Vale la Pena: two days in Chile

When my friends first raised the idea of going to Chile, I thought they were kind of crazy since it was really far by bus and we all have volunteer work we would not have that much time. Despite this, I really wanted to go and decided it was worth the crazy amount of bus time. Plus, I decided that since it was my birthday weekend and I deserved a trip. If you read my last blog, you know that the journey on the bus actually turned out to be its own adventure!

Sunset over the desert the first night

As soon as we arrived across the border into Arica, I knew that Chile was going to be a lot different than Peru. As we exited the cab we didn't hear horns honking, could breath cleaner air and were not hounded by people yelling "taxi" or city names. It was a very welcome change to 6 weeks of being hassled and vigilantly watching over every pocket and belonging. 

The first thing we did was pull out Chilean money or pesos. It was the first and probably the last time that I could look at an ATM and pull out $50,000 at one time! It was also probably the only time that I will think that a bill of $20,000 for dinner sounds like an ok price for 3 people!

We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama around 10am the next morning. We were faced with the challenge of trying to figure out what to see in such a short amount of time. Being such a small town and in the middle of the desert, there were a lot of things to see! Finding out that we are all kind of indecisive people, we finally decided to go to the Valle de la Luna, salt flats and lakes. None of us really knew what to expect, so without expectations we set out on our adventures. 

The Valle de la Luna was a trip filled with very strong winds and sand everywhere, but ended with a nice sunset. The second day (also my birthday!) was really what blew me away. We saw wild flamingos at sunrise and beautiful high altitude lakes where we were lucky enough to see wild vicuñas. On top of all of this we also had time to visit the natural hot springs. They were amazing! 30 km out into the desert and there was a strip of green at the bottom of a canyon, water that was crystal clear and warm. We were three of very few tourists there. We had our own lagoon to swim around in! It was the most relaxing day that I have had in I don't know how long! Perfect kind of day for a birthday. 

Wild vicuña and alpine lake

The other thing that made the trip was the wine bar that we discovered in the city. I, having lived in Spain, and one of my friends, having lived in France, are both big fans of red wine (vino tinto), so we knew that we wanted to try Chilean wine. My other friend was skeptical about drinking red wine, but decided to give it a try anyway. We all ended up loving the bottle so much we drank two and came back the next evening for a third one before the night bus! We all agreed that it was good we were not staying in Chile longer or we would have spent a lot more money (Chile is more expensive than Peru), especially on wine! 

The two days in Chile flew by and I was really sad to leave. It was a very full trip, but instead of feeling rushed, I felt relaxed and happy to have made the effort. Not once did I wish that I hadn't traveled so far or that it wasn't worth it. I wish I had more time to explore. I guess I will just have to go back! 

Most relaxing thing ever!