It`s been an amazing, eventful and exhausting 9 days since i last wrote, so i am going to split it into two parts in an attempt not to bore you too much dear reader....

(oh and before i start, please forgive any bad punctuation, all the keys on this computer are mixed up, so it´s a test to even find a comma etc)

Ok so the last time i updated this was my last day in Santiago. The next day, last friday, we caught a 7 hour bus to La Serena, Chíle. Not wanting to be harsh, but La Serena isn´t exactly the most interesting place in the world...

Again, i am sure it would be a great place to visit if it was quite a bit hotter, but when it´s about 15 degrees and winter and the beach is the only real attraction, it is a bit of a let down. Luckily we only had two days to fill there, especially as the hostel was possibly the worst we have stayed in so far. I`m talking mould, cockroaches, dirty carpets and sheets,doors that don´t lock etc.

Ít wasn´t all so bad, the afternoon we arrived we walked down to the beach and watched the sunset, which was nice. After dumping our bags and getting over how terrible the hostal was, we all went to dinner and then to the only bar in La serena that had more than 10 people in. We soon discovered it was a karaoke bar.... and my god, do they love karaoke! Everyone was taking it so seriously, particularly the karaoke master( i doubt this is what they are called but for the purpose of this blog he will be named as such). He was loving it, starting things off with three numbers by himself, i have never seen so many airgrabs in all my life. After getting suitably drunk, a few of us decided to give it a go and show those chileans what we were made of. We chose Rick Astley`s masterpiece, Never gonna give you up. We decided on this as it has become apparent that the South America we have seen so far can`t get enough of the 80s and 90s hits. Sadly, we died a death... the karaoke master didn`t even dance along to us, and everyone in the bar seemed annoyed that we had chosen to sing in English and also didn´t take it as seriously as karaoke obviously should be taken. We left shortly after our performance and went back to our lovely hostel to carry on.

The next day we decided to rent bikes. This was mainly because there wasn`t really much else on offer. When the rental company dropped the bikes off, it soon became apparent that most of them didn`t have brakes and they were all massive. being the shortest, i was left with a battered pink specimin with a battered basket. The back wheel was so buckled i hardly got it out of the hostal before i started moaning. We all persevered and had a ride along the coast. We stopped for a bit when we saw a whole load of pelicans and sealions getting fed. They were massive, and the pelicans were quite scary. one of them dropped a fish head right by me from a height, i tried not to take it personally.

That night most of the tour group went to the observatory, but i wasn`t too fussed so a few of us went to the cinema instead. the only film that wasn`t in dubbed Spanish was Predators... suffice to say, i wish i`d gone to the observatory.

Thankfully we left La Serena for San Pedro the next day. San Pedro is a beautiful little town on the border of Chile and Bolivia. It is full of backpackers, but it`s still really quaint and there is so much to do. After recovering from the nightbus we decided to go sandboarding. Again, as i have said many a time, i am not really the outdoorsy kind, but i thought it would be worth a go.

We were driven a little way out of the town to some sand dunes, given the shortest lesson ever, then told to walk up the sand dunes and go for it. The hardest part was getting to the top. However, the scenery was truely breathtaking, so it was worth knackering yourself out for. Once at the top, you had to strap on the snowboard and fling yourself down before you were pushed. I was really scared on my first go as we were really high up, but after i flung myself down, it was awesome! Don`t get me wrong, i am no expert, but i made it right to the bottom a few times without getting so scared i flung myself backwards to stop. The guys that took us on the trip took loads of video and pictures, so i`ll try and post soon.

After the sandboarding we were driven to a mountain over looking the Valley of the Moon to drink pisco and watch the beautiful sunset. Again the views were amazing, and because of the altitude the pisco hit us all too quickly. We finished the evening off at local bar that had a large bonfire in the middle of it which meant the cold night desert tempertures didn`t really catch up with us until we got back to the hostal.

On my second day in San Pedro i joined a couple of others on a 4 hour trek in the mountains. I thought this would be a good little warm up for the Inca Trail. The trek was great and we got to see some amazing views, but it was also very challenging as at some points we were around 4800 metres above sea level, meaning that the altitude got to some of us and made the trek even more challenging because we were all quite breathless.

That evening we all went to a wine tasting at a local bar. It was full of backpackers but it was a really nice end to our short time in San Pedro.

And now to the good bit.....The Salt flat crossing....

Please see my next long winded offering.