For anyone who decides to venture into the deep southern regions of South America, I am giving you fair warning that it is a most difficult venture. The initial struggle began with figuring out flights in and out of the region. When we would find a flight that would work, it would mysteriously disappear before we could book it. The prices would double or triple depending on the day of the week, time of the flight, etc. We finally located a flight from Cartegena to Cali, Colombia on one airline. Then, a flight from Cali to Antofagasta, Chile. Where is Antofagasta you ask? I have no idea but it was the right price, time and day so it won the ticket-go-round. I won’t even get into the return home yet…we will save that for another day. Our flight to Antofagasta was around 4 hours and I believe anyone who lived in Antofagasta that had 12 children was on our flight. They screamed and carried on the entire flight so we were very happy to land in Chile for our night in a town neither of us had ever known about prior to a few weeks ago. I must say, Antofagasta, Chile was a very nice city! It was late so we had time to grab a quick meal at the local Peruvian restaurant (our choices were Peruvian, Italian or Indian, go figure). Antofagasta was located on the Peruvian border so I am guessing it has been part of Peru at least once in its’ history. The next morning, we hurried to catch the bus to our actual destination, the Atacama Desert. For the first time in our history of buses, we had an excellent 3 hour bus ride with no one sitting on our lap, no stops to pick up cousins and friends and no livestock. We caught a taxi at the bus station to take us to the rental car office. We had been driving about 5 minutes when I realized my cell phone was missing. We searched all the bags but no phone. The taxi driver turned around and raced for the gas station where he knew the bus would be re-fueling. I climbed aboard the bus and searched but no cell phone. We headed back to the station to search but no cell phone. At that point, we began to question whether I had lost the phone or whether someone had picked the phone. Since it was never turned in, we had to lean toward the picking. Unfortunately, my phone was the main source of our travel information and travel apps. Not wanting the loss to ruin our trip, we decided to worry about the phone situation once we got to a larger city so I had a good pout and we continued on our way. Driving from Calama, Chile to San Pedro de Atacama was like being on the moon. I expected the Atacama to be flat and brown. It was not. It was very mountainy and brown. The “city” of San Pedro was made up of a few blocks of dirt roads, a ton of hostel-type accommodations and a smattering of restaurants. It was the type of place where you could walk and know that your phone would not be lifted! Our first day in the Atacama, we headed to Rainbow Valley. Bill had studied the map and figured out we needed to take the fourth road on the right. The main issue was figuring out what Google constituted as a road. There were roads that looked like roads, paths that could have possibly been a road, rocky spots that wanted to be roads and spots that people just made their own road. After a few u-turns, we finally decided we were on an official road heading in the right direction. Our decision was supported by the fact that there were llama crossing signs along the road. It was very difficult to get lost enroute because there was only one road and it just went straight ahead. When we got into the mountains, we came around a curve and were halted by a farmer and his daughters herding a large group of llamas. To our left was a huge rock wall and to the right was a cliff falling into the river. Neither side offered us an option to get around the llama pack. The farmer expertly maneuvered the llamas to the narrow roadside allowing us to squeeze by and continue on our way. The Rainbow Valley lived up to its’ billing. The cliffs changed from tan brown to a glorious combination of browns, blacks, reds, oranges and greens. From the valley, we made our way across the Rio Grande which I could have leapt across with ease. We followed the river to a small town that was an oasis in the middle of the desert. It was covered with lavender fields and had a quaint church in the center. Locals wandered about while children played in the road. I am not sure how they made a living but it seemed to be a very peaceful spot to live. We spent our afternoon in the Valley de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) which was the most hyped location in the area. The valley did feel like the moon but after the Rainbow Valley, we were a little blasé on the Valley of the Moon. We headed back to our lodging to prepare for our main purpose of the Atacama trip….our star tour. As we were getting ready for a chilly night in the desert, I realized my coat was missing. Bill asked if I was sure I had packed it and I told him I was certain. I must have left it at the hotel in Antofagasta. Sigh, it was to be the trip of missing items. Fortunately, it was a very warm night in the desert so I did not freeze. Our star tour group had about a dozen people and we headed out to the edge of the desert. The reason star tours are so popular in the Atacama is because of the lack of ambient light. The lack of light also makes walking down a dirt road at 10pm a bit challenging but we made it with no disasters. Our tour guide was an Italian astronomer who moved to Atacama to start his own tour business. The tour started with a guide to the constellations which looked much different in the southern hemisphere because they were all backwards to us. We also saw the southern cross which is only visible in the southern hemisphere so another bucket list item checked. Our guide then explained about the formation and aging of stars. He had two high powered telescopes that he trained on stars of different ages so we could see the difference in brightness levels and clarity. Just staring above us, we could see the milky way spreading from horizon to horizon and the amount of stars was astonishing. All the screaming children on flights, bus rides and lost phones were worth it to get to that moment.
