Day 5/Part 6–
Although we had driven down the tiny roads of San Pedro de Atacama several times already, we decided to park the camper and walk into town for dinner. We also needed to find the post office. I asked a few people as we walked along, both Anglo and Spanish, and I was told that it was near the police station and the directions were always finished with a finger pointing us in the right direction. We walked–asked clarification–walked– and asked for clarification until we found ourselves in a bustling town square. At the center of the action, a small band was playing and there appeared to be some dancers getting ready to perform.
Many stalls were set up in the middle of the square, and were occupied by vendors selling a wide assortment of merchandise to include: hand-crafted items, soaps, food, honey, etc. Small shops and restaurants lined the square on three sides, and a beautiful old adobe church occupied the remaining side. We finally found the police station that everyone had pointed us toward, but we still didn’t see the post office.
I’m a big fan of the Amazing Race, but one of the things that bothers me is that the contestants tend to run around like chickens and they never seem to think that it would be a good idea to stop and ask for directions. So–not wanting to be accused of being a frantic chicken, I asked one more time, and we were given a scant description that we really didn’t understand, BUT we got the all important finger (no, not that one!), which pointed us in the direction that we should go. Sure enough–we found the post office tucked away on a side street, just down from the church.
We stepped into a small courtyard and waited our turn to buy stamps. The building was so small, that only one customer could step into the lobby at a time. The bike pictured below is one one the mail bikes that the mailman/woman uses to deliver the mail locally, and a fancy mail scooter was there as well.
After finishing at the post office, we set off to find a restaurant for dinner. We weren’t craving anything in particular, so we just picked a place called, Restaurant la Manada that “looked nice” from the outside. Wow~we picked well! Our dinner was excellent and the presentation was beautiful!
