I came back in LA once and left for Chile right away. My backpacking plan for this end of the summer was to practice my survival Spanish. In Santiago, I was alone most of the time, but in a bus to visit small villages, tourists were obvious to each other. I met a couple of Europeans. Conversations between them shifts smoothly from German to French, Italian to Spanish. Once I joined them, we talked in English. My Spanish was horrible. I was asking simple questions, knowing that I wouldn't comprehend the anser anyway.
Small towns seems to be relying on tourists for the majority of its income. But I was surprised they were not aggressive at all. In San Pedro de Atacama, price of tours to visit certain location are exactly same in any office. Since they don't have to compete for some reason, the atmosphere was pretty relaxing.
