May 23 - June 1, 2022 - Laguna Santa Rosa / Antofagasta / San Pedro de Atacama / Iquique - People
This story starts with a little quote from my high school thesis, which I wrote back in 2008 about food in Taiwan. More or less the last sentence was: “In order to understand a Culture, it's best to share a meal with people."
A very wise finding, which couldn't be more true for our trip here in Chile.
Food Connects (May 23rd)
On our last day in Nevado Tres Cruces we had a conversation with Alvaro, who is running the place during some of the winter months. We discussed that it would be great to have a pizza oven in the garden of the Refugio. "I have a nice oven in the kitchen", he exclaimed and the plan to do pizza on our last night was born.
It's not necessary to say that self-made pizza and a good bottle of Syrah from Valle de Elqui were a great trigger for an evening full of interesting discussions about politics and lighter topics alike...Gracias Alvaro!
Let's Play (May 25th)
It doesn't have to be just food and drinks.
Laura and I decided to do a quick nightly stopover at Antofagasta on our trip to San Pedro de Atacama. The industrial city at the coast didn't boast with lot of recommendations in the travel guide books. We nevertheless found a decent room at Geosol Hotel and Caipirinas & Papas fritas at the Gastropub Macau.
White waiting for our food, we overlooked the light-flooded Playa Blanca of Anto. We were immediately drawn to a beach volleyball field and the training which was taking place there.
While waiting for our food I went down and asked if we might join. "Si, claro, but hurry up the training is only another 1.5h”With (too) full bellies and a tiny bit tipsy, the first game was a real disaster. Games two to five, Laura and I digested a bit and got back to our original shape. What a night!
Gracias Nelson, Ricardo and Luis!
Pisco my Friend (May 28th)
We made it to San Pedro de Atacama on Thursday May 26. Our car needed some care in Calama (more on our car adventures later), so we arrived late in the evening, stayed at the Hotel Planeta Atacama and cooked dinner. A chilean group of 6 arrived at the same time.
On Friday we were having a glass of wine at sunset and invited Ro and Pepe from the group to join. We had a tasty dinner at Ckunna with them and met Trini, Javiera and Karen too. They came to climb a Volcano on Saturday.
We promised to share a glass of wine afterwards, to celebrate their successful climb up to 5000m. And so it was wine and pisco that closed the night for us, after a wonderful astronomic tour.
Gracias Ro, Pepe y Jason for the Chileno language lessons and humor negro discussions.… and this story continues…
Whether it's sharing a meal, a drink or a game of some kind, these wonderful encounters were dotted along our journey north. Once we had the hang of it, we deliberately checked the beaches for volleyball trainings, (just like we managed in Iquique as well, two nights in a row!) and packed enough food and drinks to share along our journey.Gracias Flo, Anto, Jose y Juanpa!
Yuanfen definitely gets triggered through shared sport sessions and the stomach too…