Walked over here from the hostel, partly to see the lighthouse (apparently build as a tourist observation point, not as a real one) and then walked along the coast for want of anything else to do. You can't go up the lighthouse as far as I can see, there were a few homeless or drunk people sleeping on the sand nearby and the odd couple or two.
Was going to go to the archaeological museum to see the moai but there is a (national?) strike on today and tomorrow so it's closed. I haven't tried any others yet (the lighthouse was on the sort-of must see list next) but wouldn't be surprised if they are the same.
Guy who took my order didn't give me a menu. I'm getting a seafood empanada (they don't do meat) which I hope will be a) edible and b) non-toxic. Asked for a white coffee but they couldn't do that so having a beer.
Got up about 1110, had a shower and moved into the dormitory about 12. Apparently in there with a couple and one bed free, though no idea if that will still be the case by tonight. Shoved my bag in a locker and locked it with a crappy 3 digit combination lock then cleared out, afterwards remembering I had bought a keyed padlock for just such an eventuality. Being unable to find the archaeological museum on the free map I had in my pocket and visualising people rifling through my bag, I popped back to the hostel to check the address of the museum and switch locks. The room was empty then.
Also asked at the hostel about their tour to Valle de Elqui, which I had already asked about last night. Leaves at 830-9 and gets back about 5-6, so (I asked) I should have no trouble getting an overnight bus on to Antofagasta afterwards and I can leave my bag in some storage area (I fear for its security, but still). I asked and the woman at the desk reckoned I could buy a ticket at the bus terminal tomorrow. So at some point today I need to go to an internet cafe (hostel has a single PC in reception which seems to be constantly in use) and book myself in for Thursday and Friday nights.
1423 Just finished empanada. Tasted OK though contents were a bit sloppy for my liking. I just hope I don't regret it.
Anyway, probably not going to stay here tomorrow night, unless I hit serious problems. I just might stop off on the way back down, eg to try to see the moai and perhaps do Isla de las Damas.
Why do these tours always have to start so ridiculously early?
Vague plan for today is to wander around (to be honest, time is hanging heavy), do the internet cafe to book, go back to the hostel about 6 just to switch some stuff into my daypack to take with me on the tour tomorrow then go out for dinner and a few drinks. Don't want to seem like a sad fuck but might go down to the terrace and see if I can strike up a conversation if I get turfed out of the bar/restuarant at 10; especially in a dormitory I don't want to be lurking around in my room and despite the early start there is no way I'm going to get to sleep if I go to bed at 1030.
Bit worried about the phone battery; I am probably not going to get the chance to charge it in the dormitory (in part because I have to effectively check out at 0800 so even if there's a handy mains socket I'd rather not have to remember to pack the charger tomorrow morning) and after that the next chance will be Antofagasta on Thursday morning. So I probably shouldn't be wasting power writing this drivel. :-)
If at all possible I want a private room again in Antofagasta and purely for laundry purposes it would be nice to have a private bathroom. Guess we'll see what it's like when I try to book. Not overwhelmed at the idea of using my credit card in a net cafe but I guess there's no alternative. I shall perhaps enter the number via copy and paste to thwart any keyloggers and trust they can't be arsed to intercept the secure connection. I suppose I could try the hostel first but unless I'm in the neighbourhood I'd rather not go back just on the offchance. I'd also feel under pressure if there were loads of people waiting.
I suppose ignoring the small risk of delays or clothes going missing, it might be cheaper to pay for laundry service than to spring for a private bathroom just to do the laundry in myself.
1448 Just got another schopp. Oddly the last one was 300ml (it was marked on the glass) and this one looks like a slightly undersized pint. I suspect they might both be 300ml but it's hard to be sure. Will have this, visit the gents (partly just to wash my hands and get my debit card out of its hidden pocket so I can withdraw some more cash) then wander back towards the hostel/town centre. I don't see much percentage in covering the entire 6km stretch of sea front.
1456 Must admit I'm feeling a bit jittery all of a sudden. No real reason, I guess it's just this slight uncertainty and social unease that's getting to me. Have a bit of a headache (left temple, where it always seems to be lately) but I suspect it's from the sun (it is overcast but perhaps not enough). Cough/blocked nose persists - my hanky is absolutely foul ;-) - but I think it is subsiding. Oddly it's only ever my right nostril which seems to be blocked, I might feel happier if the headache was on the same side but still. It's probably just a brain tumour anyway.
With all the bus travel tomorrow I damn well hope that empanada was OK. Without going into excessive detail my bowels seem in moderately good if not perfect form so far during the trip.
You know, after I wander back I might buy a bottle of coke or something and sit around on the hostel terrace reading Yes Man. I don't want to be seen hanging around there too much but if I'm not careful I am going to just end up sat in bars all afternoon for want of anything to do, and I need to save that for this evening. ;-) That would at least maybe give me the chance to try and get on the web there to book the hostel in Antofagasta.
