1205 Sat in some cheapish but extremely lackadaisical restaurant. Might be in with a chance of something as relatively healthy as chicken and rice here. Saw ad for churrasco a lo pobre for CLP3,000 earlier. Why is it so cheap and tempting?
Woke up surprisingly early (8?) feeling surprisingly good but drowsed in bed til alarm about 1020ish. Got up, cleaned teeth, had staff open the door to the room to make the bed while I was doing so. Showered and half re-packed to put minimal stuff in fleece and daypack for this afternoon.
Wandered over to stargazing place but they didn't open til 12 and it was 1140ish. So went and bought a pair of 'cheap' crappy sunglasses (CLP2,500 - it took three shops before I found one actually displaying a price) with a view to wearing them plus contacts this afternoon, having been a bit worried about the whole glasses thing. I do have the pair of non-prescription sunglasses I got from the guys at Barcap in 2006ish, but they're quite expensive so I figured not idea.
Not worn contacts in ages but I will put them in an hour or two beforehand and it should be OK.
The though of having that laser eye surgery had briefly flicked across my mind at points over the last few months, probably after Gary had it done. I doubt I will but if/until I do, I should perhaps get myself a pair of prescription sunglasses made up.
1211 Guy just took my order. No menu except what I'd seen outside door but I think I will get chicken ('al horno' which I think means oven-cooked, so probably roasted) with rice. Hope this isn't a massive con but price outside was reasonable and might hope that somewhere this small and lax won't be a con.
Oh, the woman in the shop I bought the sunglasses got a bit arsey because the CLP2,000 note I used to pay had a bit missing (the size of a fingernail). I think she might have taken it but I offered to change it and she accepted. I fully expect to pass the thing no trouble elsewhere, especially after that chemist in La Serena took the seriously sliced up 5k note.
Coughing a bit this morning. I guess I might as well go to hospital with tuberculosis and a broken leg as just one. ;-)
Need to remember to buy lashings of water for this afternoon (and maybe another bottle of diet coke for tonight; it will get old fast, but what else am I going to do?). Also to take crap out of my pockets so it doesn't fall out. Am going to take my camera (Valle de la Luna after) but probably going to leave phone at hostel zipped up in bag as securely as I can. I am pretty sure I can find my way back to the hostel without it and it's and the laptop are the two most valuable and hard to replace things I have. If the camera gets nicked it will be a shame but I can buy a half-decent one for £50 or so, I expect, and it's not like I'm as fussy about cameras as about phones/computers.
1219 Food just arrived. Not a gigantic portion but OK.
1252 Finished a bit ago. Pretty good. Need to get the bill, go to the stargazing place, get water and go back to hostel. May need to extend another night if the stargazing thing is an option. If they can't or won't accommodate me at current hostel I guess I have all day tomorrow to find somewhere else.
1300 El Huerto, corner Toccopilla and Gustavo Le Paige. 3k something so paid 4k and disposed of the damaged note; even pointed it out and the guy didn't mind.
1338 Back at hostel. Sometimes I amaze myself. Went to stargazing place, CLP15,000 for 2.5h. Closed for full moon from 6th to (I think) 18th so I got lucky with timing. Tonight at midnight or tomorrow at 11 in English were the options. Transport is only included to and from the office so what with the slightly desolate location of my current hostel and the 1030 reception closure I decided to stay on an extra night and booked the tour for tomorrow. On the way back I stepped into a hostel just down the street from astronomical tour office and paid a 50% deposit of CLP10,000 for a room tomorrow night (single, shared bathroom, WIFI!). Not 24h reception but guy said he would give me a key so I could get in OK. (I explained about the tour to him.)
That also gives me tomorrow afternoon to do a bit of research, decide where I'm going next and book accommodation over the web.
Sorted. Respect due.
Got to be at Hostelling International at 1545 but don't want to be rushing if (unlikely) I get lost on walk over. So gonna faff around with contacts and final shuffling of stuff for an hour-ish then go. Bit dubious about leaving phone at hostel but I'd rather be without it for tonight than for days while I try to buy a replacement. Also gonna leave passport here lest it suffer serious crumplage or friction in hidden belt.
2141 Well that was pretty intense. Just got back to the hostel with a litre of Cristal I bought in town. Could have gone to Chela Cabur but didn't want to be rushed. Sat on terrace (alone, and comfortable about it). One or two people in reception area, though I had to ring bell about four times to get in.
Bit nervous about the sandboarding but main thing was everyone except me and one (I think) German guy spoke Spanish. I played a bit crap (not hard) cos didn't want extra problems during sandboarding.
We drove out. One of the two instructor guys - both pretty nice young guys, if a tiny bit 'countercultureesque' - made the Death Valley joke I made in the blog the other day in the van over, but perhaps cos I'd made it myself it didn't faze me. Wasn't sat there all jittery, though was even less communicative than normal. (Apparently it's called that cos it's red and some Belgian priest called it the Valley of Mars, and what with translation and strange accents it became Valle del Muerto.)
