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The South American Odyssey
  • The Craze for Travelling
  • The Craze for Travelling

The South American Odyssey

147-päiväinen seikkaillu — The Craze for Travelling Lue lisää
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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    A Colca2A maize cob from hundreds of years ago

    Colcas

    21. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    A bit further in the valley, we stopped at the Colcas. These are underground holes that are were used to store grains and food items that the people from the valley used to get here to trade with the people from the highlands. They used holes in the ground lined with stones and them coated with clay. This used to work as a natural refrigerator and preserve the food for longer. One can still find preserved food items inside the Colcas.Lue lisää

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    Virakocha III

    Lagoons near the beach

    21. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    After the Lluta valley, we arrived at the road going South to Arica along the coast. There were lagoons of freshwater at 2 places just a stone throw away from the ocean side. These places were rich eating grounds for a lot of birds. There were many vultures as well soaking the sun rays.
    Along the coast was a reed boat Virakocha III being constructed for a trip to Australia. This project is being funded by a rich Bolivian trying to validate that it was possible to sail across the oceans in the reed boats.    Lue lisää

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    1Wickedcampers van
    1Wickedcampers vanCakes and savories21

    Back in Arica

    21. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We were back in Arica around 3 pm. After having our lunch, we went to the city to check out the car rental options.
    We checked with Europcar, they had very good prices but no vehicles available for another 3-4 days.
    The wickedcampers turned out be just a pickup and drop point. They informed us to check their website. The prices there were too high. By now, it was late in the evening so we couldn't check anywhere else and the tourism office too was closed by now. We just decided to hang around in the city center and have some cakes before returning back to the hostel.    Lue lisää

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    2Fish at the marketEven Eels seem popular hereLunch of vegetables soup, pesto pasta and lemonadeRoadside kiosksTsunami evacuation route

    Fixing odds and ends

    22. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    There were still a few odds and ends that needed to be fixed before we could move on so we decided to do those this day.
    First off was to find out the cost of the bus tickets to Iquique at the bus terminal opposite our hostel. This was to compare costs with the rental options. It turned out to be quite reasonable at between 6000 - 10000 CLP.
    The morning was a bit slow. We managed to get good wifi and spent the morning calling home etc.
    After that, we had our breakfast and then decided to go to the Ministry of Telecomunicaciones to register our phones. Phones bought outside of Chile don't work here according to a new legislation effective since a few days ago. Eventually, after trying all the operators, we had found out that we'll need to register the IMEI number of our phones at the Ministry of Telecomunicaciones to make it work. The office closes at 13:00 so that was our 1st destination for the day after the breakfast.
    On the way, we passed the local fish market where they were even selling Ceviche.
    At the Ministry of Telecom, we managed to find out that they don't do the registration and that we'll have to do it ourselves and submit all the required papers online.
    We sat at a cafe with wifi and did all the registration formalities. The website was all in Spanish, we needed to submit a screenshot of the phone IMEI, a picture of the phone with the IMEI number visible, copy of passport, copy of the immigration form etc before the application went through. Keeping our fingers crossed it will work now.
    By this time it was lunch hour so we had our food. After lunch, we checked at the other 2 car rental agencies. Klasse was closed due to vacations. Hertz had the had the vehicles but the vehicles available were the same we had got for the Salar de Uyuni and we were not too happy with its power and effectiveness. Plus, Hertz was almost double the cost of the Europcar quote.
    With no reasonable option and running out of things to do, it looked like we were stuck in Arica for some more time.
    Not having any other ideas, we realized that we had 20 min before the Tourist Information center would close. We had been there before, but due to the limited time of operations, we had always found them closed.
    We managed to walk the 2 kms in 5-6 min and reached before they closed for the day. Here, we finally found the lady at the counter spoke excellent English. She was able to help us with a lot of information and maps but didn't know any more tour operators or car rentals than we had already checked.
    Having run out of ideas and absolutely no plan or even option for a plan, we just decided to chill and go to the beach.    Lue lisää

