i was chewing on a title for this newsbite.. it was either that or "Loosing My Religion" ... one of my favourites that is getting a lot of air space over here, (and the Goodwill Games 'Leave Me Breathless' from CNN) ... yep Ive become a cable bunny over here, and do you know the Maccas are as good as anywhere ...especially compared to bashed pig or mashed dog.. now what am i doing? ah yes email ...

before you close/delete this email you MUST have a look at the photos ... quite incredible really, honestly...virus checked and all

OK before i go too far I need to mention that its cinderella time for yours truly, the bags are packed, the bike she is in her box (ouch) , the customer he is signed off, the flights esta confirmado, passport ok, work permit swapped for visa (Chilean Catch 22 : cant leave the country as a tourist whilst working with a work permit, cant enter the country to work without being a tourist [for short term work that is]) 

....and  antic i pation and its sister impatience are running very high

However enough of work, i really must get on with my absolutely awesome weekend spent in a place caled "San Pedro de Atacama" ... never heard of it ? Look it up on the Ubiquitous Web and you will get dozens of backpacking pages on the place... seriously i cant give this place big enough raps ... modesty and exaggeration will have to take a back seat to truth on this email..hmmm im not sure this is a good tactic, however it really was a ..errr... a .... well ah sort of unearthly spot .. have a look at those pictures and i will try some sort of feeble explanation

Well firstly, the Atacama Desert area of the Norte Grande (Big North) is where one of the best preserved archeological sites (7000 years old) exist in the form of San Pedro. It is an oasis in the middle of the desert fed by the rain and ice melt of the nearby Andes. At 3000 metres clear of the sea it is topped by about a dozen peaks within 30km of approx 6000m height. In essence, a pretty high place punctuated by monster mountains...c'mon check out those pictures ...humungous hey? Makes those ski shots last week look prrrretty ordinary. The first pic is of me with San Pedro in the valley below...and what about those mountains hmmm?

Moving on, and in order to get there, myself and colleage Hugh took a ride out there Friday Arvo - a 4 hour jaunt thru ... what ? the desert of course, how could i forget that ... got there ...booked into the allegedly luxurious, reputedly cable tv wired Hotel Tulor (to watch the Wallabies vee SethEfrica nog al) Well Residencio Tulor kicked off badly with lights out at 12pm (bit early for the party animals) and nay a skerrick of audio and/or visual facilities - were we paying $160 aus a night or was that Pesos? (at 300 per AUD we wondered) Should we be snuggling up sardine style, with fatter wallets, in a youth hostel with buxom tassel haired scandinavian 6 footers? (we sighed) ... looked like it was going to be a credit card weekend (we decided)

A saunter up the main road was proposed, ahh this was more like it ... very ethnic with lots of hippy shops ... hey!  and the women were looking really good (how long have i been here?)  [and i havent even got my cervesa tinted glasses on yet] ... so what did i do you may ask ...went and hired a bike of course  (surprise surprise) unfortunately it was dark so i went and took it to my bedroom (some sage advice from el presidente de la bandidos) and then off to a restuarant with bar, open roof camp fire and... el internet cafe naturalmente .. (no petrol in town but cable tv and internet in abundance) ... the food was ok, the cerveza heineken, and the pisco reminded me of Phar Lap

Next morning with sore head we woke up just in time for a 10am quick brek and then punte pronto to the cafe for the rugger which was good and whacked off some more oooohh ..arghh that coffee. You know Chile is a great place, Brasil is a great place *but* what separates the two countries is their coffee. In Chile it is downright unremitingly terrible. You dont even get to start at ordinary. No amount of condensed milk will reform, re vitalise, re invent,  or re establish it.

But then the other option is tea con vida larga descremenada leche (long life low fat milk) ...well one does not go there. Hanggggg I cant get to those Melbourne cafe late's quick enough. Muggachino mas grande por favor.

Post rugger we journeyed to Valle de la Luna (Valleys of the Moon)    Very moon like and more natural than the dirt bike scarred Antofagasta desert. Then onward to Laguna Chaxa - this was one of the main attractions (the scandanavians were still odds on at this stage) and it delivered substantially - not wanting this to be a tourist splab may i tender the fact that the ground is a mass of salt boulders and 4 species of flamingos abound (ref salar de atacama pics)

My notes remind me that the Toconao football stadium is backed by a cemetry - they take their soccer very seriously over here

We then shot back and i mercilessly whipped poor Hugh around on a dusk bike journey of the town - backed up with some quick shopping and slam dunked some cervesas to chase down some chook, salad and caramel pancakes (now thats backpacking finger licking good munch).

The decision was taken to make an all out assualt on the El Tatio Geysers. At 4500 metres this requires an early start. Hence the settling of the bill ritual must be initiated the night before. I will not linger on this memory. It is best forgotten. I will mention it was a litany of bad management , incomprehensible spanish (the last resort of the non englesi) and inscrutable subordination to operate the unmanageable billing system (procedure = refer to tarrif, do the sums, swipe the card, print out the receipt and then sign off ) ... this model of the harvard business school took 90 minutes to execute [no exaggeration] punctuated by goggle eyed looks from ourselves, indignant gestures to the US$85 tariffo on the wall, mutterings of 'non televisio", and the siren calls of northern europenas from the youth hosteria next door.

Next day, before sparrows fart we sped towards the big stuff , to have a mountain bike here for a week with some ferociously fit comrades (preferably with blond flaxen locks) would be heaven i thought. This was the real payoff of the weekend. It is difficult to explain but to have 3000m mountains towering above is something that requires a large dictionary. Lets use "imponente" .

We stopped, like good mining employees, at an abandoned sulphur mine, why ? who knows? neither did they, looking at the ruins.

Hey .. we saw real live llamas !!    So they do exist.

The hills became a mass of boulders (pic attached) as far as the eye could percieve. They gave way to an attractive sea of yellow, orange and olive green tussocks, by red and grey boulders episodic. Insert another word for amazing , wonderous, breathtaking spectacle.

Then we hit a stream , no , hello, its solid ?!?!  We stepped out and had a major reality check. Oh yes, of course. Doh.. it *is* winter, we are over 4000 metres high in the Andes, and it is seriously cold, and...ooo..going to the toilet became a major problem, especially the repacking and doing the zip up parts. Nearly had to use my teeth. Ah soooo... thats where the i lost my virginity bit comes in.  Deja Vu. Naturalmente.

For someone from Africa, it is a little strange strange to walk over a river, the car also found it odd. Wouldnt recommend it without a 4WD.

El Tatio was the cherry on the cake for us. 4500m. Glacial, icy cold, with boiling water, geysers and huge pillars of steam. Have a look at the pics.

The pictures are pretty good but only portray a fraction of the content. Quite honestly, (does anyone believe me?!?) one of the most impressive places I have ever seen. So many quite extraordinary aspects all rolled up, and from discussions, without peer in North Chile.  As before ... to come riding here (the dirt roads are excellent) would be an epic.... apart from the air ticket... pretty cheap for a well equiped group in a van.

I could go on and on but i suspect the delete button has been pressed but must add some more details one day as i have left out heaps. I didnt mention Chuquicamata.... lovely name (pronounced Chooky Camata)... OK done.

Thats all for now...the pics say it better than i and besides its way past my bed time. Hard to think. All i want to do i get myself on the plane....

Cheers
El Waz

Click on the images below…

Image Thumbnails - click on the image to enlarge