Days 32-33, 08-09.11., San Pedro de Atacama (Atacama Desert) Day 1/Morning

The overnight bus ride from the Chilean border town of Arica to Calama in the Chilean Atacama Desert was not particularly exhausting but somewhat annoying: the bus stopped at a checkpoint every 4 hours. We had to get off, our passports were checked, and our luggage, including the suitcases from the cargo hold, was scanned.

The reason given was food inspections - quite sensible in a desert 🙄🙄

After arriving in Calama between 6 and 7 a.m., we dragged our suitcases for another 1 km through the town to the bus terminal for the remaining journey to San Pedro de Atacama (clack-clack-clack..😂). Here we bought the ticket at the counter, and off we went. Around 10 a.m., we found ourselves in a lonely bus parking lot in the small desert town of San Pedro de Atacama - now more of a tourist center just a few dozen kilometers from the Bolivian and Argentinian borders.

We also hadn't booked any accommodation to pick us up. My friend said accommodation and taxis shouldn’t be an issue here; there's always something available. However, taxis were nowhere to be seen, and Uber doesn’t exist here. 😳

So we set off again with our suitcases to look for Erhard’s “old” hostel. Since the bus station has now moved to a different location, there was some confusion and then we had to get our bearings. 😳🤪

However, distances here are manageable - after about 30 minutes, we actually found “his” hostel - but unfortunately fully booked 😳🤔.

Upon inquiry, we were informed that it is currently something like peak season here, and it’s difficult to find anything 😳😳

The young man was very friendly and helpful: after ten minutes of searching (online, not by phone 😅), he actually found something that might work. He even drove us there! 🤗

After checking into our rooms, we took a little stroll into the center of the small town and explored the area (restaurants, bakeries, shopping options).