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    222

    Sunset at Chinchorro beach

    22. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We sat at the beach till the sunset. After that, we walked 2 kms back to our hostel.
    At the hostel we got wifi again and did some research on what options we could have. We found 2 more car rentals on Google maps. We decided to check them out the next morning. If the prices were fine, we would rent the vehicles immediately.
    We also found out that Iquique, about 350 kms from here had lot more car rentals so if we didn't find a good option at the 2 rental companies in Arica, we would take the bus to Iquique and try our luck there with the car rentals.    Lue lisää

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    2Cigarette smoking and its effects
    2Cigarette smoking and its effects2Frozen yogurt ice candy2Happy faces

    More car rentals

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We woke up at 8 am and went to check the 2 other car rental options. We had till 12:45 as that was the time for Hristo's dental appointment. Luckily, both of the rental companies were quite near the dental clinic so we walked to Benmax. They too had a 4x4 vehicle and were a bit cheaper than Hertz (there only other feasible option we had). We took the quotes and then went looking for the Viva car rental. We entered the building where the rental was supposed to be and ended up in a girl's college. A panicked warden and an assistant came over to show us out before we could explain we were looking for a car rental and it was marked in this location in our gps maps. 😁😁😁The guy told us that its must have been long time ago and now all the buildings were owned by the college. He mentioned an alternate car rental in one of the hotels nearby.
    We walked in the given direction but couldn't find the hotel mentioned. We any case decided to ask in one of the hotels on the main street. The people at the reception spoke English and were very helpful. They searched for all the car rentals in Arica for us. We found out that there was Econorental a few kms outside of Arica that we had missed checking with. The receptionist even called them and found out for us that the daily rental for a 4x4 was 51000 CLP there. This was quite a bit cheaper than any other options we had, so we decided to check this out after the dental appointment.
    So, now we had an hour left before the appointment so we decided to check out the sea lions near the city center that Diana had mentioned to us 2 days ago.    Lue lisää

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    Pelican
    Pelican2Fishing harbor2Pelicans everywhere2Sea LionsNo dearth of air and sea life here

    The sea lion colony

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We had a general idea where the resident sea lion colony was but didn't know exactly where it was. After asking around, we reached the fresh sea food market right next to the harbor. There were many pelicans. These are huge birds with an impressive size. In the harbor we saw about 8-9 sea lions. These were huge compared to the sea lions I had seen before. They were swimming around in the harbor trying to get fish from the local fishermen while the pelicans waited patiently for the handouts.Lue lisää

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    Sea lion
    Sea lionPelican and cormorant2Hundreds of pelicans in the harbor

    The fish feast begins

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    One of the fisherman started cleaning is his fish and would throw away the unnecessary parts into the sea, after cutting the fish. As soon as the parts were in the air, all the sea lions, pelicans, cormorants and herons would go after it in unison. It was a feeding frenzy out there. This easy pickings could also be the reason for the huge size of the sea lions.Lue lisää

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    222

    Fearless pelicans

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    The fisherman cleaning the fish was right next to us so all the huge pelicans flew in and sat near us waiting for a chance to go after the fish being doled out. They were really big and didn't seem to have any fear of people. It was an exciting experience.Lue lisää

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    Fish and eels for sale
    Fish and eels for saleMussels & clamsOpening and cleaning the Pyura Chilensis a type of turnicate

    Fish market

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    After watching the feeding spectacle for some time, we went around the fish market. There were fish, eels, mussels, clams and many other sea creatures for sale. Local people and restaurant owners were there buying the fresh items in kgs.
    In one corner of the market, there were fisher women opening and cleaning up the Pyura Chilensis, a type of turnicate. These are filter feeders and attach themselves to rocks below the sea surface. The women were cracking open the shell using the knives and then extracting the soft inner body. This was then dumped into buckets of water for cleaning.    Lue lisää

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    Pelicans gathering for the feast
    Pelicans gathering for the feastPelicans queued up near the fisherman2The fisherman processing the fishEven the heron is waiting nearby