After some hanging around at the foot of the dune, they told us (this was all a bit lackadaisical) to determine our dominant leg (eg by letting yourself fall forward, from feet together, and seeing which leg you put out first to stop yourself) and sorted us out with board. A surprising number of left dominant leg people in the group, though they said it's not related to handedness.
They then showed us how to wax the board with a candle, which you have to do every time, and we did that and walked diagonally up the dune. They said to step in other people's footsteps, because it's easier, and it is, but it was still damn hard work.
We got to the top and walked along the crest. The guy showed us how to scrape a sort of level place to rest the board in and I managed to figure out how to strap myself in. (Oh, I had been eyeing up people's footwear like nobody's business earlier on. Was especially worried that one woman had a change. Neither instructor said anything and one woman had a pair of 'low cut' trainers. Oddly one of the blokes got given an enormous pair of boots, I have no idea why.)
He then told us some stuff about going onto heels and toes to orient the board (I don't fully understand this so not going to pretend to write it clearly), and about bending our knees, and sort of having hands out to balance. Oh, and he asked who was wearing contacts, and I said I was and he said I could get some goggles from his bag in the van. I wondered if I'd have to walk back down (and it was a fucking trek up there) but apparently it could wait til after the descent. And then he asked for volunteers to go first.
So pretty much the first thing they do is tell you to push off from the top of a fuck off huge dune.
First bloke was really good. Then some woman on my right who did fall over. Then me. I was nervous if not shaking as I sort of bounced myself over the edge, then I sort of accelerated for a few metres and fell over. On my arse with no injuries. My cap fell off but the guy retrieved it and told me to wear it backwards, and it never fell off again. He told me to put the board perpendicular to the dune (ie horizontal, but facing sideways, not down) and go again. And I did, and I fell over again, but I did sort of get some kind of distance.
If I didn't lose count I went up and down six times. I was getting seriously knackered towards the end (one of the instructors did say later the altitude didn't help, though I am sure my lack of fitness didn't help). I won't say I got the hang of it, but I did manage to go for maybe 10-15 seconds at a time with some sensation of balancing (if not actual control) and the speed building up. It was very cool and a bit of an adrenaline rush and I would absolutely do it again. I'd have gone down as many times as I could, but every time I'd go and drink water and pant and trudge back up and wheeze a bit, so the going up was the worst part.
I feel over on my arse at least once on every descent and a couple of times face first, but I put my arms out and it was fine. Worst thing about going over face first was managing to rotate myself round so I could get the board properly placed on the sand to try again. I got a bit abraded on my fingers and managed to get a small cut on one finger from the clamps on the board (and oddly, one woman said to me at the top of the dune, possibly second time up, I had blood on my face - not sure how that happened.) Closest I probably came to hurting myself was trying to lever the board out of the sand into position with my legs when it was half buried, but I was stationary and didn't push it and sort of clawed the sand away.
I can't overstate just how tiring the climbs up were. (Dunno if my cough is a factor also; I was certainly coughing quite a bit for half an hour after we finished.) I get the impression it was the same for other people (who were all pretty young) but I reckon if I did do six up-and-downs, some/most of them will have done eight or nine. I seemed to spend more time at the bottom swigging water than anyone else. (Though one youngish German guy just filmed and didn't take part, and I did have some vague idea it was shoe related.)
I drank an entire 1.6l bottle of water in the course of however long it was (2.5h I was told, but I wasn't wearing my watch so don't know). And when we stopped off at a bog at entry to Valle de la Luna, I squeezed a little dribble out.
Oddly I don't feel I sweated enormously. Except when we first got out of the van and it felt hot as hell, it wasn't unpleasantly warm. There was a cool wind (and when it picked up, boy did the sand fly - the goggles were definitely a help) at the top. View from the top of the dune was amazing too, but I obviously didn't take my camera up. (I hope the modest amount of sand it got exposed to when I took pictures at the bottom and later won't fuck it up; I already sort of knew and the instructor guys said right at the start sand kills cameras.)
I will never read Dune with the same mindset again. ;-) The sheer effort of climbing up was something else. The idea of crossing any kind of amount of that terrain on foot trying to get somewhere is just horrific. God knows how early settlers/indigenous people/whatever coped.
I was pretty much left to my own devices though one of the instructors gave me some confusing (if perfectly intelligible English word by English word) advice when he happened to be at the top before my last descent. I think I was improving a little bit after six goes but even if we'd had all the time in the world I couldn't have done it much more without a decent rest. In a way I kept half hoping time would be up so I wouldn't have to climb up again.
To reiterate, it was pretty fucking cool when I could feel I was sort of balancing and keeping it together, even if I never made it all the way down in one go.
2229 Oh, I might say my bowels behaved impeccably during the entire tour. I took an Immodium beforehand just in case but it was fine, because of that or not. They really aren't that bad anyway.
Group of Spanish speakers at another table, one strumming at a guitar. Quite atmospheric.
