With the end of my trip almost a week away, and a less-than-excited girlfriend providing me with essentially the number of seconds until my return to Austin, I officially began the start of a 900 mile, one week journey back to Lima, Peru. With the option of backtracking my way through the oh-so-affordable nation of Bolivia, I instead decided to make the savings account-depleting decision to direct my route through Chile - an oh-so-UNaffordable country (most expensive in all of South America) that justifies it's prices with the nationwide attitude of "because we are better than everyone else." I leave you with the highlights/lowlights of my time spent in this arrogantly expensive nation:
- Border Crossing - As the previously-mentioned once-a-century winter storm had closed the 30 minute border crossing from the Salar de Uyuni into Chile, I was left with only one available option if I wished to add country #6 onto my South American expedition: A 16 hour "detour" encompassing 3 buses, 4 hours of waiting (as apparently Chilean border officials prefer to watch you stand around then actually process your visa) and a pair of near-frost-bitten feet as a water leak on my bus, and 10 degree weather, joined together to provide me with my first pair of "ice shoes." On the upside, my South African passport saved me yet another $150 in visa fees! On the downside, I experienced my first taste of Chilean rudeness, as locals shoved their way by me as to retrieve their luggage as well as blatantly cut lines without the slightest hint of hesitation. No me gusta. Chilean Bitterness Level (CBL) = 2/10
- San Pedro de Atacama - As one of the most popular destinations in all of Chile, San Pedro de Atacama is also the most expensive. With my initial plan placing me in this quaint, dusty town for 4-5 relaxing days, my wallet allowed for less than 2, as NYC city-esque prices dominated this tiny oasis town. $8 for a small load of laundry, $18 for a hostel dorm bed (in comparison, I spent $4 for my OWN room in Bolivia) as well as a local population whose rudeness matched that of the New Yorker prices they offered, and I was departing from San Pedro almost as quickly as I arrived. Oh yes, and how could I forget the virus-plagued internet cafe that almost lost me an entire memories card worth of photos, and then had the nerve to charge me $20 to attempt a recovery while acting on the premise of doing me a favor. No me gusta x 2. CBL = 5/10
- Star Gazing Tour - A tour advertised as "the best place to star gaze in the world," our $30 "star tour" could have been the most disappointing experience of my entire trip. Instead of visiting the famed and conveniently unmentioned observatory 300KM away (which is the sole reason for San Pedro's night sky-viewing reputation), we instead were shuttled to a "tourist observatory," not even far enough away from lights of San Pedro to avoid the hazy glare it put off into the sky. Thus, instead of staring at Saturn's rings as originally promised in the brochure, we instead gazed through telescopes that made every bright blurry object in the sky (i.e. star) a slightly larger, bright blurry object in the sky. No me gusta x 3. CBL = 6/10
- Hamburger Guy - Told us $2 for a hamburger when we sat down, charged us $4 when it came time to pay. Denied ever saying $2. No me f'ing gusta! CBL = 10/10.
- Iquique - After a disappointing start to my time in Chile (please note CBL of 10/10), I headed to the more affordable coastal city of Iquique (more affordable = New York prices --> San Francisco prices). With almost nothing to do outside of aimlessly wandering the coastal boardwalk, and a growing bitterness towards all aspects of Chilean culture, I decided to spend my 4 days doing absolutely nothing in the confines of my homely hostel. With days spent enjoying one of the 1000s of movies available in the hostel's DVD collection as well as the occasional "casual beer," nights involved cooking up meals in one of the best hostel kitchens I have ever seen or paying a visit to the nearby casino, which netted me a nice profit of $20. CBL beginning to descend... 6/10.
- Humberstone - Thanks to the Nitrate Boom of the 1940s (don't worry, I never heard of it either), the small mining town of Humberstone was once the thriving home to hundreds of families, endless money and unlimited opportunities to reap from it's new-found mineral fortune. However, due to an unfortunate Detroit-esque scenario, whereby a cheaper Nitrate synthetic was discovered overseas, this once thriving town was reduced in decades to an abandoned shell of it's former self. Unfortunate for those at the time, yet amazing for photography. Pics below. CBL losing more and more steam.... 4/10.
- Arica - With one night left in Chile, and a slow-growing positivity developing inside of me, all was lost on the short 4 hour bus ride to the border town/surfer paradise of Arica. Surrounded by a busload of rowdy drunken 10-12 year old students (who happened to be passing around bottles of vodka in plain sight), their teacher decided that if anyone was deserving of criticism, it was me. Ignoring the 10 year old heaving away into a plastic bag next to me thanks to too many shots of vodka, I was lectured for having my feet up on the window. If my Spanish were a bit more fluent, I probably would have provided the man with a few words on his "teaching style," although instead only gritted my teeth and counted down the hours until my departure from this ridiculous country. Final CBL = 9/10.
- Bus to Lima - Crossing the border from Arica and arriving back into the friendly/affordable confines of Peru, nothing could deflate my happiness for having departed from such an unenjoyable experience in Chile - Not even the 20-hour bus ride which awaited me. My final long-distance bus journey of the trip (insert small tear) on the infamously popular/overpriced Cruz del Sur bus line provided me with a fairly standard end to my bus-riding adventures: 5 Spanish dubbed movies (w/Spanish subtitles that did NOT match up to what was being spoken making it almost impossible to translate), several decent meals (definitely put Delta's dry chicken and rice to shame), and a game of Bingo which I unfortunately lost (despite the great Spanish numerology practice).
- 24 Hours in Lima - With less than a day to kill before my flight back home, my time in Lima was a great finish to what has been an amazing adventure over these past 3 months: Last-minute souvenir shopping, yet another amazing sushi meal, aimless wandering (I'm getting quite good at it) and of course my final Spanish taxi conversation on the way to the airport. Adios America del Sur! Hola America del Norte!
Onto the pics:
Next Week: South America: 3 Months Recapped in 3 Minutes
 | One of the many hours spent waiting in the middle of nowhere while attempting to enter into Chile |
 | San Pedro de Atacama - Nice town that should probably have gold-plated walls with the amount they charge for just about everything |
 | "Star Tour" - $30 to see white bright blurry objects (aka stars) just a little bit larger |
 | The Moon (which apparently doesn't smile in the Southern Hemisphere) |
 | A 2-hour lesson on constellations gave ample time to play around with some camera settings |
 | More play time |
 | Single-track mountain biking in the Atacama desert - The driest desert in the world (Getting pretty good at visiting these "est in the world" places) |
 | It becomes much more difficult to take photos of yourself... when you are by yourself |
 | Iquique - Cloudy city best spent in doors |
 | Visiting the 50 year old ghost town of Humberstone |
 | Abandoned train |
 | The Racquet Club (i.e. swimming pool) of Humberstone |
 | Kinda a quiet town.... |
 | Reminds me of my college house just before we moved in |
 | View of the city from above |
 | Old manufacturing plant |
 | Toys from the 1940s - Not sure the metal wheel connected to a metal stick is ever going to make a comeback, but ya never know |
 | Arica - Chilean border town known for surfing, or if you are not a surfer, absolutely nothing |
 | South American's love their giant Jesus statues (and their giant flags too) |
 | Final shot of the trip thanks to an overflowingly full 8GB memory card - Apparently a giant eagle is invading the Earth |