    Processing of the fish

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    By now, it was time for Hristo's dental appointment so he went for it while I continued walking around the sea food market looking at the activities going on.
    One of the fisherman started processing the fish. That attracted a hoard of pelicans and sea lions.
    As a first pass, he cut the head off of all the fish and threw each one of them in the sea. This would create a feeding frenzy in the water nearby with the sea lions and the pelicans, all going after the loot. Even the normally shy heron was sitting near the fisherman waiting for a chance to get some handouts.
    In the second pass, he cut open the gut and threw it in the sea. The third pass was slicing of the upper scales and cutting of the tail. This attracted more of the pelicans and sea gulls with smaller chunks of meat. The fourth and the last pass was slicing of the lower scales and putting the orange edible layer in buckets of water.    Lue lisää

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    A sea lion waiting to be fed2Pelicans everywhereEven outside a shop

    Sea lion on the quay

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    While all this activities were going on at one end of the harbor, at the other end a huge sea lion jumped out amd sat waiting at a lowered portion of the quay, waiting for some food. One of the fisherman cleaning the Pyura Chilensis started tossing a few of these in between the cleaning. The local dogs were not happy about the sea lion stealing what they thought they deserved and started barking at the sea lion but it didn't care at all. It didn't even give them a second look, while the dogs seeing the size 3 times their own, thought it better not to raise the issue further 😉
    By now, it was almost 1 pm so I decided to walk over to the dental clinic to be there in time for when Hristo would be done with his appointment.
    I reached there at about 1:20 pm, just as he was coming out of the room. From there, we decided to take a taxi to the place for the Econorental outside of Arica. We tried to stop a few taxis but they all seemed to be full and none stopped for us. After a while, we noticed that they all had numbers on top and had some places name written along with it. We asked one of the locals and found that these were shared taxis running on a fixed route with a fixed price per head, irrespective of where you get on or off on the way. The normal taxis had yellow roofs. We started walking towards the center trying to find one. Eventually, we stopped one and told him where we wanted to go. The taxi cost us 3000 CLP to reach the place.    Lue lisää

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    2Frustrated, we sat in the children's park nearby trying to decide what to do
    2Frustrated, we sat in the children's park nearby trying to decide what to doDon Este restaurantThe buffet2Good food by kgs2Chocolate flan

    Don Este restaurant

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Our pot of bad luck that had been following us for the last few days wasn't over yet. After having driven the 7-8 kms out of Arica to Econorental office, we were dropped off at about 1:45 pm. Their office was closed from 1:30 - 3:30 pm for lunch. We felt so exasperated. We tried to ring the bell and knock the door but there was no response. We even took the help of a neighbor to try and call them, but no one picked up the phone.
    Eventually, we decided to wait for the office to reopen and in the meantime use the time to have our lunch. The helpful neighbor told us about a restaurant nearby where we could get food.
    The restaurant Don Este was about 300 mts from the rental office. The food was a buffet with some vegetarian items also there and was rated per kg, irrespective of what item one has taken. The food was fantastic and I for once got a good variety of items to choose from. Well, whatever happens, happens for the good, is what we figured from this event 😉
    By the time, we were done with the lunch, it was about 3:10 pm so we decided to walk over to the car rental office.    Lue lisää

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    2Inside of the Econorental garage
    2Inside of the Econorental garageOur Mitsubishi 4x4Our vehicle outside the rental office cum garageFilling up the tank

    Econorental

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    When we reached the Econorental office, it was open. It was actually a garage being run as a rental agency. They were did have a Mitsubishi 4x4 available for 5 days. As had been told to us earlier, the rental was 50000 CLP per day. Based on our itinerary, the owner suggested that we take two 20L cans of diesel with us. He wanted to charge us 3000 CLP per day rental for these cans, after negotiating for a while we managed to get them included for free. We had to give a deposit of 300000 CLP for the rental. Since we were not carrying that much cash, we had to be driven to the nearest atm about 3 kms away.
    After the payment of the rental and the deposit, we got the vehicle and the cans. We drove to our hostel and picked up our bags. After that, we went to the petrol pump and filled up the vehicle tank as well as the 2 cans we had got along.
    Then we were off finally at around 5 pm. Arica had lost its spell over us...we were out now 😉    Lue lisää

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    2Azapa valley
    2Azapa valleyGoing towards the pass between the valleysThe road in the flats at the top of the passLluta valley

