On our way to San Pedro de Atacama from Bolivia, we were told about the Pacific war of 1879. Chile fought and won the war against Bolivia and Peru over natural resources in the Atacama desert, stripping the Bolivians of their access to the coast! The Bolivians seem to still be bitter about this. I don’t know what the Chileans think of all this but they’re probably still healing from recent history – the US led Pinochet dictatorship between 1973 and 1990.

Once in San Pedro de Atacama, the first thing we did was to go check the various activities around the place. We realised that it was super expensive for something we had spent very little in Bolivia. The cost of living here was as high as France! So we decided to leave as soon as possible. We were told that a plane to Santiago will be cheaper than the bus. No restaurants or cafés had WiFi access. We got a SIM card to figure things out with our friend Google. We booked an Airbnb for the night, a bus ticket to Calama and cheap flight tickets from there to Santiago. However, it meant spending 3 nights in Calama where there was literally nothing else to do but Leo’s school work. 

The cheapest Airbnb was in a village called Solar on the outskirts and the place looked lovely. We took a cab and reached our host Ana’s house. She had the most adorable dogs who wouldn’t stop nudging us to be petted and caressed. The house had Chanar trees all around. We befriended Ana’s son Franco who was there on holiday. We played card games with him and his friends. Leo played chess. Franco convinced us that there was nothing to do in Calama and that they could give us a room for the next 2 days. We quickly changed our bus tickets and canceled our stay in Calama. We partook in a barbecue party for Ana’s birthday where we feasted on empanadas & Chilean wine, we danced a bit and did some stargazing. Atacama has clear skies that are perfect for starry nights. We were told about 2 outings which could be done without a tour guide for free! We went to the valley of cactus which had a river running through and various waterfalls. The next day we were supposed to go to another valley with a river and a waterfall. Leo refused to join us and went with Franco and Ana on a picnic instead. We really felt at home here in the desert 🏜️🌵

The next week it was time to leave. We took a bus to Calama and flew to Santiago. I had found a cheap apartment in Santiago right in the historical centre. The owner had simply forgotten to mention that it was in the basement! I feel quite stuffy in such spaces but Arjun and Leo were perfectly fine with it. They couldn’t smell the weird odour in the corridor and weren’t bothered by people walking past the window on the sidewalk. I felt like the poor family in the Korean movie Parasite. I told myself that it was for 2 nights and that we were out exploring the city during the day. Unfortunately, Santiago looked bleak and boring. It was too expensive for something rather mediocre. This wasn’t what I had in mind. 

Luckily, it was time to go to Easter Island. I never thought I’d ever go there. The island I’ve always wanted to visit was Tahiti. Our initial plan was to fly from Easter Island to Tahiti but as luck would have it, there have been no flights since the pandemic. We were forced to fly to and fro from Santiago.