calama

So it was back over the Andes and inland to the desert for the journey to Calama. There were the usual stops en route. Fruit control, drug control, passport control. They are pretty hot on control here. At each regional district there is a check point. They seem particularly paranoid about bugs and insects as they tend to spray things a lot. My bag is nicely proofed now against the little blighters.

Calama is a smallish place. Known mainly for being close to the worlds largest copper mine. I visited the huge site and it is impressive but I was more amazed by the size of the trucks. Massive. For example, the wheels are gigantic. The tires cost $20,000 each. There are nearby sites where migratory pink flamincos hang out but it was the right time of the year to see them. Then there are geysers which truthfully don't interest me much.

I also took a trip to a recreation of an indigneous village. Not much to write about on that apart from having an argument with the taxi driver about the ridiculous sum of money he charged me. In a way it was my fault as I misunderstood the fare but he was still ripping me off. That I understood. The problem is I am still trying to get my head around hundreds in Spanish. Thousands are no problem but the fare to which I agreed turned out to be four times more than I had thought. I payed him and showed my disgust with some finger wiggling and a chorus of 'Malo Hombre!'.

Apart from that it is a fairly unremarkable place plopped in the desert. The Atacama desert being the driest in the world. Every thing is pricey too. I suppose the locals miners have a bit of dough to throw around at the weekends. For me, it was more of a staging post before getting to San Pedro de Atacama.