Today is the 46th anniversary of Patrice and my first date. Yikes, that’s a long time ago. As you might recall you were all given an assignment last week to sign up 4,000 followers by today so I could qualify as a professional blogger in the eyes of the IRS. Unfortunately, some of you have failed me, miserably. My numbers have grown from 250 to 297. I did some calculations and at this rate, I will hit my target in 68 years.
Moving on, today we head for the Atacama desert. How appropriate since it was my friend Greg who recommended we include this spot on our trip. Greg has been a friend of mine since we were in our early 20s. He was Patrice’s boyfriend during high school and the person who introduced us.
For those of you who don’t know the story here it is. In 1972 Greg and I went to a going away party for a mutual friend. Patrice was there and we spent almost the entire night talking to each other. It was clear to me that this was the woman who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so clear to her. In December 1972 she got married to someone else (I agree, big mistake on her part). I next saw her at a party at the newlywed’s house. I had just broken up with my girlfriend and was feeling pretty low. And here I had to see the woman of my dreams living with a guy who was so proud that his refrigerator was packed with beer. Ugh, such a juvenile! Years passed and I’d always check in with Greg to see how Patrice was doing. Then the phone call came. Greg told me that Patrice was getting a divorce and would be interested in going out on a date with me. This was in late November 1976 at a time that I was planning a trip to the Bay Area to visit the woman I had been dating during my internship. The romance Gods were active because I got ill with Chicken Pox (yes at 27 years old) and canceled my trip. Instead, after I recovered from my illness I called Patrice and we went out for the first time (Old Venice Noodle Company which unfortunately didn’t last as long as our marriage). Yes, yes, I know this is a hokey story but that’s the kind of guy I am.
As I said earlier we were on our way to Atacama today. We spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express at the airport and it was very nice. We slept well except for the 1 AM call from our grandson (8 pm his time). It was only a short walk across the street to the Santiago airport. The airport is also known as Arturo Merino Benítez airport (named after a Chilean aviator who founded the country’s air force in 1930) and Nuevo Pudahuel Airport (Pudahuel is the region in which the facility is located). The check-in process is highly automated. If you only have one bag to check you merely scan your boarding pass and receive a tag for your bag. You then go to the baggage drop-off area and once again scan your boarding pass. You then place your baggage on the conveyor belt, scan the baggage tag, and then it is on its way. Very simple, no? Well of course not in our case. We needed to consult with 3 different LATAM employees (one twice) in order to accomplish this “automated” feat.
While waiting for our flight I took advantage of one of the several charging stations located throughout the terminal. Free charging and free very fast internet service are available. This place is very nice.
We arrived in Atacama after a 1-hour and 40-minute flight. Things were going great until just before landing when we had a lot of turbulence. I was petrified but I made eye contact with a nearby flight attendant who assured me this was all routine. We were picked up at the airport and taken to the Explora resort in Atacama. This ride typically takes about 1:15 but in our case, it took close to 2 hours because of mining equipment that was partially blocking the highway. Since our arrival was delayed we missed lunch but they were nice enough to get us something very tasty from the bar (Hake and pureed vegetables). Then it was a quick change of clothes for our afternoon excursion. I was not very impressed at first when we were walking through a hot and windy area with salt deposits on the hills. It was interesting but 10 minutes of this would have sufficed for me. I was very happy to see the van which then drove us to a lookout that was very impressive. It was also incredibly windy. See below.
I am hopeful that tomorrow will be more interesting but now it is time for dinner.
Hasta Luego
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 