Chile

"The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday, November 22nd 2008

Shortly after I left the Bolivian border post at the edge of the crazy desert plateau, the road changed from bumpy dirt road to a modern highway clearly signed and with emergency stops at regulars intervals during the steep descend from the Altiplano to the Atacama desert. And just like that with a touch of black asphalt, I found myself in Chile. The Chilean border post was orderly and as my baggage was thoroughly checked I wondered where I am and what happened to South America... I write this blog more than month after the events detailed above and by retrospective I can tell that the crossing point into the small town of San Pedro de Acatama was a turning point in my South American adventure. Coincidentally almost in the middle of the trip, I left the Andean countries of Peru & Bolivia and entered a completely different realm in Chile and Argentina. The first change was noticeable as soon as I hit the town in the searing afternoon sun looking for a cold drink. The prices were much higher than in neighboring Bolivia and the fact that 1000 CLP is about 1.5 USD made all the prices look even much higher. The next sign of change happened when I went to the ATM to withdraw money, the ATM booth was air conditioned! something that wasn't available even in the sweltering hot city of Rurrenabaque, Bolivia. In the following days I found that Chile is much more "civilized" with shopping malls, well marked national parks and well stocked supermarkets. My eating habits were changed from eating in restaurants to buying products and cooking in the well equipped hostels kitchens - and my stomach was thanking me for it (and for those who know me, yes that means that I made a heck of a lot spaghetti bolognese...). I also found that the organized attractions such as rappelling, body rafting or horseback riding no longer hold interest for me and I prefer the basic hiking in nature with camping equipment and food on my back and a few good friends at my side. Last but not least, another big change was separating from Oded, who was travelling with me since Lima and wanted to explore north Argentina, and continuing south with Dennis and Kathy. The only thing that remained the same is the my broken Spanish since even in Chile almost no one speaks English (The Chilean although very nice warm people, insist of speaking incredibly fast without opening their mouth - making them impossible to understand). And so I went on, traveling in comfortable buses (another change) to tour the wild coasts, glaciers, volcanoes, mountains, lakes and forests that Chile has to offer... details coming soon....