We have explored the town and the wide surroundings of San Pedro already. Now we needed to explore the closer surroundings and what is better than a little hike combined with some Geocaching than that?
There is really only one cache anywhere near San Pedro and that's where we set out to. We walked past the not so touristy areas of the town and soon passed the last houses. We had to go through a dried up Wadi and then follow the road past abandoned restaurants towards the desert.
Following the GPS we made a turn and had a steep hill (nearly a small mountain) in front of us.
Up there somewhere would be the cache, but there was no way directly up there, so we had to circle around it until we found a dusty little bike trail that was going the direction of the peak.
Along the ridge we soon made it up there and quickly found an old container with plenty of stuff in it.
Inside we found plenty of little bits and pieces and also an old log book. Only then it occurred to us that this was a very old cache. It was hidden on 26.09.2004.
Because it is so dry here all the papers were still in excellent condition despite the fact that the container was not sealed tight but was basically a camping pot with a lid.
We read through the 10 year old comments and left some ourselves and headed back to town. This time we took the direct route... just straight down the hill towards Route 23.
A very inviting town sign forced us to climb on top of it. From here we headed back into town. Of course it was once again a very warm day and we were craving for some cold beer.
Instead of going to a bar we thought let's pick up a bottle at the store and bring it back to the hostel and relax there for a while.
Big mistake. The beer was shit. It was warm, and flat. I think it was brewed and bottled at a much lower altitude and then shipped up here. You can certainly taste the difference. Somehow the beer in the bars around here tastes just like normal beer. Not sure if they add extra carbonation to it or what.
Anyway, the beer wasn't great, so we just relaxed and hoped putting the second bottle in the freezer would improve the situation. No it didn't.
After some catching up on blog, and Photoshop we decided to get some food.
On the walk earlier we had spotted a nice little place a bit off the main tourist streets and decided to try it for dinner. Once again the place had a great firepit right in the middle of the court yard, the beer tasted much better and the food was perfect. I had chicken and resisted the temptation of ordering a steak, expecting to be disappointed. But Kai went for the steak and it was indeed a great, jucy looking steak.
My chicken wasn't bad but I have to say I was a bit jealous of Kai's plate.
It was a clear night as most nights are in the desert) and we took some nice night shots of the starry sky.
To finish of the evening we had some cocktails at the place where we had our first Atacama pints five days ago. One last Pisco Sour on the last night in Northern Chile.
We felt somewhat sad to have to leave this nice place, but on the other hand we had seen so much in just such a short time.
But then again, there is so much more to be seen here in Northern Chile. I really would like to come back and then move into Bolivia and over to Peru.
These were also Kai's thoughts, so who knows, maybe we both come back here in some years and explore a little more.
No comments:
Post a Comment