Anyway, we then went to Valle de la Luna. CLP2k entrance, fortunately I had two 1k notes. I had been there before and this tour was very different; decidedly more ad-hoc.
We climbed up to the top of some hill/mountain. I vaguely remember this kind of thing last time but this and the later events were as close to proper climbing as I ever expect to come. I went up the steep path using hands and feet.
Unlike the tour last year, which must have watched the sunset elsewhere and was heaving, it was just our group up there. We had some Pisco sour and the guides told us some stuff. At this point I wished I'd been more openly Spanish speaking but at least I wasn't the only non-Spanish speaker. I understood most of what was said, including one of the guides talking to an Irish woman (who I spoke to a little at points; she lives in Madrid and is travelling with some kind of partner who is probably Spanish, she has a few months before a new contract in Feb-ish, but may have to return earlier for financial reasons. They are doing the Salar de Uyuni tour onwards. Bit jealous that she felt able to move to Madrid etc but still) about how the English dance badly and just move their feet. Not offensive at all but was kind of cool to understand when maybe they thought I didn't. I tried to use a little Spanish but the guides were clearly in English mode with me.)
We then climbed back down - I had been a bit worried about this, but half on suggestion and half remembering previous visit, I basically went down on my back using all four limbs.
(Oh, during the later trips up the dune during the sandboarding I adopted the technique of not looking up, just concentrating on one step at a time. The Irish woman said afterwards they'd done a lot of climbing and you 'never' look up.)
It wasn't dark at this point but the sun was below the horizon. We then drove a little bit and it turned out we were going into the salt caves. I had done this before - though pre-Potosi mines - so wasn't too worried when the guide asked if anyone was claustrophic. I asked if there'd be any climbing in the caves and he said a bit.
I was thinking at the back of my mind during the sunset at the top and this that a) it was cool and much more personal than last time and b) this was just the sort of slightly disorganised thing that could end in disaster. ;-)
Anyway, fortunately I had a torch with me, which was a comfort, especially picking our way over the ground after emerging from the caves.
No major claustrophic issues in the caves - I had confidence from going through last year - but right at the end when we emerged into twilight, there was a little rocky ledge (only a metre or so drop, but enough) which gave me a nervous few moments.
After the cave tour - during which we tasted a bit of salt, and the guide shone a torch into some big salt crystals to show how translucent they were - we walked over to some area and listened to the noises ('talking') of the salt cooling.
Then we came back, which is where this entry started.
Apart from feeling like I was almost going to have a heart attack during the later dune ascents, the sandboarding was totally cool. Maybe I'll learn (and even though I could edit the queued up blog entries to make myself look more together, I won't) but maybe I won't. What actually disturbed me most was the bit of 'climbing' with the risk of slipping, going up and down to watch the sunset and on emerging from the cave. But I had kind of done that before so while I didn't much like it (especially the bit after we left the cave), it was OK-ish.
While cool and I'd already done it, we didn't see all of Valle de la Luna, such as the Three Marias.
Going back now the story is finished, I think although I was surprisingly together all the time, as soon as I fell over the first time during the sandboarding, it made all the difference as I realised I wasn't likely to seriously injure myself.
2337 Scraped acquaintance with a nice Liverpudlian guy on terrace. He's 32, works in a hotel in Scotland six months a year and for the last five or so years has been to Cambodia the other six months. We talked a bit about altitude sickness (he's going to do the Salar de Uyuni tour) and about going back to the same place repeatedly when you like it. He left 'cos he's doing the midnight stargazing thing I could have done tonight and am doing tomorrow.
So everything's fairly cool. Despite the understandable request in bathroom to take short showers and not wash clothes ('you are in the desert') going to rinse off a bit of underwear, no more. (The socks I am wearing are full of sand, and I'm running low on clean stuff anyway.) Won't shower tonight but should be a relaxed-ish morning. Will aim to check out just before midday, check in at other hostel, sort out ongoing trip and maybe upload some photos. Then might visit the museum (again, did it last time), take a few photos and have a beer or two in the late afternoon, then the stargazing late tomorrow night.
Not redistributed my stuff back after the slightly drastic preparations for sandboarding, will do it at new hostel tomorrow.
Oh, the beer I bought had a CLP400 deposit for the bottle being returnable. So given the slack plans for tomorrow, I may actually take the bottle back and get my money, if I can remember exactly where I bought it.
FFS, I even have a bit of sand in my underwear! Oh, I scratched my ear earlier and there was sand in there too. I wonder how long it will be before I stop finding sand in unexpected places...
0040 In bed. Feet hurt slightly incidentally, but nothing major and at least at the moment no other pains. (Hope I feel the same in the morning.) Not really hungry but visions of churrasco a lo pobre dancing in my head. Mind you, a quarter chicken and rice might go down well too. Might indulge in the former tomorrow (well, today now) anyway, given it's a long day and I ate semi-healthily today. Always an excuse!
Oh, bathroom floor covered in sand despite my best efforts not to make a mess. Oh well.
Do feel a bit tired so hope will drift off soon.
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