December 3, 2005
Day 66
My bus to Calama left at 8:30 this morning, so I didn't get any sleep last night. The bus ride was six hours long, and I slept nearly every minute of it. When I got to Calama in the afternoon, I was still really exhausted.
Back when I was in Cusco about a month ago, a girl told me about www.couchsurfing.com. The idea of the website is that if you have a couch or bedroom, and you want to host someone who is traveling for at least a night, you can sign up and let them stay at your place. If you want to stay at someone else's place, the only stipulation is that you have to plan to host someone else at some point in your life. The hostel in Cusco where I met the girl who told me about the site was actually the first place she had to pay money to stay at.
I didn't bother trying couchsurfing in Bolivia because it was so cheap there anyway, but once I got to Chile, I figured it would be a good way to save money. The first place I found in Chile was in Calama, so this was my first couchsurfing experience. I had emailed Pablo, who lives in Calama, a few times already, and he agreed to host me tonight.
I took a taxi to Pablo's apartment when I got to Calama, not knowing what to expect. He had a really nice place with a big living room, kitchen, and balcony. He even had a spare bedroom, so I got to sleep in a real bed! I was very impressed as soon as I saw the apartment.
Pablo was feeling a little sick, so we didn't do much tonight. That's OK, though, because I needed a good night's sleep anyway. I worked on my blog a bit and went to bed early, not quite sure if I was going to visit the nearby copper mine, the only big attraction in town, tomorrow.
The photo album for this entry is here.
