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I took the night bus from La Serena to San Pedro and for once was unprepared on the snack stakes. I bought some sweet pastries when stopped, as it was the only thing on sale. It didn´t serve as a good breakfast though.
After the change of driver and new ticket attendant, we continued on from Antofagasta, on the coast, toward Calama and San Pedro. The attendant checked people´s tickets but seemed to have a problem with mine. Along with the help of an Italian guy, after a couple of minutes we gathered the problem was because the other ticket attendant hadn´t ripped my ticket on first inspection. In my basic Spanish, I told the guy I bought the ticket in La Serena, had been sitting in my reserved seat the whole time and have shown him the right ticket. I told him there was no problem and while he still held the ticket I turned away to look at the scenery outside. I wasn´t going to have some young, jumped-up ticket inspector to start causing me problems. I was ready to jump out of my seat when he looked me up and down, but I felt that could have led to further problems, so I didn´t. He eventually handed me my ticket back and continued to check other people´s tickets.
I got chatting to an English couple a little later, who were kind enough to lend me their Lonely Planet guide to identify some accommodation in San Pedro. On arrival at San Pedro, I walked the short distance from the bus terminal in to town with the English pair, then went our separate ways to our respective hostels. Just as we started walking away from each other, I saw John, an American guy I had met in my hostel in Valparaiso, walking towards me. We chatted as I walked to my hostel around the corner. As I was about to sign in to the hostel, I saw Claudia, an American girl I had met on my language course in Buenos Aires. I introduced the two fellow country-people together and following a quick shower, we headed out for some lunch. As it was late in the afternoon by this point, we chilled for the rest, drinking and playing cards.
The next day, I went with Claudia and a French guy from the hostel, Guitan, to some hot springs. It was really nice there, lying in pools of hot water, soaking up some sun, in idealic surroundings. The hot springs were situated in a valley, with lush trees and bushes to act as shade. It turns out, I´d soaked up a little too much sun on my back, although I´d kept my back away from the sun, I´m sure! However, I didn´t feel I knew the guys in my dorm room later well enough to ask them to ´do the honours´with the after sun lotion on my back (ref: Webber, Benicassim, July 2006). Well, after the hot springs, our guide drove us back part of the way, and we rode some bikes downhill all the way back to San Pedro. It took about 30 minutes but there was some great scenery and we picked up some decent speed. Perhaps 50 kph, which is all I was willing to do on a bike I didn´t know I could trust! It was good fun though.
After some lunch in San Pedro, I booked to go on another trip at the last minute. This was to do some sandboarding, then visit the Valley of the Moon. Sandboarding was fun, but getting back up the hills was really tiring! It´s similar to snowboarding off piste in powder, which means you have to lean back on your board. Also, you´re just in your socks, so you´re not as strapped in as on a snowboard. It´s just some velcro straps around your feet. I managed a few runs with some turns in, I think my best was maybe 4 linked turns over the 20 metre stretch. I have a video of me doing a couple of turns which I´ll try to upload. It´s a tough sport though!
So after, we drove to the Valley of the Moon for sunset. It was an area with lots of large ragged hills, with mountains and volcanoes in the distance. It was okay to relax after sandboarding but not worth a visit on its own.
Over the next couple of days, we relaxed, saw some more sights, and met some more people. I went to the San Pedro Museum one day, which has a collection of archeological artifacts, such as mummies, pottery with interesting designs (many had spirals, ever decreasing to the centre). After lunch with friends, several of us found a bar on the plaza, where I taught them Texas Hold ´em. One of the waiters seemed interested when he saw us playing for money, but we explained it was just for fun, and the money was only used as bargaining chips. I think he´d have played cards with us longer than two games had it really been for money.
The next day, I was to start my 3 day tour of the Salt Lakes and Atacama Desert. I met my group at 8am and we were driven to the Chilean-Bolivian border. The story will continue on the next postcard, for Bolivia.
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