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After an extremely loooooonnnnnggggg bus ride through desert land to the Chilean border, we hopped on taxi that took us to the border, through customs and on to the bus terminal where we booked our bus ticket to San Pedro. Thanks to a young girl, Natalia, who could speak English, our trip was made a little easier, starting with the purchase of something to eat. As Murphy would have it this bus also broke down and we had to switch buses, then we had a midnight luggage control check, all bundling out of the bus hardly having a comprehensive cell functioning in our brains due to sleep still being what the brain was functioning on, and then had to carry our bags and send them through the x-ray conveyer belt. Then back on the bus to complete our journey. We got as far as Calama only to then be told that it was not a direct bus and we would have to wait for 2 hours for our connecting bus.
Eventually, we arrived in San Pedro... a real little cowboys and Indians town in the middle of the Atacama Desert. Natalia managed to get us a good deal at a hostel if we shared a room with her and her mother. We agreed. As per all my travelling routine I hit the shower first only to discover that hot water is not really a priority in a desert town. However, that was not too much of a concern. As we discovered upon our first walk through town, every second establishment is a hostel, so I reckon that we would have found digs easily enough, but it was good to have Natalia make the deal for us. Graeme went into town to check out the tour operators, but decided to work through the hostel after all, and at 16h00 we were off on our first tour to lunar valley.
We had a really good tour guide who made the trip really interesting. The rock formations are phenomenal and very varied, making for some interesting imaginative processing. We were then taken to the now defunct salt mines, then after some other interesting sights up to a stunning valley to watch the sun set behind the mountains. The following morning we were up at 4h00 to be picked up for our tour to the geysers. I think this trip was the highlight of my San Pedro experience. To actually see the boiling water exploding from the fissures in mother earth is something inspiring. We spent a good number of hours there as the sun rose over the horizon and nearly froze our SA little butts off in 0 temperatures, we decided to move on. Glad I had my rain pants, jersey, jacket, scarf, beanie and NZ gloves my daughter gave me. After breakfasting together in these unearthly conditions, we were taken to a tiny little 3 family village to taste their wares. Graeme and I shared a llama sosatie. It was absolutely scrumptious and redeemed the delicacy after the terrible chops we ate in Bolivia. We were then taken to cactus forest, which a little disappointing after the ones we saw in Uyuni. We then stopped to see a strange rabbit creature with a very long 'mouse' tail. Can't remember its name. Then we went home for lunch and rested before going on our third and last tour to the lagunas. This turned out to be very disappointing since it is a tour that is aimed really at late teens and 20-somethings. However, Graeme got to swim/float in salt saturated water while drinking Pisco sours and I sat watching him do so while sipping on my Pisco sour. We shared a real hippie type spread of snacks, watched a magnificent sunset behind the distant mountainous horizon and then returned home.
It was so good to get into bed knowing that no alarm or rush would be expected the following morning. We woke, showered and then took a walk through town to buy supplies for our 23 hour bus trip to Santiago. We have found Chile to be exceptionally expensive...and have spent well over double our daily budget on our brief sojourn in San Pedro. We will see what Santiago holds for us. Amber-Rosie is joining us there for a 10 day travelling trip with us and will be with us for Christmas before returning to the Seychelles to report back for kitchen duty. And so....until next time amigos....many blessings to you all.
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