Remember the time we woke up at 3am in the morning to drive to Santiago to catch an early flight that we didn’t have legitimate tickets for? Remember then how when we finally did secure some reasonably priced new tickets, we had to be shuttled through the airport because we were now cutting it close to check our baggage and get on the flight? Remember later how we decided to go on a tour until 9pm and then got a bit turned around in the pitch-black desert before finding our way back to the lodge?
When the five of us reconvene after the trip, I’m confident that this will make for a great story, but as we were living it, it lacked some of the comedy that it will probably have in the future.
The day, however, wasn’t without its silver linings. We still did get reasonably priced round-trip airline tickets to Calama, which is only a one-hour drive from our final destination of San Pedro de Atacama. We arrived at our lodge without too many adventures, had some lunch, took a nap, and set off for our first desert adventure. And in the evening, we made it back to our lodge just in time for dinner, enjoyed a nice meal, showered, and slept very well.