Day two in the Atacama, we drove back into the unknown in search of hot springs and flamingos. We were not expecting much from the flamingo search because let’s face it, our past flamingo adventures have generally resulted in either no flamingos or large blobs of pink in the distance. After a 40 minute drive through ever-changing terrain, we rounded a mountain and came upon a lagoon filled with flamingos! They were white flamingos because obviously there were no shrimp in the desert lagoon. It was like a scene from the Lorax (before the Onceler destroyed the Swomee Swans). Reluctantly, I got back in the car and we headed down from the mountains to the hot springs. Along the way, we were amazed at how the terrain varied mile to mile. At some points, it was covered in green and yellow brush. Then, it would turn to huge piles of rocks followed by endless views of flat clay. When we came upon the streams covered in Pampas grass as far as the eye could see, we ruled the day a complete success. It was a good thing we were happy with our day because when we arrived at the hot springs, they had closed for a three hour lunch break so we decided our life would still be complete without the hot springs experience and we headed back to town. We wrapped up the Atacama leg of the trip with a drive back to Calama to catch a flight to Santiago, Chile. On the way, Bill needed to stop at a local Ford dealer to see if he could locate a thermostat we needed for Larry the Lehman engine on Galt that had eluded us in Colombia. As I waited in the car, I had to laugh at the irony of sitting in the middle of the desert in Chile while Bill visited an American car dealership looking for a boat part. Life is definitely interesting! ***More pics on pictures tab
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We finally finished a major project on our to-do list that has been in the making since we bought Galt in 2019. When we originally purchased Galt, the dodger and bimini (the structures that cover the helm station and deck area) were a folding frame structure covered by canvas. With that set up, we had no options for installing solar panels which we needed to live off the grid. When we landed in the Dominican Republic, we desperately needed to address the solar issue. We had a structure built by a man in Luperon where we spent hurricane season that year and he did a good job. The main issue was the quality of materials that were readily available in the DR during the times of The Stupid. Stainless steel was very costly and difficult to find. Aluminum was not available for order. Therefore, we settled on galvanized steel which we thought would last. Unfortunately, the galvanized steel was of very poor quality and quickly began to rust. No amount of paint would hold the rust at bay. Over the years, the frame has slowly been rotting from the inside out and staining Galt’s deck a not so lovely copper color. When we arrived in Colombia, we began the search for alternative options for the bimini and dodger. We decided a hard dodger (the part over the helm station) would be the best option but the prices are usually more in the range of a luxury purchase. Bill set out to design a dodger that would be both sturdy and economical…and aesthetically pleasing. Not a small order! When talking to our Colombian contractor who had completed several smaller projects for us, we soon figured out that standard fiberglass was not going to work because it would be too flimsy. We also ruled out a plywood core covered in fiberglass because the weight would have been prohibitive. Bill finally came across a PVC paneling that could be used as the core of the structure with fiberglass supports. With a plan in place, we left the contractor to the project as we headed to Bolivia.
