For The Love of Travel

San Pedro de Atacama is a town set on an arid high plateau in the Andes mountains of northeastern Chile.  Its dramatic surrounding landscape incorporates desert, salt flats, 10 volcanoes (2 active), geysers and hot springs.

The Atacama is nirvana for archaeologists because of its nearly rainless environment, which preserves artifacts for millennia. 

Also nirvana for scientists/astronomists/astro physicists…the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is at an altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level, composed of 66 high-precision antennas, allowing scientists from around the world to probe the very first stars and galaxies, with a view to discovering our cosmic origins!

The Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) is a lunar-like scape, with unusual dunes, caverns, sharp peaks and natural depressions, creating an unbelievable moon-like scene in the Salt Mountain Range. After a hot afternoon walking through the valley, and visiting the pillar like stone formation of Tres Marias, we climbed a tall sand dune to watch the setting sun bathe the valley in shades of red, gold and purple. Beautiful !!

The Atacama salt flats in the Los Flamencos National Reserve cover 280 sq miles, the crusts hard and as rough as coral and looks like a landfill of fossilised sponge. Its where we went to see the gorgeous Andean flamingos. 

Testing our altitude resilience, we visited the Miscanti and Meniques lagoons at the base of the Andes @ 4,200 metres – beautiful views! 

To end an amazing experience in this neck of the world, we travelled at 5am to see the sunrise at a geothermal field, the Tatio Geysers. Wowie, quite a sight.

Then onto the little highland village of Machuca, where the buildings are made of adobe, straw and cactus wood – and to visit San Santiago church – saint patron of the town. I spotted a senora with her vicuna in tow, coming in to make some money from tourists that clamour to pose with said pretty beast…

42 hills (cerros) surround Valparaiso to form a natural amphitheater. Needless to say, a hilly sort of place and I stayed at the Fauna hotel on Paseo Dimalow, Cerro Alegre. Gorgeous location, great food and lovely staff! 

Pablo Neruda’s house, La Sebastiana : Poet; diplomat and Nobel prize winner for literature – Pablo set up his second residence in Valparaiso “I feel the tiredness of Santiago. I want to find a little house to live and write tranquil. With neighbours hopefully invisible. Original but not uncomfortable. With many wings, but strong”. Just a few of the house features he sought in requesting friends to find his home. And La Sebastiana was the result in 1960. An eclectic 5 floor residence with ship paraphernalia, beautiful coloured glass in differently shaped windows, lots of bric a brac, maps and paintings with beautiful views out over the port. He and his mistress lived here from 1960 to 1973 when he died, just a few months after Pinochet had established his dictatorship. Pic is from the top floor.

Graffiti around Cerro Bellavista: Among street art fans from all over the world, Valparaiso is considered as one of the most special graffiti art meccas. But even if you are used to seeing bright murals around a city, nothing can prepare you for the colourful sensory overload that one experiences when exploring the steep streets of Valparaiso. Anywhere you look at, there are kaleidoscopic murals, each brighter than the last one.

Parque Cultural Cerro Carcel (Prison Hill Cultural Park): up until 1999, the property was a working prison (and one of the 1000 torture centres in Pinochet’s era!). Now. it combines open space for recreation and public events with a performance venue and studios for creative activities.  I saw Vivian Maier’s photos the theme of “Andean festivals”. Fabulous images! Cerro Carcel, also had some great views, excellent street art, and many colorful homes in the area.

Vina del Mar (Vineyard of the Sea):  is known for its resorts, malls, extensive coastal skyscrapers (think Gold Coast), hotels and entertainment venues. Clean and orderly with manicured boulevards lined with palms, a sprawling public beach and extensive parkland – Vina is a far cry from the concrete, jumbled neighbourhoods of Valparaiso.

Con Con:  from Vina del Mar, the narrow road winds around huge rock formations, through many coastal fishing communities and beach playgrounds and past high dunes with pounding surf. It sounds attractive doesn’t it? Didn’t find it so – too much concrete for me, but had a lovely seafood lunch at Alto Mar restaurant.

Santiago has been described as one of the cities with the most serious air pollution problems in the world. Emissions from a growing number of vehicles, manufacturing industries, and wood-burning heaters — combined with the fact that the city is surrounded by mountain ranges that prevent air drainage — leave Santiago smoggy.    Hot, humid and smoggy! (and I wouldn’t want to experience an air pollution emergency alert day!)

But….. Santiago has some charms to behold.

La Moneda, the Presidential Palace, with the changing of the guard. Such a performance!

The Museum of Pre-Colombian art which fosters understanding and appreciation of of indigenous cultures in pre-Hispanic America. Fantastic ceramics, textiles and much more. I especially loved the ornate headdress (complex system to distinguish an individual’s social status, ethnic origin and political power); the Moche culture’s ceramics (like the cat bottle that would be buried with the dead to ward off harm and help them in their journey to the afterlife); an Ecuadorian artist’s expression of happiness; and the custom of wrapping dead in funerary bundles (both practical – device to assist in carrying the dead to the grave and symbolic – designed to represent a chrysalis of a butterfly).

Museum of memories and human rights: is dedicated to promoting human rights and paticularly, catalogues the excruciatingly difficult 17 years of Pinochet dictatorship, that Chileans encountered. The ground floor display identifies the extent of current day human rights abuses across the globe! 30 countries worth! A museum that provides a testament to incredible human resilience in the face of extreme brutality and repression.

San Cristobal hill: the best sweeping views over Santiago are from the peaks and viewpoints of the Parque Metropolitano, better known as Cerro San Cristóbal. At 722 hectares, the park is Santiago’s largest green space. encompassing a Zoo, Botanical garden, 2 huge swimming pools and extensive kids playground. I took the funicular from Plaza Caupolicán in Bellavista, to the Terraza where there are a few snack stands and extraordinary views across the city.  

You can see the tall Costanera centre tower in the photo. Its in a business and commercial complex that includes a six-floor shopping mall, and three other skyscrapers – two high-end hotels and an office building. The Tower, was designed by architect Cesar Pelli and is 300 metres, making it the tallest building in Latin America and the second tallest in the Southern Hemisphere, pipped at the post by Australia’s Q1 on the Gold Coast by 22 metres.

Centro Gabriela Mistral: this striking cultural and performing arts centre – named for Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature – has concerts and performances most days.  Checked out the rotating art exhibits, the iconic architecture that vaults and cantelevers on the inside (looks like a giant rusty cheese grater from the street), the little plazas, murals, cafes. Gorgeous!