Chile Forum

patagoniax wrote:

thisisreallycomplicated wrote:

patagoniax wrote:4. If you are worried about your health, Chile is not the place to be.

Unfortunately there aren't many options left. How does it compare to Argentina?

patagoniax wrote:5 In Chile, if it's a desert, it's toxic. There are other ways to say it, but in the end that is the message.

How far south do you have to go before it gets reasonably non-toxic, or is it bad everywhere?

You don't have to live in a desert or near mining. Many places in VII Región and southward with probably less toxicity, and most have easy access to water. Just bear in mind that commercial farming and some industries in Chile also contribute to the contamination landscape.

patagoniax wrote:4. Unfortunately there aren't many options left. How does it compare to Argentina?

Argentine toxicity comes in more flavours, including how badly you can be treated by their government. In Chile, property and business owners suffered terribly 1970-1973 and that included theft by the government. In Argentina such things have continued to more recent times.

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Isn't this the sort of thing you might like to do? Then why try to live in a place where it rarely rains and water is usually contaminated and hard to obtain?

No cacho.

cosmodyseeus wrote:

Red wrote:There's always camping and it's always a treat in Chile. Remember to bring your earplugs or plenty of fixins for Rusty Nails.

Just down the hill from the town of Pisco Elqui is a campground on the creek (river in that landscape). Camped there for one night and experienced the solitude of the high desert. Well, except for the teenagers who partied till 5:30. From the moment I crawled out of the sleeping bag, I strove to make the maximum noise possible, culminating with laying on the horn all the way through the campground on the way back up to PE. The few wandering around at that hour stared at me like zombies, no doubt thinking I was a candidate for local office (this was early dec, '09).

We bought a round of goat cheese from a huaso who came to the campsite and later came across a rodeo up canyon from Pisco Elqui. Fascinating area; lots of unexpected surprises.

Beautiful but harsh landscape. It may not tolerate you showing up unprepared. Being able to live on sunshine would be a plus.

what is this campsite called?

Red wrote:Plenty of campsites/campgrounds along the watercourses in that area. Most are peaceful if you get far enough away from La Serena and better to be on dirt roads.

thisisreallycomplicated wrote:

Red wrote:Plenty of campsites/campgrounds along the watercourses in that area. Most are peaceful if you get far enough away from La Serena and better to be on dirt roads.

How big is a typical campsite?

Red wrote:

thisisreallycomplicated wrote:

Red wrote:Plenty of campsites/campgrounds along the watercourses in that area. Most are peaceful if you get far enough away from La Serena and better to be on dirt roads.

How big is a typical campsite?

Well, big enough for a couple of tents. Campgrounds vary in overall size. Big thing is that everything is right on the creeks pretty much and so the campgrounds are often strung out. We were there at a relatively slow time and had our pick of sites for the most part. One thing in Chile- don't be shy about looking a place over or negotiating hard and being a bit demanding. Otherwise they'll assume you are all right with a second rate experience. Show up a little earlier in the day in case you have to look over more than one campground. They won't MAKE it right for you- you have to do that.

Hope that helps; but it's like everything else in Chile- you won't know what's up till you're there.

Red wrote:

thisisreallycomplicated wrote:

Red wrote:Plenty of campsites/campgrounds along the watercourses in that area. Most are peaceful if you get far enough away from La Serena and better to be on dirt roads.

How big is a typical campsite?

Well, big enough for a couple of tents. Campgrounds vary in overall size. Big thing is that everything is right on the creeks pretty much and so the campgrounds are often strung out. We were there at a relatively slow time and had our pick of sites for the most part. One thing in Chile- don't be shy about looking a place over or negotiating hard and being a bit demanding. Otherwise they'll assume you are all right with a second rate experience. Show up a little earlier in the day in case you have to look over more than one campground. They won't MAKE it right for you- you have to do that.

Hope that helps; but it's like everything else in Chile- you won't know what's up till you're there.