Off to Atacama

There is no escaping the vast distances to travel in Chile, so the journey started with a 5 hour bumpy, bum numbing drive to Balmaceda airport. 
The morning light on the lake was gorgeous. 





We said goodbye to the utterly filthy tank and thanked him for not suffering any punctures. Balmaceda airport appeared to be chaos but was surprisingly efficient, the plane left on time and the luggage actually appeared in Santiago!
This evening’s view isn’t quite the same... 
The airport Holiday Inn was efficient and comfortable so we had a good dinner and sleep then a 5 minute walk to yet another check in queue. Definitely too much time in airports and too many backpackers who seem to have run out of deodorant.
The view from the plane changed drastically...


My suitcase decided it wanted to come on a later flight from Santiago but this has to be the best customer service ever from an airline - I love Chile!

After yet another drive through some impressive scenery, we finally arrived at the hotel.


I wasn’t expecting to see snow on the volcanoes but apparently there is a weather warning of flash flooding so the excursion team are having to change tour plans - fortunately we are more interested in chilling out than touring and I suspect Rusty has walked up enough big hills!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Atacama desert

Image
There are unfortunately limited choices for active tours at this hotel, mostly due to the stormy weather but also due to the predominantly sedentary clientele. Rusty chose to relax before our long journey home tomorrow. I heard the magic words ‘sand dune’ and joined a tour to the ‘Mars valley’. The ‘hike’ could have been completed in about 10 mins but the other two guests turned it into a tedious snail’s pace photographic extravaganza. The views were pretty spectacular though The volcano in the background is the ‘people’s mountain’ and there was a great view of it today from the hotel Meanwhile back on the slowest walk ever, I got to do one of my favourite things... Sadly I won’t get to climb a volcano, but it was worth coming to Atacama for the incredible light, the bike ride through the salt flats and the woohoo trot down a dune.  I’m really not looking forward to the 24 hours of travelling to get home but oh my goodness, Chile has been so worth it. Thanks to Hannah and Frankie for t
Read more

Santiago

Image
The flight was very, very long but I managed to get some sleep (and watched 4 episodes of The Crown) without passing out, yippee.  The view of the Andes as we descended into Santiago was spectacular but hopefully the photo quality will improve! Santiago airport was a bit chaotic but friendly and our taxi driver was a sweetiepie. Our hotel is an Art Deco beauty with allegedly the oldest lift in Chile. The room has a pretty good view too I always think it’s a good idea to go for a walk after a long flight, but a rather dehydrated and grumpy hubby wasn’t as keen on the walk up to a viewpoint in 30c - oopsie  After a much needed afternoon nap/zonk out, we went walkies again and ended up back in the rooftop bar at the hotel well out of the noisy, smoggy, traffic filled streets beneath. Sauvignon and tapas are always a good end to a long day
Read more