We had already arranged a Taxi for 4:30 and got there (for a fixed 8000 CLP) by 5. First thing was of course to get a coffee and check in.
After the security check we had a bit of time and by chance I found a screen shot on my phone with reservation details for the Hostel in San Pedro.
It was the Mama Tierra Hostel that we were suggested to go to - Now I even remembered... no idea how we could forget about this...
Good, so we had a place to stay tonight. Now it was only getting there, which was going to be a bit of a challenge as it turned out.
Our plane from Punta Arenas to Santiaga (via Puerto Montt) was delayed by 90 minutes.
This put is in a difficult situation as we had a connection flight from Santiago to Calama (in the north) just about to hours after we should arrive at the airport - with no delay I should have worked out perfectly - but now... not sure.
It was further complicated by the fact that we had booked the two flights independently from each other (not as a connection in Santiago), so that the airline did not know we were going to connect. At least it was the same airline.
We asked a steward at the airport (explaining all the details above) and he said they would hold the plane and it would not be a problem.
Once we were in Puerto Montt we added up further delays. Apparently because of the eruption of the Villarica Vulcano.
Although we were confirmed again on the plane that they will hold the connection flight in Santiago (the stewardess even called someone from the plane in Puerto Montt), our plane was of course already gone when we got to Santiago.
Luckily there are quite frequent connections to Calama and we were able to get rebooked to another flight 3 hours later (15:25 instead of 12:25)
Now we still hada some time to take a rest at Santiago Airport and have another coffee.
The flight to Calama was quite empty and we could stretch out and I had a much required nap on the way north.
I woke up during the approach into Calama and the site out of the plane was more desolate than I had expected.
There was nothing but desert, just gray pretty flat stone and rocks. The surface of the earth (if this was still earth) was scarred with some strange parallel lines that must origin from something related to the copper mining that is the main source of income around here (In fact the main source of income for all of Chile).
This place was crazily empty... just nothing for hundreds of kilometres. It looked more like a desert than anything else I had seen before... maybe it was because we saw it now from the air and not from the ground like the Gobi, Death Valley or Wahiba Sands where I had been before.
Then something came into sight that could have easily been Area 51: Calama Airport.
After the landing we booked a bus to San Pedro for which we had to wait as the people running the service hoped to get some more passengers from the next plane that was going to land in an hour or so.
But finally we did get on the bus and set out east to San Pedro. The most common cars, by far, over here were read Hilux pick up trucks with large antennas, flood lights and spear tires mounted to their beds. They must somehow be associated with the mine that seems to rule everything over here.
From the ground the desert looked slightly less barren but only because we were able to make out individual stones and the odd street signs rather than just nothing as from the plane.
At the horizon we were able to spot a ridge of mountains in the haze - The Andes. But the roads out here were just straight - for kilometres and kilometres.
Along those straight roads were little shrines with decorations - presumably to protect us and the other cars from accidents.
Aside from red pick up tricks there was also quite a lot of heavy duty earth moving equipment on the road. I don't think I've seen many (Polos of Fiestas out there).
Soon the road became curvy and went up through a chain of smaller hills and below us spread the Valle de Luna(valley of the moon).
Up here in the north of Chile (being still the same time zone as Punta Areans) the sun sets much earlier and we just reached a view point over the valley in time to witness the sunset.
After of more than 16 hours (door to door) we finally arrived at our Hostel in San Pedro.
A great little place with a court yard and hammocks and a cozy backpacker's atmosphere.
In fact the whole town was very relaxed and we were quite excited to be here and have 5 days to explore and enjoy this place after the busy days trekking down in Patagonia.
We dropped our bags and went on the search for some food and a cold beer.
In this backpacker's heaven it didn't take long to find a good spot in a garden bar near an open fire pit that served great bbq pork and chicken.
Welcome to the Atacama Desert!
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