When we returned, our contractor said the project was moving along and would be ready in a few days. Bill had told him several times that he needed to assemble the dodger onboard Galt or it was going to be very difficult to get it on the boat. Needless to say, no one listened to Bill. On delivery day (which was two weeks late so right on time for Latin America), the contractor showed up with several guys and no plan. Bill suggested that we load the dodger from the dock onto the back of the boat, tilt it to slide by the mast and set it into place. Needless to say, no one listened to Bill. The next thing we see is the dodger arriving via dinghy. As the dinghy dipped precariously in the water under the weight of the dodger, I told the contractor if he hit either of the boats next to us, we were not paying for damages and he would be responsible. I did not even need to say it in Spanish for him to get the message. With two men in the dinghy and the rest of the crew on Galt, they loudly discussed their plan of action….because it would have made far too much sense to have a plan in place prior to bringing the dodger out to Galt on a dinghy. They took the halyard from our main mast (the rope that pulls up the sail) and tied it around the dodger. Then, Bill hoisted the halyard until it got stuck under the weight of the dodger. Back into the dinghy went the dodger. Rearrange the halyard and reattach to dodger. Repeat hoist. Dodger now stuck under the side of Galt so the contractor climbs onto Galt’s toe rail and leans over to push the dodger away from Galt. Bill hangs onto contractor so he does not fall overboard. More hoisting with the halyard and as the dodger cleared onto the deck, several of the guys were basically pinned underneath it but there was much relief from all involved. So now, the dodger was sitting on the forward deck. No problem….except standing between the dodger and its’ future home was our dinghy (which is currently stored on top of the salon roof), the main mast, bungie cords holding the boom in place and at least eight rigging lines that run from the deck to the top of the mast. Let the puzzle games begin. The guys began to turn the dodger trying to figure out how to get it to the helm. After about 10 minutes, they managed to get it into the general vicinity. I heard some yelling and the contractor was stripping off his clothes and then our favorite little worker pushed the contractor out of the way and jumped overboard. Evidently, a small rubber square we had one of the anchors resting on had blown overboard. Considering we could purchase a new one for less than $2.00, I do not think it was worth going for a swim but we appreciated the above and beyond attitude. After the dodger was at the helm, it was too big. The measurements were correct but when they had laid the fiberglass on the frame, the frame had flattened out while it dried. The overhead panel was also too long and would not settle into place around the mast. The next three hours consisted of bungie cords, rachets, Sawzall, screwdrivers and lots of cursing as the guys wrestled the piece into place. It was finally fit but far from installed. They spent the next two days sanding, laying fiberglass and painting. When the contractor announced it was finished, I went up for inspection and noted they did not fiberglass it to the helm station on the outside. The contractor shook his ‘no’ so I called Bill to handle the situation because I knew the contractor was not going to listen to me. In the end, they returned the next day to finish the project the way we wanted and it looks amazing! Step one of the deck refurbish is complete. Next steps will include new solar framing (rust-free!), new benches and a new paint job….but those projects will have to wait because we leave for our next trip this week. Chile and Argentina! We will be seeing stars on the Atacama Desert, visiting some amazing cemeteries, eating LOTS of meat, drinking famous wines and freezing at the southern most point in South America. There will be no blog for a few weeks as we travel but your patience will be rewarded upon our return! Maybe by then, Spring will have sprung! Last week, we left off in Sucre awaiting the zombie apocalypse from underneath the local park aka burial ground. By the time we finished the cathedral and crypt tour, it was time to head back over to the Treasury Museum for the 3pm re-opening. We arrived a little after 3pm only to be told the only English tour was at 5:30pm. We told the employee we did not need an English tour but she would not let us join the next tour so we left with our money in our pocket. Evidently, the Treasury Museum did not need more treasure to survive. We stopped for an early dinner at a quiet Italian restaurant near our hotel. As we ordered, a group of children began singing upstairs and we were told they had choir practice. each afternoon. By the time our food arrived, we could have joined them in singing because we knew every word. I can say their teacher was very thorough! Just as the waitress placed our dinner on the table, dozens of children came running into the courtyard, chattering boisterously. Each child held a pan flute in his hands which struck instant terror in our hearts. They all began to blow and practice the song we had been listening to endlessly for the last hour. The waitress informed us that today was a very special day for them as they were doing a pan flute concert for their parents in an hour. We smiled, nodded, handed her our plates and asked for to-go boxes. There’s only so much fluting that one can take!
