#hellochile

#HelloChile Pre Eclipse drinks #Eclipse2K19 Ready for this outflow of #Energy and see what the universe is going to unveil #ChaseTheTotality #LaSerenaEclipse #eclipse #Mojito #BeachLife #Beach #SouthAmerica (at New Pirat's) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzbJu6gpsTV/?igshid=1gbza45wofvtr

Bienvenidos a Santiago de Chile! 🇨🇱✈️ #Santiago #Chile #Travel #Trip #Vacations #Verano #SouthAmerica #Pudahuel #Igers #HelloChile (en Santiago Metropolitan Region)

A dull breakfast (cornflakes again) but a bright morning as we walked laden with our baggage to the bus terminal in El Calafate. 20 pesos to be paid in departure tax. This is such an odd concept, throughout South America. You have to pay a tax for using the bus terminal, all the while wondering why, seeing as they are usually hell holes with gross toilets and a distinctly unpleasant smell. Still, pay it we did and collected our bus tickets in return. A five hour journey from El Calafate to Puerto Natales. Our last border crossing until we return to England! Argentina into Chile, our final country on our travels. The bus ride was fairly uneventful, other than border control taking forever and me accidentally whacking my head on a metal frame on my way back to the bus loo. Ouch. Our hostel was a taxi ride away, so we wandered around the bus terminal, looking for the taxi rank. There was only one taxi, oh, no! By chance, the girls getting into it had been on our shuttle the previous week and were headed in the same direction so we all got in together. Hurrah. And we could pay in Argentinian pesos. Double hurrah! Hostel Amerinidia was perfectly located: near the centre of town, a few minutes walk from the lake and round the corner from the Chile Nativo office, the agency we would be doing the W Trek with. Also: cakes galore. Hard to resist! We bought a simple late lunch from the supermarket and researched restaurants for dinner. Unfortunately, although the best restaurant in town was across from our hostel, it was fully booked for the evening. So instead we made a booking for Friday 25th November, a treat for our return from the W Trek, and went around the corner for dinner. After dinner, an epic repack of our bags. On the W Trek there are a few days when we have to carry all of our belongings. No porters on this trek! So we had to basically empty them and repack only what we would need, catering for every weather eventuality in the process. Exciting and a bit scary!

20 November - El Calafate, Argentina to Puerto Natales, Chile

Our bus ticket from the Bolivian border to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile was booked for 10am; 9am Bolivian time (how does it make sense that Chile is an hour ahead of Bolivia, despite being further west?!). So it was another 6am start in order to fit in the two additional stops on the tour: the vast Bolivian desert and the green lagoon. The desert was indeed vast and the lake was kind of green... we were there a bit too early in the morning for the photosynthesis to have kicked in for it to be as green as it can get. But with another border crossing on the mind, we got back in the 4x4 to make our way once more. The wait in the queue for the Bolivia exit stamp (paying 15Bs each for the privilege) was mercifully short and Harry even helped speed up the process, as a 'friend' of the guy stamping the passports. So before we knew it we were saying goodbye to Mike and Yasmin (who were returning to Uyuni) and hopping aboard a big red pick-up truck that was our unexpectedly private transportation to San Pedro de Atacama. As soon as we crossed into Chile, the road was tarmacked and smooth, making it a welcome change from the dust roads and potholes we had become used to. Our new (grumpy) driver sped us through Chilean immigration and then dumped us off in a car park just outside the centre of town. An unceremonious end to our wonderful Salar de Uyuni adventure! We already had our hotel booked for the three nights in San Pedro and therefore made our way straight there to enquire about an early check in and a chance for a shower (having only had a "faff" in the morning, owing to the lack of facilities in the gravel-floored accommodation). No such luck: we arrived at 11.30am and were told that check in would not be available until 3pm, our first time on our trip of not being lucky with check in! With the wifi at the hotel being annoyingly poor and the hotel service being less than helpful (this is somewhere that cost more than three times as much as our nice hotel in Sucre!), grumpy Olli and Victoria emerged and we headed for an irritable lunch to pass away the time. Though the service at the hotel did not improve upon check in (we had five bags and the staff did not help to even take the tiny one as we were shown to our room!), our mood did as we were able to flop onto the comfy bed and rest for a few hours. We didn't venture out of the hotel again, choosing instead to eat at the on site restaurant and get an early night. Hello, Chile! We will be less grumpy after a good night's sleep, we promise...