If I can't get in at Antofagasta I might try for Calama or even San Pedro. But, while I am not sure what Antofagasta/Calama are like - my guide books, to the best of my recollection, suggest from a tourist point of view they are mainly stopovers on the way to San Pedro - I really don't want to spend Friday night in San Pedro, and perhaps I'd even rather avoid Saturday. I didn't like the place much in itself last time I was there and it seemed busy yet oddly dead. A very tourist trap, overpriced sort of place. Antofagasta/Calama can hardly be worse and might be cool. I guess if I am going to end up in a hostel it's probably also going to be easier to meet people if there are relatively few people staying there.
The sky has cleared and it's now quite sunny. I took some photos on the walk over here but it might be better on the way back. There is a cross, which may be the third millennium cross in Coquimbo (? Copiapo?) which my guide book mentioned, visible across the bay but it was a bit hidden by the haze before.
1915 In Duna Classic Rock Bar (which, according to the sign over the bar, does stay open late (1:30 Sun, 2:30 midweek, 3:30 Fri/Sat and those are alcohol served til times, they actually shut slightly later). Amazing language problems with the rather nice waitress but I have a 970ml bottle of Brahma 5.5% in front of me for which I appear to have paid CLP1,200, or about £1.50. Will leave a tip of course but still. Had to pay up front which was part of the confusion (I didn't recognise the verb 'cancelar' in the same of 'pay off') but not all of it.
Time hasn't dragged quite as much as I thought. Walked back to hostel, spent 40 mins in an internet cafe, went into a chemist to buy a decent razor, got back to hostel and shaved. Prepared daypack for tomorrow and discovered an apparent total lack of mains sockets in the dormitory. However, I did manage to charge the thing up to 85% in the bathroom while shaving. If I do go down to the lower terrace at the hostel tonight I might ask if there's somewhere down there I can charge it.
Staff at pharmacy v helpful, the razor I bought was CLP2100 ish and they switched the packet for one on offer for under CLP2000 with a free multi-tool (which I may have to throw or give away when I fly back, but we'll see). They also accepted a CLP5,000 note with a big chunk missing in one corner, which I got out of a cash machine in that condition only a few minutes earlier.
Anyway, the booking. Basically hostelworld and hostelbookers have nothing listed in Antofagasta or Calama. I found one very nice and cheap hostely-hotely place in Antofagasta (Hostal 1207 or something like that) but you couldn't book online and I don't have time to go back and forth via e-mail or phone them. Expedia had some super expensive hotels in Antofagasta (I think it was at least £80/night for the cheapest) and a more affordable "apart hotel" in Calama at a bit over £40/night. So I booked that - any port in a storm etc. In principle I could maybe have asked at my hostel for a hostel in Antofagasta (Marian is doing that all the time, she said) but I kind of don't want to end up asking them to book me a room to myself or staying in a dormitory again.
I am assuming I can get a direct bus from here to Calama (it's an extra 215km/3h I believe), failing that I guess I can always change buses in Antofagasta, there must be loads between the two and I should get into Antofagasta before midday. Famous last words etc.
I wish I could get my head straight about this damn hostel business. As I booked the place in Calama I felt I was kind of cheating (not that there were any conveniently bookable hostels in either place, as I said). But then I have a night like tonight when I'm in a dormitory (called 'Puta Madre'!) and it bugs me. Or more 'typically' it's like last night or this morning and the place seems to be crawling with SYTs and I feel like a right sad old fuck. But then again sometimes it happens like last night that I end up talking to people and it's pretty cool.
Anyway, in terms of the larger itinerary, I am not exactly following what I sketched out but I didn't expect to. It also looks like I could be in San Pedro by Saturday or Sunday, in which case I will (if I want to) hopefully be able to tick off the sandboarding and stargazing before the halfway point of the holiday.
Apropos of nothing, I was given a free 'terremoto' (earthquake) drink last night. I am not sure about the ingredients but I think it has ice cream, pineapple (juice?) and grenadine. This was in honour of Ben, an Australian guy, having his 24th birthday. Git ;-) At one point he asked if I'd been to Australia and I said the spiders put the wind up me. He said if I didn't go in Spring it would be fine, and maybe to avoid walking under trees. I mentioned the business with huntsman spiders falling into people's laps while driving when they pull down the sun visor and I think he said it had happened to him. He's not phobic but I guess it's still fucking surprising. (I mean, I'm not phobic about rats. But it would be a pisser and no mistake if I pulled down my sun visor while driving and had a rat dumped in my lap.)
