Cruising through chile

I didn't leave too terribly much time to cruise up through Chile, because I was meeting up with Lexi in Southern Bolivia.
Santiago is a wonderful city but after visiting Buenos Aires (by far the greatest city in Latin America) Santiago seemed a bit dry. I did all the sites in a short 3 days and had plenty of time to relax and catch up with some girls I had met in Rio.
Early one Saturday morning me and 14 other lunatics loaded up in a 15 seater bus and headed north for the Atacama desert.
I had a limited amount of time in Chile and decided that a tour through the northern part of Chile would be my best bet for seeing the most in a limited amount of time.
The first day was mostly driving to the beach town of La Serena. There wasn't much to see along the way except the endless Pan-American highway. I was the only one on the bus who stayed awake for the whole time. This is one thing I would learn quickly...take advantage of time to sleep, because the next week would provide little time for it.
The town of La Serena has about a billion churches and not much else. A kid from Palo Alto, CA and I cruised around town and decided the only thing to do there was get drunk.
By the time we met up with everyone else for dinner we were several pisco sours deep and eventually peer pressured everyone else to catch up.
I was sharing my room that night with a really strange woman from Greece. She had decided to go to bed at 8pm, so when I rolled in at 2am, I tried my hardest to keep quite. Unfortunately whenever you try to be quite you make the most noise. I entered the room by tripping and flying straight over my backpack into the night stand. I then decided to take a shower and right as I hopped in I let out a squeal because there was absolutely no hot water. A problem that would plague me well into Bolivia.
My wake up call came at 5:30am when crazy greek lady decided to get up and repack her entire bag.
Fortunately I was still drunk when I got on the bus at 7:30a and was able to sleep right through the hangover.
North of La Serena the desert begins. The vegetation disappears and all you see for miles and miles is rocks and sand.
By the afternoon of the second day we arrived at National Reserve of Pinguino de Humboldt. Here we took a boat ride to Isla Damas and Isla Choros where we saw sea lions, penguins and hundreds of dolphins. (This may be an exaggeration) We parked on one of the islands for lunch and enjoyed some fabulous weather and a great picnic.
Our next stop was in Bahia Inglesa where we rented cabins and hung out for a few days. Our cabin, shared by myself and 4 other boys, was pretty small and cozy. (and by the time we checked out reeked of boy.) The 5 of us shared drinking games, travel stories and plans for the future.
It's amazing how quickly you can become close to other people and how much you can learn about someone in a few days. When I separated from these guys a few days later I literally felt like they were old friends from back home.
After no rest, but a lot of fun, in Bahia Inglesa we continued out trip north to Antofagasta. The Antofagasta region is one of the driest places on earth and in some portions hasn't rained in over 50 years.
Antofagasta is Chile's second biggest city with about 400,000 people, a far cry from the 6 million in Santiago. Besides the mining industry there isn't much going on in Antofagasta. La Portada, a natural cliff formation in the ocean is about all Antofagasta can offer to tourists.
From Antofagasta we headed to San Pedro de Atacama, my final destination in Chile. While the scenery is all the same heading to San Pedro, I found something very beautiful about it; so different to the lush pacific northwest that I left behind.
We made several stops on the way to San Pedro, one at a train grave yard where the trains, which were abandoned at the beginning of the century, have not yet begun to rust because there is no rain or moisture in the air. The other stop was this giant statue of a hand that is literally in the middle of fucking no where. I think the artist was going for a 'helping hand to the people trying to survive in the desert' theme, but as we saw at a stop off at a graveyard of a community that attempts to live off the land in the middle of the desert, these people need a hell of a lot more that some giant fucking hand scupture.
Arriving in San Pedro the landscape changes again, but this time into beautiful salt flats and salt formations. We spent the afternoon in a small oasis town of Peine. We picniced by some natural pools and then cooled off in the freezing water from the Andes that fill the pools.
That night we watched the sunset at a pink flamingo reserve. I snapped about 6 million phots, trying to get the flamingos in flight with the sunset in the background. no luck though.
Besides the fact that San Pedro was pretty hard on a tourist's wallet, they have some great sights and a nightlife that I had been lacking since Santiago.
A few days later I would load up again into a 4x4 this time and cross the great salt flats of Bolivia.

The end of the world and back up

I had heard that visiting Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world, was an amazing experience but I had no idea how absolutely beautiful the landscapes would be.
Our trip down to Ushuaia was kind of a nightmare because stupid Argentinas Aerolinas cancelled our flight without telling us. We therefore spent an extra day in Buenos Aires which meant one less day in Ushuaia.
I don't think my body was prepared for the shocking weather change, from 70 degrees to about 35 degrees. I didn't even pack a heavy coat for the trip! Luckily almost everywhere was heated.
We spent the first afternoon in Ushuaia planning out the rest of our stay. Our days were jammed packed with activities such as a boat ride through the Beagle Channel that afforded stunning views of the snowcapped mountains. We also took a scenic flight out to the glaciers and through the mountains. The pilot actually let Dave fly the plane for a few minutes. (Dave then proceeded to talk/brag about his flying of the plane and how he was practically a pilot now for the rest of the day) The views were so spectacular and being up in the air, able to see out for miles, (because of the fantastic sunny weather we had the entire time we were there) you really got the feeling that this was the end of the line.
I wish I could more accurately describe the beauty. It's something I don't even think my pictures do justice.
Our last full day in Ushuaia we went on 4x4 trip through the forest and out to a peninsula for an amazing traditional Argentine BBQ. The driver of the 4x4 was kind of a lunatic and at one point put the land rover in cruise control, got out and went to the back window and pretended to push the car with his pinky. While it was really funny, I was definitely worrying the whole time but we were going to crash into a tree. While the guy was a lunatic, he had done the trip enough times to know what he was doing, so we were fine.
For lunch we sat in a little shelter on a pebble beach and ate some of the best sausage and steak I have ever had in my life. The company was great too and it was a great end to an amazing journey to the end of the world.
After a week stay in Bariloche, the northern border of Patagonia, and a very teary goodbye to Dave I took a bus boat combo across the border and entered Chile. The trip took the entire day but had such breathtaking scenery that time just flew by.
Chile far exceeded my expectations. I only allowed a bit over 2 weeks to tour the country and upon departing realized I could have easily spent a month there. The land space, just like Argentina, is so diverse. It has everything from desert to glaciers and to top it off an amazing wine country.
After a full day dedicated to planning, responding to emails and uploading millions of pics, I was off the next morning to the Chilean wine country. I only visited one winery, but was very pleased with my choice. I visited the Balduzzi winery in the Maule Valley. Balduzzi produces Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and a 'Late Harvest' blend that if I had unlimited space in my backpack, I would have loaded up with.
I found an excellent hostel in Santiago, and for the next few days explored the city. To be honest there wasn't much to see in Santiago, but it was so nice to be back in a big city. Even though all major cities are different there is something so comforting and familiar about large cities. I almost find it a relief to make it to one.
On Saturday I began a crazy trip up the coast of Chile with 14 other locos in a somewhat small bus with a final destination of the salt flats on the Bolivian border.