From Codpo to Pica

Friday 4th January

We were woken by several very noisy men passing by our bedroom window. We both passed on having a shower as it wasn’t that salubrious, and we felt we would come out dirtier than when we went in. We had arranged to take breakfast at the restaurant at 9 o’clock. When we arrived, last night’s dirty pots were still on the table. The landlady cleared them away and brushed the crumbs on the floor.

The breakfast was minimal. There was one cup of coffee with a tin of condensed milk, which looked disgusting. Kevin had undercooked eggs, with dry bread, and Joan had cheese on bread. That was it. It cost £1.60.

We can understand that some places in Chile are quite distant from shops, and that people really don’t have much money, but it costs nothing to make a place clean or to tidy up.

One thing we have noticed about Chile is that no matter how poor a community is, there is always a pristine kiddies’ play area.

When we were leaving the village, we saw the hotel that we would have preferred to stay in. It looked like some work was going on, as the main Chilean holiday season is approaching.

Further up the valley we came across a rock decorated as a shoe.

We headed south down Ruta 5, to Pozo which was about 200 km away, and the next petrol station.

We had decided to visit and stay in Pica for the night. An oasis town famous for its fruit. On the way we called at La Tirana, a pilgrimage town, where a local warrior princess was converted to Catholicism, and martyred by her own people. We arrived at 1.30 pm just as the church shut for two hours!

We drove through the desert and could see a streak of green on the hillside in the distance. This turned out to be Matilla, another oasis.

Our Rough Guide said the best place to stay in Pica was Hotel Los Emilios on Cochrane. We had some difficulty finding it, and when we did it looked a grubby, ramshackle place. We didn’t stay and went in search of somewhere more hygienic. Up by the thermal baths, we came across the Hostal Café Suiza, an immaculate looking place, run by a Danish woman and her Swiss husband. The building had no apparent construction defects, and was very neat and tidy inside.

On the street outside, vendors were selling fresh fruits on stalls.

We explained to the landlady that we had had some really awful meals for the last three nights, so she kindly rang a restaurant in town to warn them some veggies were coming. We had empanadas (a sort of cheese pasty) and chips, with a salad. A relief after two nights of cold spaghetti, and one of rice.




We had decided to visit and stay in Pica for the night. An oasis town famous for its fruit. On the way we called at La Tirana, a pilgrimage town, where a local warrior princess was converted to Catholicism, and martyred by her own people. We arrived at 1.30 pm just as the church shut for two hours!

We drove through the desert and could see a streak of green on the hillside in the distance. This turned out to be Matilla, another oasis.

Our Rough Guide said the best place to stay in Pica was Hotel Los Emilios on Cochrane. We had some difficulty finding it, and when we did it looked a grubby, ramshackle place. We didn’t stay and went in search of somewhere more hygienic. Up by the thermal baths, we came across the Hostal Café Suiza, an immaculate looking place, run by a Danish woman and her Swiss husband. The building had no apparent construction defects, and was very neat and tidy inside.

On the street outside, vendors were selling fresh fruits on stalls.

We explained to the landlady that we had had some really awful meals for the last three nights, so she kindly rang a restaurant in town to warn them some veggies were coming. We had empanadas (a sort of cheese pasty) and chips, with a salad. A relief after two nights of cold spaghetti, and one of rice.