Roaming South America

Santiago, Chile

November 16, 2024

My visit to Santiago de Chile, Chile, got off on a sour note. Why? Because of Booking.com, or possibly more because of the manager/owner of an apartment I rented on Booking.com. Either way, neither of them responded to my support requests. On Booking I got a reservation confirmation, all good, great, I had an apartment for the price of a hotel room. But, the manager/owner never contacted me with the requisite info for obtaining the key(s). I contacted Booking support and they responded with the expected cut-n-paste auto-reply "We'll contact you within 24 hours". Sure they will, I thought. And guess what? They sent me the same auto-reply 24 hours later, by then the apartment reservation time was long gone and I spent the night in a hotel anyway.

Copiapó, Chile

November 10, 2024

I arrived in Copiapó around 9pm and walked across town to a hostal I found on Google Maps - Hostal Plaza Carrera. At the hostal, the woman who answered the door immediately asked, "Did you talk to the owner?" I said no, explained I found the hostal on the map. She was obviously not happy. She called the owner, and a few minutes later gave me a room. As she wrote my details into her log book she was still unhappy. Maybe she had a bad day, I don't know, but she wasn't the most pleasant person to have greeting customers.

Antofagasta, Chile

November 7, 2024

This was my first visit to Antofagasta. This small city of around 400,000 people, is a coastal city with some beaches and a lot of rocky coast. And the waves can get quite high. Apparently the beaches just south of town host some of the championship surfing competitions. Another note about the beaches here - they are all artificial, man-made. There are no natural beaches in Antofagasta.

The climate is pleasant, not hot by any means, but warm enough most afternoons for a t-shirt or light shirt and pretty much always long pants. At least during the summer months of November through January. The city is quite modern yet has many late-19th/early twentieth century buildings and houses. The amount of rain received here is miniscule - about 4.4 millimeters over the course of the year. Temperatures range from mid-high 50s in the winter months of June-July, and low 70s in the summer and spring months of December-March. It's said that Antofagasta is the world's driest city.

Remembering Tocopilla, Chile

October 29, 2024

In the process of renaming and compressing all the photos in my photo album, I'm also revisiting the many places Ivisited, this blog is about one of those places.

At the end of March, 2023, I visied Tocopilla, Chile. While I was there exploring the town I came across aninteresting church. What was interesting about it? Well, first, Tocopilla is on the northern coast of Chile which isall Atacama Desert. The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on earth. There are no trees here other than theones people have planted. And the church I came across is made of wood, all wood. The church is called "The Temple ofOur Lady del Carmen".

Arica, Chile and journey update

July 15, 2023

Arica, Chile. First, my final opinion about Calama, after my second visit to the town - I still am not enamored with the town, mostly because of the desert - it is very polluted with trash all around the city, and the dust that hangs in the air. You can't see it when you're in the city, but from outside the city you sure can see it. One visit to the Atacama Desert is enough, two was more than enough.