San Pedro de Atacama Fri 28/03/03   Our bus left Salta at 7am, and after covering the same road we had taken days earlier up to Purmamarca, we then headed up towards the Salar and the Paso de Jama, which acts as one of the border crossings between Argentina and Chile. Reached the pass at 4200m in the afternoon after a decent lunch stop and crossed into Chile. The smooth downhill ride started after a short ascent on the Chilean side and we reached San Pedro at about 5:30 local time. There we had to go through the immigration process which was quite fast, much longer however was needed for the agricultural inspection that ensued. We walked into town and after some looking at hostals and prices in town we returned to the first hostel visited which had left the nicest impression. Shortly after checking in we wandered back into town meeting some of Ank & Dominik's travel acquaintances from Australia for dinner. The abundant variety of nice places to eat at in San Pedro has prompted the custom that restaurant staff are preying outside of their respective establishments trying to talk tourists into having a somewhat expensive dinner in "their" place, applying tactics such as free drinks or snacks to successfully lure prospective clients. After some decent, yet expensive food and drinks we headed back to the hostel for a quiet beer. San Pedro and the Rental Car Sat 29/03/03   On Saturday morning I called the Paranal Observatory and confirmed my visit for Sunday, which I had originally scheduled for Saturday. This made my life quite complicated and as I only found out later would be a much more painful and expensive trip than I had expected. As I would be going close to Antofagasta I needed to get a rental car and make other arrangements and preparations for the trip. I first looked up the opening times of the rental car companies in Antofagasta and Calama and then took the bus to Calama where I was able to rent a Toyota HiLux pickup truck (for 41.000Ps - 52 EUR) at the airport, pretty much the only place where the rental car companies were open for a few hours (17-19) on Saturday afternoon. (None of the rental car agencies in town are open Saturday afternoon) Negotiated that I would not have to return the car until 8am on Monday and after finishing all the paperwork at around sunset headed back to San Pedro, to meet up with Ank and Dominik for our "last supper" before parting ways again for a while.	Hostal Jama Gustavo La Palge 544 / San Pedro - Ph: 055 851365
Atardecer entre Calama y San Pedro Atardecer entre Calama y San Pedro
A Long Day and the Visit to Paranal Sun 30/03/03   Got up with Ank and Dominik who were headed for the El Tatio Geysers at 4 am and started driving towards Escondia, the second largest surface mine in Chile after Chuquimata. I drove along a very little used mining road leading past the Western side of the Salar de Atacama, which before dawn proved to be quite difficult. Especially treacherous were deep erosion channels which are caused during the very few yet strong rains in Atacama (Jan/Feb or Jul/Aug) and with a depth of up to 1m and steep banks had to be crossed diagonally and very cautiously. (If they could be made out far enough in advance to slow down appropriately, tricky especially in the dark!) Whilst driving along the Western bank of the Salar de Atacama saw an amazing sunrise over the Cordillera Andina y Puna and the smoke rising above the active volcano Lascar during the first light of day. Spectacular landscape especially during the first hours of driving, later blended into the lower and more rolling hills of the Cordillera de Domeyko whilst approaching the Escondia Mine. There I unfortunately had to find out that I would not be able to visit or even see the inside of the mine without prior arrangement, so unfortunately I after some waiting and asking I was finally on my way to Paranal. Drove along a very good stretch of road leading to Antofagasta and about half way turned onto a derelict unused road leading the the Trans Americana Highway at a more Southerly junction, closer to the road I needed to take to Paranal. Found all the right turnoffs and arrived at the top of the Cerro Paranal at 12:15 well in advance of the Visit at 2pm. The English language group was very small only about 8 people so I decided to join them rather than the larger Castellano ones for the 2.5 hour tour of the complex. The European Union and Canada fund this impressive telescope site which is currently still under construction, and will reach a new level of efficiency in about 2005, with the completion of several smaller and mobile telescopes which will augment the "vision" of the four 8.2 metre telescopes. In addition the currently used telescopes can combine their images electronically to enhance the resolution and sensitivity of the observed region in the sky, yet in 2005 they hope to combine