South Amerika

I arrived late evening on october 30. by plane in Santiago de Chile. The curefew had been ended (otherwise i would have to spend the night at the airport) and the airport buses where running, but at least CentroPort not go to their normal last stop at Los Heroes where my Hostel was nearby (appearently a demonstration was at this day around Los Heroes). The Metro was not running, some buses where, but no way to buy a ticket (a Centro bip! a Oyster type payment card would have been necessary, available at metro stations) at this time. Got then a Uber for 3500 Peso (~€5) for the final 5 kilometer (exact payment only !). The Museums where closed at the time i was in Santiago, most but not all shops are where open (october 2029), the supermarket next of my hostel had very long waiting lines (probably part of the staff was'nt able to get to work for having transport problems). Protests where mostly late afternoon and evening and sometimes roads out of Santiago where blocked. A easy way of seeing where demonstrations and toad blocks are: use Google Maps and turn on Traffic.

The Central Railway Station (unfortunately only some short rail servives today) from Gustave Eiffel.

Went first north to Calama (avoiding possible problems in Santiago) by plane but also there is a little bit of revolution, mostly banging pots and making music on the main place before the church, but also some looting. Many shops where closed or did sell only through locked gates.
Calama is a mining town, and the entry point for San Pedro de Atacama.

And by bus to Uyuni in Bolivia. This is a very scenic bus ride, the road was good on the chilean side, but unsurfaced and bumpy on the bolivian side.
The pedestrian part of the Avenida Arce between the train station and the market has some tourist oriented restaurants and tour agencies otherwise the town is a bit rough.


Had a trip to the Salar de Uyuni and the railway graveyard.





Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni

Avenida Arce

Avenida Arce
I had planed to continue to Potosi, but there where also a lot of protests in Oruro, Cochabamba and other towns, and finding buses to these places was not possible at that time. So i did take a bus to San Pedro de Atacama.

By bus from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama with a long stop at the border.
San Pedro is a oasis in the Atacama, originaly populated by Indios, then discovered by some Hippies, today it is gentrified with the center in withe adobe buildings, shop and restaurant signs only in brown wood and no cars allowed. Around that adobe buildings and walls in brown, currogated iron you find only much further out.





It is possible to make some trips by bicycle but this can be very tyring because of the sun.

The Museo Gustavo la Paige, a small but very interesting museum has changed its location to the northern extensions of the Avenida Pedro de Valdivia in the Universidad Catholica del Norte.

By overnight bus to Arica (i had originaly planed to go from Uyuni via La Paz and Cuzco to Arica and had a plane ticket from there to Santiago).
There where also protests in Arica and on my Last day there it would have not been possible to cross to border to Peru. But it is a nice town with a good beach and quite cold water.

One of Gustave Eiffel's cast iron churches, the arcitectural highlight of Arica

And some nice food at the waterfront

And a peacefull (at least in Arica) revolution

For railway fans, at the moment the only international rail service in Latin America