The next morning, we walked up a very large hill to the Recoleta area. The church we wanted to see was closed so we sat in the square and watched two wedding parties as they took photos. The mothers of the brides had a special short wedding dress so that must be a tradition of some sort. By the time the bride and groom in one party had finished their individual pictures, they had to run to catch up with the party which had already started. The groomsmen dragged out huge speakers into the square and the dancing commenced. I love a good wedding so it was very interesting to see all the Bolivian traditions. We spent the afternoon touring the San Felipe de Neri convent which had amazing rooftop views of Sucre. Our final day in Sucre, we toured a local castle that was built in the late 1800s by a local aristocrat. The castle was lovely but empty and in need of some TLC. We finished out the day with a stop by the Florida Palace which was in so much need of TLC that we were not even charged an entrance fee to wander through it. We also swung by the National cemetery which was unique because it had sections of very expensive gravesites, mausoleums that reminded us of a U-Haul storage center and an area that was obviously for the poor people. You just never know what you are going to find in a cemetery! Our final flight in Bolivia was to the city of Santa Cruz. Finally….back to sea level! As we sucked in copious amounts of oxygen, we checked into our hotel and set off exploring. It was a Bolivian national holiday of some sort so most things were closed. We wandered through the main square and had to eat lunch at a Chucky Cheese type restaurant which seemed to be very popular. Santa Cruz appeared to be a lively city with mostly young families so I guess the restaurant made sense. Santa Cruz was a newer city that had a population boom a few years ago so it was a typical new city without much pizzazz. Our survival Spanish failed us miserably in Santa Cruz because the people in the region spoke the Catalan dialect from Spain. They spoke very rapidly and did not seem to accept that we did not understand them because they just continuously fired off endless paragraphs and then looked at us expectantly. We finally went to my father’s theory that the answer to 97% of questions is ‘yes’ which seemed to satisfy them. The next morning, we headed to Guembe Nature Park. The park had three resort-like swimming pools, a zoo, nature trails and the largest butterfly atrium in the world (so they claimed). My favorite part was the aviary which had tons of parrots, parakeets, macaws and numerous other birds. At one point, a huge parrot landed on my camera bag and proceeded to try to eat through the mesh to get a tissue. No matter what I did, he would not get off the bag and I did not want him to eat the tissue because it might make him sick. No way was I going to reach near his very large beak so I finally took the bag off over my head with the parrot hanging on and squawking indignantly at me. Once I laid the bag on the ground, we were able to shoo him away. At that point, I hid everything in the main pocket so as not to attract anymore unsolicited attention. We figured out he was just hungry when the zookeeper walked into the aviary and hundreds of birds swarmed to the feeding stations. Bill made me leave without taking one home with us but some day….Galt will have a parrot! Early the next morning, we were picked up by a local guide and taken out to the Loma de Arena national park. On the way, the guide search diligently to find monkeys and slots but to no avail. The park was famous for huge sand dunes and it reminded me of Kitty Hawk, NC where the Wright brothers had their first flight. The guide was very excited to hear this information and immediately searched on his phone for pictures of Kitty Hawk. When I asked him how he learned to speak English (because so few people spoke English in Bolivia), he responded, “When I was twelve, I began listening to music by Eminem. I studied his lyrics over and over and that is how I learned English.” Considering his English was almost perfect, I think the public schools in the United States should adopt the Eminem curriculum plan! As we climbed to the top of the dunes, we enjoyed breathing and were proud that we made it to the top. Once at the top, the guide waxed some sand boards and we climbed onto them for a fast surf down the dune (sitting down, of course). As the guide explained how to get moving, he and Bill slid easily down the hill as I got stuck at the top. Finally, after much wiggling and pushing, I was on my way! The sand surfing was fun but the sand fleas swarmed and even invaded the car. There were thousands of them. The only thing in the park that outnumbered the sand fleas were the butterflies. Our guide said since it had been a drier year, the butterflies were abundant. As we drove out of the park, the butterflies parted like the Red Sea to allow the car to pass. Breathtaking. Our final day in Bolivia, we took a taxi outside of