Back to the city
The last day in San Pedro (7-9) was for reflectie, straying around, collecting and sorting ideas. It was quite cold outside. And inside not much warmer. I tried several places and possiblities. And enjoyed every minute of the day.
Then the travels from Sam Pedro to Valparaiso. Wat a learning journey!
According to the internet, I had to leave San Pendro by 2 PM towards Calama to be on time for the bus to La Salena. It’s about 400m to the busstation. That, I can walk, even with all the lugage, at 2500m altitude. It’s fine. (By now.)
After breakfast, I settled at the terras of the restaurant by the hotel. At noon, they were ready to close the hotel and restaurant (I didn’t know…), thus they sent me off. Came right on time to the busstation for a bus to leave for Calama. The chauffeur helped with getting my ticket fast enough though that I could go with his line. Put my backpack in the flight bag, and off we went.
In Calama, the busline ended in the middle of the city center. What a busy town! Because of all the flags, I assumed it would be the National Holiday, but that is just over 10 days.
The busstations are at the edge of the city center. Another 600m to walk, took my backpack out of its flightbag, that’s much easier to get around people and cars in these crowded streets. Different from the bigger city, here it was not one busterminal. There was a little backyard terminal for every 2 or 3 buslines. Every line has busses to the same city, at different days, different hours, different classifications. First step: collecting information. Second step: considering alternatives. Third step: deciding for a strategy. And go. The one I liked the most (and I already had seen online, but couldn’t buy online) was sold out. The next best left 2 hours later. Made my plan a tricky one: when we arrived on time in La Serena, I just could catch my bus to Valparaiso. Of course, we didn’t. Had to wait another 5 hours for the next bus. That’s the way it is. Slow travel. Even slower.
The time in Calama I filled with lunch in a pollaria. I remembered from Peru. All you have to choose is your drink. And if you like your food spicy or not. The soup will come. After that the halve chicken with rice and some excuus for vegetables. And some pastery as dessert. This one was highly priced: €9, including the drink. Took a short scroll through the city center before I went back to the busstation. The bus seemed to leave at the station of another busline. Until I saw the bus, I wasn’t sure, I catched this instruction in Spanish correctly.
In Serena, I had time for breakfast and a call, because I missed my connection. What I saw from La Serena, it might be a city with surroundings which are worthwhile to explore more.
With a 6 hour trip, I wasn’t too late at the next hotel. What a beauty! The taxi driver was a happy guide. Explained a lot about the building we drove by and about the city in general. Nice touch! After I was settled in my room, I looked for a place for dinner. The hotelguy gave me some advice, but the place was closed for the day. I checked also the nearby streets, made the circle a little bigger than advisable for this hour… couldn’t find anything that spoke to me. Finally, I checked a (organic!) bakery across the street from the restaurant. Bought some food, had a nice conversation. Lovely people. For my meal, I choose the roof terras of the hotel. Cityview, nice brise. Quiet.
The night brought a lot of dreams, more than usual.
