Greetings from the sunny and peaceful Turtle Beach in Chile! It did not take much effort to get us here, on the contrary, it gave us many pleasant emotions and Chilean smiles
More than a dozen days ago, we landed in Santiago, which was full of dust, street musicians and stray dogs. We stayed in the capital just as much as we needed to do the job we were there for. Namely: to get the tourist visa we need for Bolivia and I want to make a note - absolutely free! Right from the start, Anton and I knew we didn't want to linger in the big cities. We wanted to embark on our Latin adventure and escape to the small towns to get to know the local culture better. Said, done!
After three days we left Santiago and headed north. As we left, we gradually began to understand how smiling and friendly people were, despite the criminal glances we encountered here and there. We decided that in order to get around the high intercity rates, we would stop. We headed to one of the places we had identified - the small town of Weienar. We had arranged a couch surfing (the practice of moving one friend to another) with a woman named Fernanda. All we knew about her was that she lived a few kilometers outside the city, in a village called Imperial and had two children. That was enough for us, and off we went. We were late with a stop and at dusk we arrived at the aforementioned destination.
We ended up in a deserted village, thinking that there would be two or three houses - at least that was how we knew our scarce Spanish. Alas! Not long after, a woman in the car passed along with her father and her son, stopping and asking them about Fernanda. Fortunately, they turned out to know two Fernandes. We had to somehow choose the right one. We said that she had two children and that exhausted everything we knew. People in the car convinced us that they knew her and that they would help us, or at least that's how we translated it. They invited us to get in their car and without jumping and thinking we jumped with our heavy backpacks. They brought us into a vineyard and asked for the name we had told them earlier. From there, they brought us back and sent us to another place that our new moons knew. They turned the car around and we "tumbled" on the country road under the pink sky of the setting sun. Not long after, our car stopped at an iron gate in front of another vineyard. The door was locked! We all started playing and shouting the name of our future girlfriend, but that didn't make any sense. So what would this woman do with the grapes at that time? - we asked Anton - Maybe there is a mistake and yet there is another woman in the village with that name?
Our new comrades convinced us that they were gone, and immediately made their way to the elderly man, who leaned out across the street to see what was happening. He did not need to know, nor did he ask or ask, the man immediately came to us and walked confidently to the locked door. He slipped into a shrubbery, which began to move at his rhythm, a strange sound was heard, and the door before us was open! Anton and I still insisted that this was a mistake and that we did not want problems. We climbed back into the car and rolled over the black path of the vineyard again. Suddenly a house opened up in front of us. It turned out we were in the right place. Long afterwards we wondered: What would have happened if we had not met those so kind and kind people in the car?
And just avoiding the big city, the bustle and the hectic lifestyle, we began to encounter the rhythm of Chile. Every day we discover and admire the great bakeries that are at every corner, with shop windows full of goodies and sweet temptations. And we also learned where Chile's fame for its great and aromatic wine came from. Often, when we meet people and spend more time with them, they always bring out a hidden bottle of grape drink and homemade olives from somewhere. Even a few days ago, looking for a place to drink coffee, an elderly couple invited us to their house, not only for coffee, but also for lunch.
Moving further north, the beaches in the middle of the desert, with huge mountains hanging over them, began to arouse our curiosity, which does not need much to rush down to the unknown beaches, always deserted because of the autumn. We surrendered to him! And for a few days we move from beach to beach, through the desert, which, although unfriendly, seems so mysterious, thirsty for adventure. And here we are - "Turtle Beach", by the road, from which tomorrow we will go further north, to more "desert" emotions. And that's how we start our Latin American story!…
It follows: Desert Adventures around San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