town to the Botanical Gardens. We have seen many gardens during our travels but we hoped to spot some monkeys or sloths at these gardens. Alas, it was not to be and the gardens were a bit boring for us. To catch a taxi back into town, we had to stand on the edge of the ‘highway’ and wait for a taxi to stop. We climbed into a very rickety taxi that had an automatic window control on Bill’s side of the cab and a manual window control on my side. The taxis never fail to entertain. We gave the taxi our hotel address and in a few minutes, he pulled into a local area with food stalls and tons of stores. We told him this was not our area but he said that was where he was dropping us so we got out of the taxi. We finally figured out that his taxi company could only cover a certain area and our hotel was not in his area. Bill was glad to have an opportunity to buy some meat on a stick from a vendor with a huge grill so no harm done. We caught a taxi back to our hotel and prepared for our 5:30am flight back to Cartagena. We had arranged a ride to the airport with our taxi driver who had picked us up at the airport on our incoming flight. At 3am, he showed up reliably but I am pretty sure he had been into the coca because he looked terrible. Our flight was painfully early and our day was long but we landed in Cartagena in time for dinner and went straight to bed. Southern Peru and Bolivia was an amazing trip filled with interesting characters and sights that we will never forget. Thank you for sharing this journey with us! ****See pictures tab for more pics Following a much needed rest day after our Salt Flat excursion, we headed to the bus station to buy tickets for our 3 hours bus trip to Potosi. Bill has a way of finding odd, out of the way destinations that always add an extra layer of adventure to a trip but his oddities usually end up being a highlight. Potosi was added to the list because he found the oldest continually mined silver mine in the world, Cerro Rico. Our bus adventure began with sitting in the small Uyuni bus station listening to ticket hawkers scream as if they were working in Grand Central Station. “Potoseeeeee! Potoseeeee!” shrieking continuously from at least 6 different bus companies. In total, we had about 20 people sitting in the station who had already purchased their bus tickets so I am not sure why the hawkers felt the need to yell over our heads for 30 minutes. After we boarded the bus, the hawkers followed us outside and continued their ear splitting chant until the bus pulled out of the station. With “Potoseeeee!” ringing in our ears, we settled back for a smooth ride to Potosi. As with all buses in South America, the bus stopped to pick up people hitch hiking on the side of the road and at one point, a man climbed onto the bus and stood in the middle of the aisle. He began speaking very passionately in Spanish to everyone on the bus. At first, Bill and I decided he must have been preaching but then came the sales pitch. Even in Spanish, Bill could recognize a snake oil salesman. Whatever he was selling must have been a cure-all because almost everyone on the bus except us bought his magic elixir. The man kept pointing to Cerro Rico in the distance so I am guessing it either protected them from mine disasters or guaranteed them a rich strike. After a hectic run through the Potosi bus station, we checked into our hotel and began wandering the town of Potosi. Cerro Rico had originally been owned by the Spanish and was the richest silver mine in the world. It had been operating for over 500 years. After Bolivia gained independence from Spain, the mining continued. Cerro Rico was taken over by the State in the 1950s and then “given back” in the 1980s. Since that time, small consortiums continue to mine (mostly copper and tin) but no real money is made from the mine. As a result, Potosi was a slowly dying city. Its’ façade was still grand but its’ people had the look of those needing to find new opportunities elsewhere. Our first stop was the Museo de Moneda which was the old mint and had interesting information on the history of the silver mine. It would have been better if the tour had been in English but we managed to piece together enough information. One interesting part was about the ship the “Atocha” and its’ cargo loaded from the Cerro Rico. Anyone who knows Key West’s history will recall the Atocha as the ship that Mel Fisher found off the coast of Florida with one of the largest treasures ever discovered. When the tour concluded around 4pm, we were hungry so we thought we would search for a quick snack before dinner. We searched and searched but were unable to find any place that had appetizer-like snacks. We finally gave up and ate dinner at 4:30pm. After “dinner”, we headed to the nearest corner store to grab some beer only to find that nowhere sold beer! After at least 6 stores turned us away, Bill asked the hotel manager about buying beer and was directed to one store several blocks away that stocked beer. Potosi was an odd city!