The decor in here is classic rock bar mural kind of stuff in four alcoves round the walls with red paint all over the rest. The place isn't very big but it's quite busy even this early. I don't really feel it's the right day of the week, especially given tomorrow's itinerary, to 'go hard' and make a real night of it but I'm glad I'm here. I think you can eat here but I will probably wander off and go somewhere else. Maybe not, I suppose I will play it by ear. Do not want to get pissed though. (I might add that both Sunday and Monday were pretty restrained, one way or another. And Saturday wasn't particularly extreme either.)
Also apropos of nothing, both nights in Santiago I got a taxi home. Neither driver was wearing a seatbelt and although I tried to put mine on, there appeared to be no sockets for me to plug them into. While all things being equal I would have worn one, in a strange, irrational way there is something deliciously decadant and 'un-British' (I could probably write 'un-European' or whatever too) about that kind of thing. Just imagine not being *compelled* to wear a seatbelt. (At the same time, it would have been nice if I could have had a choice to wear one.)
There is some kind of, presumably national, telethon 2-3 Dec. I keep seeing posters and cars with it 'painted' onto the back window and I think it was the same in Santiago. Maybe I exaggerate but the amount of publicity seems almost insane.
Saw a sign about the 'corner spider' (which, as I kind of already knew) is widely distributed here (50% of all urban properties according to the sign). It is also smallish (body 1cm, legs 3cm if memory serves) but I believe it is poisonous (though maybe not, because the ad didn't dwell on it, but then why would 'most' people be concerned with such a relatively small spider if it wasn't poisonous?). This sign was an advert for an 'insecticide' spray but still. Took a photo of it which I may e-mail to Chris for his delectation if I get the chance, as I believe he mentioned them to me before.
2035 Just ordered a 'Pizza Duna' and another bottle of beer,which cost CLP2,500. I don't know exactly what the pizza is going to be like, but this is amazing value. Not quite finished the first bottle yet but it was easiest to order another with the pizza. May feel different after but I will probably go back to the hostel after this lot; I might get a bit of chat, and if I do I'll be drinking a lot slower than I do on my own, and I might also be able to get my phone charged up. If not I guess it will be fine, I can read Yes Man again on the bus if pushed and I have an MP3 player and I hope to sleep on the bus anyway.
2153 Pizza not bad if not huge. Not quite halfway through second bottle and feeling oddly, not quite pissed, but sort of. Possibly going to leave fairly soon and see if there's any chance for a beer and chat at hostel, and maybe see if they will put my phone on to charge at reception or something. This is odd, 'cos it's like 3 pints (admittedly at 5.5%). I am not pissed, it just sort of feels like I am. Goes against the grain to walk out like this leaving beer behind and if I had a private room with a mains socket and didn't have to be up so early I'd probably stick on here. But as it is it doesn't feel quite right.
2319 Well that was fucking bizarre.
Went for a slash and found there was a big open courtyard belonging to the same bar. Left anyway (half bottle) and came back to hostel. Am here now in dormitory on own writing this in bed, BTW.
Guy at reception agreed to put phone on charge for me and when I asked if I could have a beer downstairs said yes. Went down to find it deserted, vague sounds from terrace above. Went for a slash and didn't shut door. Guy started to come in, saw me, I said sorry, he went out. I sat in lower terrace musing and saw him come out of another bog. He sort of grunted at me.
Figuring stuff might be going on on upper terrace and I shouldn't be so reticent went up there. Didn't see anyone I recognised (though later saw Ben from last night leave). Guy comes up to me all drunk and aggressive. Taking my tip from Dominic I sort of 'stood' in a somewhat passive way. I kind of figured I wouldn't get the shit kicked out of me with other people around when I hadn't done anything. He called me a cunt and asked for a fag, I said 'what? You just called me a cunt', then I gave him one anyway. He sort of came round and we talked about his travels, he raved above Goa and some place called Val-something. His gf was hanging around and obviously sort of worried about him, I ended up speaking to her a bit and she told me about their trip. They are doing a year round the world and are nearly done.
Didn't get a beer - didn't see any chance to buy one and didn't like to ask, plus after the boyfriend (Andy, by the way) left to go to bed it was just me, the gf and one oldish looking bloke sat by the fire.
Not exactly a bad experience all told and I did get the phone charged nearly to full during it but a) a bit weird and b) totally different from last night's fairly sober and very relaxed chat.
Must say for the record the gf was very pleasant and I suspect Andy's probably not a bad guy sober, though I'd rather not hang around anyone who gets like that when drunk. (I have many faults, but I don't think that's one of them.)
Do wonder if I shouldn't have gone up there - I wasn't invited after all - but on the other hand it's a common area and I didn't get a chance to intrude on any conversations before Andy came over to me. So I guess I didn't really do anything wrong.
If not for the phone (and yes, the early start) half wish I'd stayed at Duna but as I already said it wasn't really the right night for it.
Will send this off now and try to get to sleep anyway, ideally before my roommates return.
