Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Tom:
We are currently 2440m above sea-level, and admittedly a little light-headed! Took a 24hour bus journey between Santiago and a curious little oasis village in the middle of the Atacama desert, reportedly the driest desert on earth (if you trust the Top Gear boys - and of course, the Lonely Planet guide). So on top of the jetlag we still haven`t yet overcome, we are acclimatizing to high-altitudes. Not to worry, I reckon we`ll be about right tomorrow, as we`re beginning to feel better already. San Pedro de Atacama is beautiful in its oddity. Having driven for hours through the most barren land I`ve ever seen, it almost felt like our bus stumbled across this village, which is no bigger than Coads Green - my home village in Cornwall (call it half a mile North/South, if that). It`s got great restaurants, some lovely textile shops whose main feature rather predictably is the famous alpaca clothing, and plenty of drunken but friendly locals - and I imagine at this altitude it`s not hard to get drunk. I`ve decided to limit drinking for a while, seeing as I`d rather not have an exploding brain. We`ll take some pictures of the village to give you an idea of what I mean, but for now I`ll describe it as cute, weird, head-spinningly high up, and very friendly. Over to Nil...
Nil:
The only problem with travelling in South America is realising that you should have spent all your free time travelling here! It`s such a diverse, interesting, amazing continent, and we`ve only seen parts of Chile! Our bus ride to the north was the most comfortable bus ride. Reclining seats that were almost like beds, snacks given to the passengers, and excellent views all around us. This 24 hours trip was a dream in comparison with our trip between Vientiane, Laos and Hanoi, Vietnam!
As Tom said, we´re now in San Pedro de Atacama. The views on our way to this village were, I imagine, similar to what an astronaut sees when he walks on the surface of the moon! And then there are other sections that would be perfect to set my very own western film - yep, there was tumble weed and the occasional alpaca just taking it easy in the 25 degree heat of the desert!
I innocently steered Tom into a crafts shop and we just had to buy alpaca hats, to keep our ears warm in the freezing evenings that are typical of this area. Stay tuned for embarrassing, but highly amusing photographs of us sporting said hats!
Lots of love,
xxxxxxxxx
- comments