San Pedro de Atacama

After driving for what seemed like days without seeing any sign of civilization we finally arrived in San Pedro de Atacama. Atacama is a huge desert in northern Chile and right in the middle lies a small oasis town on the Bolivian border at 2436m high - San Pedro.

As we drove into town it had the appearance of an African village, small one story terracotta mud huts with grass decorations. The lanes were barely wide enough to fit our truck and the bright colours of Dragoman seemed to overpower this small, quaint, traditional town.

It had been a week since the last hotel, cold desert nights with cold showers (if any) and I was desperate for a wash and a soft bed. Upgrades were not available so I was stuck with my cold, smelly, green canvas house. I wasn't happy so decided that a glass of wine might cheer me up.

Being in the desert, water is really restricted, in fact, on the way here we had passed a derelict town that had been abandoned due to lack of water. San Pedro was having one of its worst droughts for years so the water in camp was on for only 2hrs at night and then, although its hot, you have to get wet, stop the water to soap up/shave/shampoo, then turn it back on to rinse. The most horrendous experience. Its cold, you're teased by the hot water, then have to turn it off and freeze as the cold desert wind whips around the corner in the outdoor shower.

We headed into town for a group meal that evening to be greeted by a transformation. The town was glinting with decorative lights, buzzing with people and open fires in the restaurants gave a great ambiance. It did well to tranquilise my mood and we had great food with live Chilean music then went to a bar with a giant fire pit for drinks to warm up prior to the cold canvas of our tent. I had alcohol warmth, my sleeping bag, sleeping liner, socks and thermals but still I couldn't get warm. Tried to steal some of Ollies body heat by cuddling him but he snapped; your snorings too loud. (Its the altitude - I don't snore).

Next morning we decided to hire bikes and head to see the nearby pre-Inca town ruins. 8 of us headed out and after about half an hour me and Ollie were struggling. Every time I tried to go uphill my gears gave way, and Ollie had thought pedaling at altitude was impossible - until he realised his back break was stuck on! So me and Ollie had to lag behind - the crap bikes, not our fault. 40min out of town we found the ruins and a moutain at the side. I walked up the long way round, I quite like my legs working and not broken. Ollie decided to just go up on loose ground, with sheer drops - he's ok, but I've never seen him look more knackered when he got to the top! Lunch and photo stop then we headed back to town. The guy in the bike shop tried to give us our money back but we just took a free ice cream instead - aren't we nice?!

The next day Ollie woke up early to go sandboarding so I had the whole tent to myself. The best sleep I've had for ages!

That evening we headed into moon valley, a rock formation just outside town, so named as it looks like the surface of the moon. Its made from mineral deposits in the rocks and is dotted with salt mines. Its possible to see 26 volcanoes from a high point at moon valley. At sunset the colours come out in the rocks and it looks amazing. We were running late though and as the truck pulled up we ran to the top of a large hill (not easy at altitude) to find that we'd missed the sunset. Bummer. Still looked spectacular though.

So that's Chile finished - crossing the border tomorrow to see what bolivian delights await us.