Of Geodomes, Geopolitics, and Geology

Parral – Liucura Bajo Sur, Chile

Like many of these stories, today’s yarn starts a few days ago. The day we were going to camp but then the campground was closed. I noted in that day’s post that we had ended up at a fancy hotel. With a fancy hotel cost. 

At the time we just wrote it off as higher prices in the fancier part of Chile. But then, last night – after we ditched our Holly Hobby camping gear – we stayed at a hotel in an otherwise pretty ordinary town – and paid fancy hotel prices once again. Again, not that big of a deal – but not something you want to get in the habit of either. 

But, as she is wont to do, Diana figured out what was happening. It’s not that complicated, really. A couple of gringos bike up unannounced and ask for a hotel room; time for the off-the-rack max rate. They can’t go anywhere else, and they’re gringos – they won’t even know the difference . . .

The solution? Don’t walk in without a reservation. So now we’re back to using booking.com or similar to find our places – at least until we get our camping gear back from DHL. (Sigh . . .)

But Diana outdid herself today. 

She found an Airbnb that was 70 miles from Parral – the kind of ordinary town that we stayed in last night. And not just any Airbnb. This is a geodome a few hundred yards away from the Rio Itata and Liucura Cascada (Liucura Falls). Super nice. It’s basically a tiny dome house – designed and built from scratch by our host, Felipe. 

Felipe is a software engineer by trade (he worked for a U.S. company that had an office in Santiago) but, like so many people, he quit work after COVID, moved back to his parents place (which is next door), built the geodome, and is now in his first month with Airbnb. Added bonus: he recently returned from a trip to Chilean Patagonia and gave us some tips on where we might go.

Wait, wait – I almost forgot. Our daily – or at least occasional – inventory of foraged food. Today’s special twist was purple onions.

Was kind of in the all-you-can-eat category. We also had a whole slew of wild purple grapes (you’ll recall that yesterday’s wild grapes were green – so another new thing). An excellent mid-day snack.

Finally, we picked a few apples or pear-apples (pearples?). Is that a thing? They were either not ripe, or not good, or both . . . Still, it’s the principle of the thing. It’s just a big milestone to finally be picking some apples again. 

Clearly, good days are ahead!

After we collected a few onions we decided that we would have fajitas for dinner. Purple onions are perfect for fajitas.

We stopped at Supermercado el Yiyo in the little town of Santa Clara. (My brother-in-law Phil was commenting that the photos from this area look a lot like California – and the town names are identical. Another case in point . . .) Now, “supermercado” generally implies a big grocery store. You know, with shopping carts and stuff. Not the local corner store – those are generally Mini-Marts or something . .. But we’ve noticed that in Chilean small towns the supermercados can be a little more austere. Such was the case today. 

No matter. We’ve come to like these places. You walk in and it’s clear that the place is like Cheers – where everyone knows your name. The cashiers and the other customers were super helpful, and, another guy, Luis, who turned out to be the owner, was very interested in our trip. We asked about wine and Luis was soon pushing vino at us – in big bottles that we could never drink in a million years. In the end, we asked about Pisco Sour – but that bottle was too big as well, and we bought a smaller bottle of pina colada instead. As we were about to leave Luis came out with yet another bottle – toffee liquor – a regalo (gift). 

So now we’re either going to be incredibly smashed tonight – which might be good as we lie in the geodome and look up at the stars through the ceiling triangle windows above the bed – or, as is more likely – Felipe is going to have some nice stuff to add to his alcohol collection . . . (Turns out there was a full lunar eclipse and the geodome was the perfect place to watch – just lie in bed and watch it all unfold.)

The ride today was pretty darn nice. I’ll admit that when Diana first told me about our 70-miles-away destination this morning I was skeptical. I woke up with a head that was aching almost as much as my legs. I was thinking something more like 50 – tops. But after a good breakfast and lots of water I felt better (common problem . . . It’s just so difficult to drink enough, and when we occasionally fall behind it can be kind of ugly . . .). 

As we rode along today the scenery changed right before our eyes. More snow-capped volcanoes way off to our left (east – toward Argentina). More happy cattle grazing on lush grasses. More pine trees. Lots of water. And fewer vineyards – though there are still plenty of wild grapes . . .

Which brings us to our geopolitics topic . . . 

If I lived in South America a thousand years ago I would definitely want to live in this valley. Grapes and wine. Onions and tomatoes littering the roads. Pine trees and rivers and streams. No trash everywhere . . . And you can breathe – not like Machu Pichu – which is so high it must have been difficult to even sleep. Oh, and there’s skiing around here – as evidenced by the sign, below.