the actual light captured by the telescopes through a system of mirrors and vacuum tubing in one central location, again increasing the power of the telescope. Well even now without these enhancements the site in Paranal is the most powerful optical telescope in the world and visiting the site is a unique and impressive experience, especially if you are remotely interested in astronomy. After the end of the visit climbed a small hill opposite from the observation area, and outside of the compound waiting for the sun to set and hopefully to capture some nice pictures. Whilst waiting I got a little bored so I started taking pictures of me, a real novelty and the, somewhat uninspiring telecommunication equipment on the peak I was on. The latter I took to prove my theory that in the right light you could take pictures of arbitrary stuff and it would still look good. After sunset rushed down to the car and started on the long drive to Calama which I was hoping to reach that night. Made good progress on both the gravel and paved roads and after a pretty exhausting day with more than 11 hours of driving a total of about 800km I reached Calama just before 11pm. Quickly checked into the Casa Huspedes Residencial Sol Y Luna, which was a cheap but very "adventurous" little place but cost only 4000Ps a night.	Casa de Huspedes Residencial Sol y Luna Calama
Amanecer Salar de Atacama Amanecer Salar de Atacama Paisaje cerca del Salar Mina Escondia Cementerio cerca del Mina Telescopia Paranal Telescopias Nombres del Telescopias Telescopia Espejo Telescopia Entero Ojo del Telescopia Telecom Cerro (boredom) Self Portrait (boredom) Self Portrait (boredom) Panorama Paisaje Paranal Atardecer Paranal Atardecer Telescopias Panorama Paranal Atardecer Panorama Paranal Atardecer Entrada Paranal y Coche
The Stolen Bag Mon 31/03/03   In the morning I returned car at the airport around 9:30 after having waited there since 8am, the time originally arranged for the return of the car. Due to this belated departure I never had time to go on the tour of Chuquimata which leaves at around 8:30. Hence took the bus back to San Pedro, arriving at the hostal just after midday, to be greeted with the question wether I had changed my mind and taken with me the bag I had deposited there. I of course was surprised and answered that I had not and was certain the bag would still be here. Turned out the bag was no longer there and had been stolen from the hostal between 11pm and 4am - shit. Quite frustrated I marched off into town to get some lunch and coffee and on return found the owner of the hostel had recovered a leather briefcase which also had been stolen that night from a nearby canal. Through this lucky incident I managed to recover some items, such as my parachute licence but ended up loosing my skydiving logbook with about 100 jumps in it. Spread out the recovered notes and paper to dry and went off on a sunset tour to the Valle de la Luna with the owner of the hostal. Climbed a small peak for an alright view of the sun setting around us and then with dusk progressing rapidly drove past the Tres Marias, a stone formation, before heading back to San Pedro. (On occasion took lots of sunset pictures, which I had been running a little low on, as remarked by my friend Tekla) Went to the Police with with Raul, the owner of the hostel, to file a report on the robbery and get the necessary paperwork done. Didn't feel much like going out that night... Good bye San Pedro Tue 01/04/03   Spent most of the morning writing stuff up about Argentina and then paid the Museo Arqueologico Padre le Paige a visit, with it's nice display of local flora, fauna and anthropological exhibits, which were supplemented by a number of artefacts excavated around the "hyperseco" San Pedro region. (Made an exception and took some pictures of the mummies there, which out of respect I had not done in the past). As I already had purchased the ticket from Calama to Arica I briefly stopped by the bus company on the way back to the hostel to get the ride from San Pedro to Calama in the afternoon and then spent some more time at the hostel working on the computer. Left for Calama at 4:30pm and on arrival wandered around town replacing some stuff I had lost, specifically a bag and a notebook. I then got on the very comfortable Pullman bus to Arica at 9:30 where we arrived early the next morning after a peaceful and rather good night on the bus.	Hostal Jama Gustavo La Palge 544 / San Pedro - Ph: 055 851365
Iglesia de San Pedro Arbol a Atardecer Atardecer cerca de San Pedro Atardecer cerca de San Pedro Atardecer cerca de San Pedro Atardecer cerca de San Pedro Atardecer Valle de la Luna Atardecer Valle de la Luna Atardecer Valle de la Luna Atardecer Valle de la Luna Tres Marias Museo Arqueologico - Joven de San Pedro Museo Arqueologico - Sito de Excavacion Hostal Jama - Amanecer