HALLOWEEN IN VALPO
Last evening we had dinner at a pizzeria cum pasta restaurant which was a delightful casual place. The chef won the award for the best margarita pizza in all of Chile and the chef jacket he wore for the competition is framed on the wall. The Chief Penguin had the gorgonzola and prosciutto pizza which was delicious (I got a taste!), and I ordered the penne rigate in a simple tomato sauce with basil, also very good. 
On the way back to our hotel, we encountered several groups of children out trick or treating and were touched by the sight of them, but also of an older couple, who were standing in their doorway, she holding a box of Halloween candy.
ONWARD TO THE DESERT
We left Valparaiso and headed back to Santiago for our flight north to the Atacama Desert. November 1st, Day of the Dead, is a big holiday and leads into a holiday weekend. The traffic in our direction was normal, but the airport check-in area was totally mobbed with couples and families with children, all heading out of town! It took 40 minutes in line to check in our bags and get paper boarding passes. Then it was another fifteen minutes or so to get through security. The sign said, “No liquids allowed,” but our driver had said bottles of water were fine. So we asked the airport staff member and yes, water was allowed.
Boarding was in groups by those needing special assistance, then priority (both customary), but the next line was for those carrying only a personal item, and the last line (the one we were in) was anyone with carry-on luggage. Interesting approach. I don’t think it was any faster, but we did have overhead bin space for our items.
Calama was our initial flight destination. It’s the home of the world’s largest copper mine and leaving the airport, you first see rows of small stucco homes for the workers and all around tan desert and then a series of wind farms. We rode for about an hour and half and there was almost no vegetation except for some tufty tan grass and what looked to me like tumbleweeds as seen in the header photo.
The desert landscape was shades of tan, pinky tan, and brown with off in the distance soft lavender to mauve mountains. The sky was a pale blue with some bands of cirrus clouds making a layered palette of pastels. Alas, I was on the wrong side of the van to capture the mountains.
Only when we got to San Pedro was their greenery and plants. It’s a small town with rustic stucco and wood houses, a gas station, a few restaurants, and other services. It’s an oasis of civilization and probably, a real oasis since there was so much growing. Our hotel is located a short distance out of town and is a very attractive wood and stone complex with a garden (giant hollyhocks, lavender and rosemary abound) and marvelous views of the desert and the mountains. 
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved). Header photo is a view of the Atacama Desert en route to San Pedro.
The holly photo is great! So clear