eMail Journal
A journal of emails sent during Chilean portion of the trip:
From: Rick Samco
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Subject: Getting acclimatized to this thin air ...
...< Description of our preceding Bolivian trip segment snipped out -- see trip's separate "Bolivia" section > ...
... we arrived at the Chilean border and were "handed over" to Claudio and Eduardo, our Chilean guide and driver, for the next portion of our adventure. We felt a little like political prisoners being exchanged for something since Chile and Bolivia are not on the most friendly of terms. This stems from Chile acquiring its northern section from Bolivia in a 1800´s war (when Bolivia lost its only ocean access). We quickly descended to the tourist ¨mecca¨of San Pedro de Actacama (aka SPA) at 9,000´ and spent 4 days exploring northern Chilean desert -- the driest place in the world, TRULY. Some parts have never had precipitation in recorded history. We also experienced a string of serendipitous events. The first night, together with hundreds of other tourists, we viewed the setting sun from a fantastic area outside SPA of folded salt hills, Valle de la Luna. The sunset was great, but the ¨highlight¨ of the evening was the rising of a full moon over the Andes as the sun was setting. The next day we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn on the day of the equinox! Finally we were in SPA on Good Friday and witnessed the locals´ beautiful candle-lit procession through the town's narrow dirt streets. Claudio and Eduardo were wonderful hosts, showing us natural and archeological sights too numerous to list. One high point was visiting one of Eduardo's distant relatives in a small village where Senora Louisa showed us her primitive home, handmade loom, and garden. We then sat and had a good (albeit very simple) conversation while partaking of some of her produce. We bought one of her llama wool blankets and two beautiful little wool llamas. Then she proudly showed us pictures of herself in Brazilian travel magazines. Finally our Chilean time was up and we headed north to recross the border at Ollague. This crossing was even more difficult since neither our Chilean nor Bolivian amigos had previously performed it at this location. The two frontier crossings were miles apart and Eduardo wasn't able to cross his checkpoint (his car would have been torn apart looking for cocaine if he proceeded any farther). We had to wait and hope that Paulino would be able to cross his and show up at our gate. After an hour of anxious waiting (would the remainder of our trip be in Chile?) we saw a plume of dust in the distance and, sure enough, Paulino & his green Landcruiser (and sidekick, Reynaldo) appeared. It was a happy Easter after all (oh, ya, I forgot about the surprise easter eggs a few hours before).
...< Description of our subsequent Bolivian trip segment snipped out -- see trip's separate "Bolivia" section > ...
Rick & Martha