Hola!

We arrived in the small town of San Pedro de Atacama yesterday evening after a spectacular but exhausting few days doing our salt flats tour through the Salar de Uyuni. We left La Paz on Tuesday morning and took the bus and then an 8 hour train from Oruro to Uyuni. The train journey took a beautiful route passing lagoons, desert and mountains. We arrived in Uyuni late on Tuesday, an eery, freezing town in the middle of nowhere and were instantly bombarded with people trying to sell us their tours for the following morning.

We stupidly chose a very cheap hostel for the night which we regretted when we discovered the roof was just a sheet of corrugated iron and the room was the same as if not colder than being outside! After a freezing night we chose our tour group and set off in the land cruiser with a few guys we had met on the train, our driver Hector and his wife and baby Jennifer who was only 4 months old!

We drove straight onto the Salar- a massive expanse of Salt which stretches for miles in every direction. It was an incredible sight- almost like being in the middle of a snow covered mountain but flat and without any people or houses as far as you can see. We stopped for lunch and photos at a small lodge a couple of hours into the Salar and sat at chairs and tables made from salt! We got some cool photos here against a horizon which was only salt which makes for some incredible effects. I will upload them when I buy my USB cable for my camera in Buenos Aires.

The next stop was a small island in the middle of the salar called Isla de Pescado (Fish Island). There were cactuses all over it- some as high as 15m. From the top you got some incredible views accross the Salar. We spent the first night at a hostel entirely built from Salt- even the bed bases and tables were made from Salt. Luckily we all got on really well as a group as we were with each other 24 hours a day sharing a room, food and the jeep which got quite cramped at times. Luckily we also seemed to have similar tastes in music so the ipod selection didn´t create too many arguments!

The next day we left the Salar and drove through a quite barren and mountainous landscape to some beautiful lagoons and lakes. The weather got even colder as we went through the day and by the time we arrived at the very basic hostel in the evening it was about -15degrees. We tried to warm ourselves up as best we could but it was quite a challenge and ended up wrapping ourselves in sleeping bags and blankets at dinner! Unfortunately just as we were settling down for the cold night I started to feel very sick and spent most of the freezing night bent over a hole in the floor with no flush. A night I don´t want to remember! We had to get up at 5am anyway to set off, or so we hoped as after 100m the front of the car broke down with a loud bang and flash of light and we ended up having to go back to the hostel and we spent the next couple of hours all hunched round a single flame shivering! We were finally rescued by a relacement car and sped through the different sites including seeing some geysers and some more lagoons but were unable to stay long at each as we had a bus to catch to get us accross the chilean border. Luckily, we managed to catch the bus up just as it was leaving the border and then took the short drive through Chile to San Pedro, a small town in the North of Chile which is in the Atacama Desert and is surrounded by some incredible landscapes and geysers, hot pools and valleys some of which we are going to take tours to over the nect few days.

From the moment we crossed the Chilean border we experienced the massive contrast between itself and Bolivia. We were on our first smooth road, it was warmer as we had dropped a few thousand metres since Uyuni and we were sitting in a new bus! San Pedro, although a little touristy and very expensive is very pretty and we are staying in a luxurious hostel compared to the places we have stayed in the past week or so. We have hot water 24 hours a day and the rooms are warm!! We have also had some delicious food out and for the first time I am enjoyingthe food as I have had no appetite since I have arrived.

We are going to do some touristy things here for a couple of days and then on Wednesday we travel by bus to Salta, Argentina and then on to Buenos Aires. So, I am glad the second bout of sickness is over and hope that I won´t experience anymore for a while, the salt flats were a great sight despite the freeaing temperatures and I am loving San Pedro! I will write again when we arrive in Salta.

Hope everyone is well and Happy Birthday mum!

Muchos bisos y hasta Luego!