Just think of that. If the Incas had come this far south they could have invented skiing. That would have put those Norwegians and Vikings in their places. (Although I guess the first real evidence of skiing was from someplace in far-western China). 

So why didn’t the Incas make it here. What I think happened was that the Picunche people, who lived around here before Columbus, kind of fooled the Incas. Kind of like with Greenland and Iceland . . .

The Incas were up in what is now Peru but they were always running around conquering other places – like in Ecuador, for instance. I think they needed people for sacrifices and stuff . . .

Anyway, pretty sure they got to the Atacama and were like, “This place sucks. Is there anything beyond this? Or does this lead to the end of the world or something?”

The Picunche knew this question would be coming and they were prepared. They had their emissary dress in rags and they gave him nothing to eat for months – so he was good and emaciated. 

“Oh, it’s beautiful down beyond the Atacama,” said the emissary. “There is tons of food and all is goodness and light. You should come visit.”

The Incas looked at this guy and saw that he hadn’t eaten in months – he wouldn’t even be good for sacrificing; the gods would be infuriated at receiving such a pitiful tribute . . . They figured he must be lying about the food and stuff. Probably setting a trap for them. 

They took ownership of the Atacama – but never even considered exploring anything beyond that . . . They didn’t want to fall off the edge of the Earth . . .

Okay, next question. Why is the Atacama part of Chile now? For the answer to that we need to fast forward about 600 years. It’s around 1880 and the Chileans have a new president – Donaldo. Now, Donaldo was the best president that Chile ever had – just ask him. He had a very big ego and very thin skin. 

At this time, Peru owned the Atacama – owing mostly, I think, to the ingenious Picunche/Chileans who lived in this fertile valley south of Santiago and how they fooled the Incas years ago. But the Chileans – and Donaldo in particular – had never been through the Atacama – because it belonged to Peru and the Chileans had much greener pastures of their own to attend to.

But Peru was dying to rid itself of this albatross of a province. The people there were always asking for more services – roads, water projects, food . . . It was just a nightmare to own this vast land of desolation.

So they developed their own plan. They sent their own emissary to Donaldo. The emissary told Donaldo that he was the smartest man he had ever met, the most handsome, the coolest, and he told Donaldo that he had the prettiest wives. Donaldo, who loved flattery even if the basest variety, was enthralled. The emissary invited Donaldo to visit him at his home on the Peruvian side of the border with Chile – in the southern Atacama. 

Because he was so important, Donaldo organized a big procession. And when he arrived the emissary gave him a giant feast in his honor. But when Donaldo asked for a tour of the area, the emissary told Donaldo that was impossible – because the Atacama was owned by Peru and Chileans were not allowed. 

Donaldo asked what Atacama meant.

”Oh, that is a secret. I cannot tell you – it is an ancient Inca word that is top secret.”

That night the emissary intentionally left a ripped out page from a document entitled “Inca Dictionary for Dummies” in a place where Donaldo would find it. The page happened to have the definition for Atacama – and this is what it said:

Atacama. A land filled with thousands of beautiful virgins and gold and mote con huesquillas; a land that was previously owned by the Chileans but the Incas and Peruvians tricked them out of it and now they are not allowed even though it is filled with virgins and gold and mote and Chilean men would love it. And, by the way, the president of Chile is a poopy head and he’s dumb. And he can’t have the Atacama. 

When Donaldo read this he was seething. He immediately left and ordered his generals to organize an army of a million soldiers in order to take the Atacama back. 

The war was short. The Peruvians surrendered, and, under great duress, gave up the Atacama to the Chileans. 

This is how Chile ended up with this vile place. But Donaldo was still considered a great president – by Donaldo himself.

(There really was a war between Peru and Chile about 150 years ago, and I guess Bolivia also fought on the side of Peru. The War of the Pacific – or The Saltpeter War. Chile really did take the Atacama. I guess the Atacama had valuable nitrates (which makes sense – I think they were mining saltpeter in that ghost town we biked through). Supposedly that’s what the war was all about. But it seems like kind of a flimsy reason to fight a war over a big desert . . . So if you ask me, it’s possible that I am 100% accurate here. After all, the world is filled with leaders as childish and impulsive as Donaldo – even to this day . . . Although I would not name them and this story has nothing to do with real life or any people currently alive or who might be the president of any known country . . .)

Oh, geology. 

The nearby river and the waterfall are beautiful – with kettle moraine type stuff. So, not much on geology – but it sounds better to have the three geos – don’t you think?

Another great day. Onward, to the South and Patagonia!