city in the world - nearly 4000 metres above sea level. There are warnings everywhere about altitude sickness, but the only symptom I am showing is a loss of breath.
This is a really cool city with loads of old fashioned small streets. The city developed centuries ago due to a huge mountain nearby that contained silver and other precious metals. In the 18th century it was one of the biggest cities in the world - rivalling London and Paris, but the silver coming from mexico meant a decline in the price and Potosi went into decline. Having said that, there is an air of prosperity here and I am enjoying it alot.

So tomorrow I leave for Uyuni, the 'jumpoff' point for Salar de Uyuni. This will mean taking a tour in a jeep with 5 other tourists and sleeping in small huts in the desert. I have my sleeping bag ready and plenty of water. This means I shall be out of contact until I reach habitation again in Chile. This may actually be a good 10 days away. Just thing - even the mobile phone won't work!

Having survived the long and tedious bus journey to Salta, it did not seem the most exciting city. But first impressions can be misleading.

Salta is all about the activities. It is surrounded by 3 national parks, is near the alps, and has maintained its old architecture from when it was first settled. So I decided to explore some of the countryside by taking a horse trek.

We treked all day. And not just plodding along. We started just walking through the fields and then our guide taught us the principles of galloping. So we galloped. We raced through some of the fields near the moutains before heading back to the ranch for a barbeque and red wine.

When you eat a barbeque and drink red wine in Argentina, it is not a half arsed attempt at feeding the masses with a 6-pack of frozen sausages and some undercooked chicken breasts. We had steaks. Steaks as big as your fist.

I felt suitably violated after eating all this food.

And the red wine was incredible. We were invited to eat all we could... and drink all we could before heading back out on the horses. Suffice to say, we did no galloping in the afternoon. But we had alot of fun.

And so tonight I venture towards the Argentinan border with Bolivia. I leave at 12am and should arrive at the border at 8am - long enough for me to cross the border and travel on to the next suitable town. People advise me that it is cold, so I am preparing to buy a llama blanket.

¡Onwards!