From La Serena to Caldera – Antofagasta & San Pedro

From La Serena to Caldera – Antofagasta & San Pedro

This is a short blog post about our journey from La Serena to San Pedro de Atacama. We didn't have many experiences at the stops along the way, so this post covers multiple places.

La Serena to Caldera

We set off on our journey to Caldera. From the pictures, it looked amazing. We were excited. We got off the Panamericana Highway at a gas station with the sign "Norte". After about 20 minutes, a beautiful truck stopped. We were happy and jumped into the truck. Unfortunately, there was a couple with a baby waiting 50 meters behind us, and they just stole the truck. Well, there will probably be another one... After 1 hour, another truck came by. The driver got out to grab a quick bite to eat, leaving the truck. We asked him excitedly, "Norteee, si si?" He laughed and asked where we wanted to go. We told him we were headed north. He said he needed to eat quickly but we could ride with him.

His name was Carlos, 38 years old, and he had 2 kids. He only spoke Spanish, which was great for us to practice.

We talked for 6 hours and slowly but surely, our Spanish skills improved. When we asked if Caldera was nice, he said, "jojo". In the middle of the desert, he turned on the blinker and showered for 20 minutes.

After a good 6 hours, we drove past the sign for Caldera. Carlos was kind enough to give us a ride further. He offered to take us all the way to Peru in his truck, with a place to sleep, etc. Carlos was a great guy. He dropped us off at the exit and we made our way to the city. Muriel struggled a bit dragging the suitcase through the sand, so I quickly improvised a trailer to help her.

Well, the first impression of Caldera was not great. It was a small, flat town that didn't look very nice. We headed towards the "City". The first hostels we looked at looked like stables. We quickly realized that we should look for hotels instead. The first one we looked at cost 70 CHF, so 35 CHF per person. But it was worth it, it was really nice and we decided to invest a bit.

In the evening, we went to find a restaurant. The town was quite empty. Maybe it wasn't the season, we didn't know. We could have continued the journey with Carlos, but we couldn't change the situation. It is what it is. We decided to continue the next day.

Caldera to Antofagasta

A taxi, I think it was a taxi, took us to the gas station. There was already a woman with 2 kids there. So we were 6 people in a small car. But the ride was only about 10 minutes. At the gas station, there were 4 crazy dogs, which made the waiting time less boring. Many trucks were passing by because it was downhill and they didn't need to brake. One truck stopped, and Muriel asked if they were going north. The driver looked a bit suspicious and asked, "Jo, wieso?" We told him about our trip. He asked where we wanted to go. We smiled and said that we didn't know, somewhere in the north. He found it quite amusing. He asked us a few questions about our age and where we come from. When we said we are from Switzerland, he said "Ahhh Suica, buenoo bueno...". He looked at the ground and after about 5 seconds, he said, "Well, alright, I'm just going to quickly get something to eat." He came back and told us to put our luggage in the truck bed. The back of the truck was open, so I tried to secure the loose items as best as I could. I also added a strap around the suitcase.

 Then we got in and the journey continued. Miguel, the driver, was quite funny.

He always said we should bring him a Swiss wife, someone with little temper. Well, I thought about it for a moment and thought, "Okay, but I also know some Swiss women with a lot of temperament." I won't mention any names here. The drive to Antofagasta theoretically takes about 6 hours. And one golden rule is to always arrive before it gets dark because it's not fun to look for accommodation with all the luggage when it's dark. After about 1.5 hours, we made our first stop. He bought water and I also posted 2-3 things. Funny enough, it was exactly in that village where we had wanted to make another stop. Luckily, we didn't, it didn't look very good. After about 20-30 minutes of wandering around, we continued driving. But it seemed like he wasn't in a hurry. After 45 minutes, he stopped in the middle of the desert at a small strange house. He said he had to do something there. Behind the house, he took out a gas pump from the bushes and started to refuel. No one knows if that was legal.

 He hitchhiked there for a total of 45 minutes. Finally, he returned to the truck and said we could continue. After 5 minutes, he said he was hungry. We stopped again. We went into a small restaurant, and the locals looked at us strangely. Maybe they hadn't seen many Swiss gringos in their lives.

We had meatballs with rice and bell pepper sauce. It was quite delicious. I went out about 5 times to check if our luggage was still on the truck. Everything was good. After 1 hour, we continued driving. We drove for about 30 minutes when he suddenly said he needed to take a break. Holy moly, he napped for 20 minutes. I shook the truck bed a bit to wake him up. At around 8:00 in the evening, we arrived in a small village about 20 minutes away from Antofagasta. From there, it took another 20 minutes to reach the city. He had a package that someone needed to pick up, so we had another ride. A young couple with a pickup truck. The first question again was where we were from. But as a Swiss person, you have no problem. Apparently, there are many people from Colombia hitchhiking and then robbing the hitchhikers. They drove us all the way to the hotel we had chosen. We spent 4 days in the city.

However, after the first day, we switched to an apartment. So we could wash our clothes in the washing machine that jumps about a meter off the ground. I was terrified, but Muriel reassured me that it wasn't that bad. After 4 days, we continued our journey. We took an Uber to La Negra, which was the only gas station around. There were no buses or any other means of transportation to get there.

Antofagasta to San Pedro de Atacama

Please, please, not another slowpoke. It wasn't easy to find a ride because there was a fork in the road towards Peru. Most people were going to Arica, so they hesitated to pick us up when they realized we were going in a different direction. I quickly noticed that the more entertaining you are on the side of the road, the more likely people are to stop. So I started holding up the sign and dancing, etc. We got bored, and Muriel said, "If the truck doesn't stop, you have to do 5 jumping jacks." Well, the gas station workers started looking at us strangely and jokingly asked each other if we were really affected by the sun. Finally, someone stopped. A young man in his 55s, a real joker.

He was also a bit suspicious at first. When I mentioned that Argentinians speak weird Spanish, he laughed out loud and said, "I hate those arrogant stupid Argentinians." From that moment on, we got along well. We drove with Alec for about 2 hours until he dropped us off because he had to turn left towards Arica. Muriel quickly went to the bathroom at the rest stop. I was standing there with the sign, which was barely readable in my hand. After 1 minute, a pickup truck stopped and asked if we wanted to go to Calama. I said yes. We got in. Miguel then drove us all the way to Calama and dropped us off right in front of the bus company.

He quickly went inside to ask if there was a bus to San Pedro. We said goodbye and waited for the bus for about 45 minutes. Then we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama in the evening. More about that in the next blog post.

Next Stop: San Pedro de Atacama

See you soon

Ernesto & Muriel