Who am I?  I decided not to do a morning tour because I´m fighting off a slight cold and I wanted to sleep a while.  The tour I was considering to see some geysers started at 4am.  I woke up at 5am yesterday to catch the flight to Antofagasta, so I didn´t want to push myself.  So I woke up naturally at 7am, did a little writing to catch up with my blogging and made it to my buffet breakfast at 9am.  I didn´t walk away from the table until 1pm!  

I  met Bernardo, the owner of the kitchen.  We were talking for a while about the US, Chile, SAG - the agricultural control I so love, and living in San Pedro de Atacama.  Bernardo thought I was French because they don´t get a lot of tourists from North America.  Then an older, suave Italian man named Gino joined us for espresso and one of Bernardo´s freshly made caracoles - forgive the spelling, but I´ve gotta give up my perfectionism if I´m gonna keep up with this blog -  which are like a chocolate pin wheel with a flaky croissant like consistency.  Turns out Gino is from Florence and has lived in Chile for 13 years.  He was a chef in Santiago for 10 years, then moved to San Pedro and decided to become a tour guide.  He hooked me up with what he considers a good tour company to go to Uyuni, Bolivia with.  There are so many tour companies that have reputations for not living up to their promises.  At least it´s a reliable recommendation.  Then I met Bernardo´s mother, who lived in NYC for a year in the 70´s when she was just there for a 20 day tour.  

During all of this time, I kept thinking “Shouldn´t I be biking around or something?” But the vibe here is so relaxed, it felt wrong to have an agenda, so I stayed.  The good news is that Gino leads a tour through the salt flats and Bernardo and I are joining him tomorrow.  Apparently there is a section of it so beautiful, that Gino took a couple of professional photographers who threw their cameras to the ground because the cameras wouldn´t be able to capture the beauty.  Then they told Gino to be quiet and let them just take it all in and cry.  It´s a bit of a build up, but I´m looking forward to it.

My bedroom is a shoebox, but the good news is that my body heat makes it nice and toasty.  The bed was nice and firm and I slept on the best pillow so far.  Kind of flat so I can fold it, but still soft.  The hotel is adorable.  Took a cold shower yesterday afternoon.  I desperately wanted to wash my hair.  Did a little laundry too.  Everything dried within minutes.

Hostal Takha Takha

Took a 2 hour plane ride to Antofagasta, and then luckily made it to the bus for San Pedro with 14 minutes to spare - even after spending time in the airport bathroom rinsing my daypack because a small bottle of apple juice spilled all over my books.  I rinsed them all in the bathroom.  Thank God there was a air hand dryer.  Took a shuttle van to town and then five hours and a hot desert bus ride later, I ended up in this  desert town.  I thought we were just stopping for a break. Being an actress, I can only say I feel like I stepped onto a western movie set.  The only difference is that there are no horses and they have trendy shops and restaurants.  Oh, and lots of stray dogs. But it´s all adobe architecture, the air is so dry my curls are gone and you can´t help but walk slowly.

I´m much prettier here.  As I was walking to find my hotel, I met Manuel.  He´s from Santiago and moved here 5 months ago to save money.  He asked if I´d like to meet again.  Sure!  He´s a yoga teacher, massage therapist and musician.  I´m in trouble.  Men are friendly and ask me for a drink after just saying hello.

I had a creamed vegetable soup last night that was delicious.  This young woman owns this restaurant with her husband.  I stayed there and chatted with her for about 2 hours last night.  I´m going over there again now, to try the choclo (corn) and basil soup.  She makes everything on the spot and couldn´t make it yesterday because the shipment of basil will arrive today.  Apparently, like Easter Island, there are only about 5,000 people living here.  One guy from a restaurant I met last night called me by name when he said hello.

Creamed vegetable soup!

I´m off to have my soup and then take my tour of Valle de la Luna at sunset.  Oh, and the stars!! Last night as I walked to the bathroom again I looked up and the stars crowded the sky.  I mean, it was so clear I swear I saw those nebulae in the sky.  I´m not exaggerating.  It looked like a sky from a Stephen Spielberg movie.