Early the next morning, we were picked up by our local guide to head to the mine. He was a miner but on days he gave tours, he “didn’t have to dig in the mine” so he greatly appreciated our visit. I had decided I would not venture into the mine because A) I get a bit claustrophobic and B) I read the book, “Deep Down Dark” about the Chilean mine disaster and I really was not keen on being trapped in a 500 year old mine. Our first stop was the miner’s market where we were encouraged to buy gifts for the miners we would meet on our visit. We could buy coca, liquor, snacks and….dynamite! Bill was determined to buy dynamite so our guide showed us the dynamite stall and sure enough, you could just buy as much as you wanted! Our guide told us the miners really appreciated the coca leaves and energy drinks the most because they needed energy. The coca leaves also helped them time their breaks because they knew when the coca leaves lost their flavor it had been 4 hours. The second stop was the refining facility where the minerals were separated from the mined rock. We were given coveralls, rubber boots and masks. As we entered the facility, our guide said, “Just don’t touch anything because some of the chemicals used are very toxic”. This statement was not very reassuring given the mask we had was a flimsy over-the-counter useless Covid type mask. As we stepped into the facility, we were greeted with vats of boiling sulfuric acid and sodium cyanide. We had to walk on an uneven platform between the vats and for anyone who knows me, balance is not my strength. Doing my best to balance while holding my breath and not touching anything, I managed to make it through the facility without having a tragic incident that would turn me into a Stan Lee Marvel superhero. Now covered in lethal chemicals, we climbed back into the car with our coveralls and boots and headed to the mine. Our guide promised me he would take us in a large corridor in the mine and we would only go in a few hundred feet. I agreed to give it a try so we began our walk into the mine. Every few feet we would be squeezed up against the wall while men with wheelbarrows ran past at top speed heading in and out of the mine. The full wheelbarrows must have weighed a ton and the men had to stoop over and run with the wheelbarrows due to the low clearance. I asked the guide how the Spaniards had “discovered” the mine if the locals had been mining it before the Spaniards invaded. It seemed like they would have kept it a secret. The guide stated, “Some Peruvian showed them where it was.” We are always humored that the Peruvians are always blamed for anything bad that happens in South America. After hunching our way through the shaft, we came upon the “chapel” that was used by the miners. No Catholic icons were allowed inside the mine and no women miners were allowed inside the mine because they were bad luck. The “chapel” was filled with gods from the indigenous religions so we sat next to the large, bull looking creature. He had a cigarette in his mouth and liquor bottles and bags of coca surrounded his base. The liquor was made by the locals and was 96% alcohol. Glad to know beer was controlled so the locals would not develop a drinking problem! We all shared a drink and the guide poured alcohol at the foot of the statue to bless the mine and the miners. Most of the miners died young due to lung disease. They chose to mine because even though the mine was dying, it was a better living than earning the $300 USD a month minimum wage with other jobs in Bolivia. Elsewhere in the mountain were huge deposits of silver but mining those areas would be unsafe due to the number of tunnels that had been dug throughout 500 years. Even though we had not gone very far into the mine, I was glad to be safely back out in the sunshine. Next stop, Sucre. To catch the 4 hour bus to Sucre, we headed to the “new” bus station which was a two floor building much like a mall. If we thought the “Potoseeeee” hawkers were loud, they could not begin to compare to the “Suuuuuccccreeeee” caterwauling echoing through two floors of tiled building. We were the only two passengers on our bus which meant that it took us an hour to get through town as the hawkers stopped every mile to drum up business. At one point, I wanted to ask how much it would cost for them to stop hawking tickets and I would have bought the remaining seats! Finally, we made it to Sucre which was a lovely city. Sucre is the official government capital of Bolivia. Bolivia has two capitols, La Paz and Sucre, so it can get confusing. Sucre was known as the “white city” because of the white rock used to build all the buildings. Sucre was clean, uncrowded and a much welcome respite after La Paz and Potosi. Our hotel was amazing and had a courtyard garden as well as a restaurant with amazing views. We walked down the hill to the main cathedral. We were allowed to wander through the cathedral and museum on our own and we were the only people there so it was very quiet and peaceful. For a quick rest, we went to a small park across from the next cathedral we wanted to tour. When our English tour guide arrived, we went into the crypts and learned that all the Spanish aristocracy was buried in the crypts. When I asked where the common people had been buried, she pointed across the street and said, “There are thousands of them under the park across the street.” “They just built the park on top of the graves?” I asked and she nodded. Have these people never watched Poltergeist? These things never end well! I thought I could finish the trip this week but alas, we just did so many wonderful things in Bolivia! I do not want to shortchange Sucre or Santa Cruz so Bolivia, 2024 will be continued next week! |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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