    From Azapa valley to the Lluta valley

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Once on the road, we passed into the Azapa valley outside of Arica. The valley is really green but the surroundings are stark and bleak as a typical desert. At the end of the climb we reached the high pass between here and the Lluta valley. From the high pass, there's a road directly going to Putre our destination for the day but we went into the Lluta valley since we wanted to see some interesting places that we had marked on this route.Lue lisää

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    Cactus Candelabros

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    A bit further from the badlands is the area where the cactus candelabros grow. These are a species of cactii that grow only here and some parts of Peru. Its a very rare species since they can grow only between 1700 - 3000 mts and in extreme dryness only. Candelabros in Spanish means chandeliers and these cactii look like chandeliers upside down. The trunk is covered with a lot of long sturdy spines about 7-10 cms long. The height of the plants was about 2-3 mts. The plants were spread very sparcely along the mountain side and that too over 2-3 hills only.Lue lisää

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    Copaquilla in the valley
    Copaquilla in the valleyEmpty streets and no lights in the village.

    Copaquilla village

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    The village of Copaquilla down in the valley turned out to be a ghost town. There was absolutely no one in the village. We drove to the end of the valley. There was not a single soul around. We also couldn't see the pukara.
    By now, it was 8 pm and the sun had set behind the mountains. We decided to drive back to the main road and drive to Putre where we planned to stay for the night.
    As we drove a bit further on the main road, we saw the board pointing to the pukara. So, we didn't need to go down into the valley for it. But, by now, it was dark so we decided to maybe come back the next day.    Lue lisää

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    2Our bedroom
    2Our bedroomThere was even a dining table in the roomThe indoor parking2Dining area2Reception area

    Kukuli Hotel Putre

    23. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    We drove straight to Putre from Copaquilla. It was quite dark and around 9:30 pm when we reached Putre. The first hotel we went to was fully booked. We tried a few others but were not too happy about various things in each of them. Finally, we decided to stay at Kukuli Hotel. It cost us 30000 CLP for a night and the room was very comfortable and clean. We went around looking for a restaurant to have dinner. None were open at this hour. We asked at a small convenience store and were directed to the main square. Even here, everything was closed. Our bad luck from Arica had not fully left us yet oy seems 😉
    We decided to go back to the convenience store and biy some stuff to eat. We reached there at 11:05. It seemes the shop closed at 11:00 just a few min back. 😔 We also realized that we had got the room no 13 and it was a Friday. A coincidence???
    Luckily, we saw another shop open a few meters away. It also turned out to be a convenience store. We bought some biscuits, yogurt, juice and cakes for the dinner. This, we had it back in our room.
    We were extremely tired after a fully packed day. The next day we slept in late and woke up only at 10 am. The breakfast was over but we managed to get some leftovers even at 11 am after requesting the reception boy. After the breakfast, we were off to Suri Plaza.    Lue lisää

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    Putre village
    Putre villageOn the way upTapaca volcano

    Putre to Tapaca volcano

    24. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    Putre is a small village at an altitude of about 3500 mts. It is the main village in this region and works as a base for excursions into the altiplano. There are 4-5 tour operators here but most tours are booked and started elsewhere. All of them stop here for the night and also to acclimatize.
    From here, we drove towards the Tapaca volcano on the way to Suri Plaza up in the altiplano. The altitude steadily increased as we reached the base of Tapaca. We were almost 5000 mts there.    Lue lisää

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    Llaretas along the slope
    Llaretas along the slopeColored mountains forming the outer side of the Suri Plaza

    5020 mts above sea level

    24. marraskuuta 2017, Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The highest point on the way was at 5020 mts near the Tapaca volcano. The views around were amazing. We could see the colorful mountains around the Suri Plaza far in the distance.
    Around this area, we saw a lot of llaretas (small green plants). These fascinating plants grow (extremely slowly) between 3200 and 5000m near to the ground and on north faces where temperatures are slightly higher. They like sandy soils. Some are estimated to be over 3000 years old. They are extremely compact and can cover 30 sq.m of ground. Dead llaretas are excellent fuel thanks to their high calorific value. In the past, alive llaretas were also harvested for fuel (after being left to dry for about a year), especially in remote mining areas. They are now (successfully) protected by law.Lue lisää

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