San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) - Week 33

29th & 30th April

And so into Chile again for the forth time! We took the Jama pass over the Andes from Salta to San Pedro - amazing scenery. The pass climbs quickly to 4500m with vast emptiness and freezing cold winds. The journey was a bit of a faff with two hours at the border leaving Argentina and another hour at immigration in Chile but all in all worth it for the scenery!

San Pedro is a little town in the middle of the high 3000m altiplano plateau that runs through many parts of the Andes here. The town is a little oasis with a suprising amount of vegetables and animals raised considering that there is only 50mm of rain a year making it one of the driest deserts in the world. It is a lovely little place with a pretty white church in the central square and surprisingly, lots of tasty little restaurants and cafes.

San Pedro high street

We checked into hostel Vilacoyo with Roxanna, Nicole and Steve who we had met on the bus and went out for a delicious meal (with vegetables and everything!!) at one of the local restaurants.

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Katie chomping away on the best bread of the trip so far...

The next morning, we were up early(ish) for breakfast in the same restaurant (if it ain't broke, don't fix it!) with the most delicious bread we have had for months. We then visited tons of tour agents (meeting scousers Lee and Kate en route) to get the best tour through the desert and into the salt flats of Bolivia, leaving the next day. After that, we just had time for a trip out to the Valley of the Moon which was spectacular:

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It was only two days away from full moon and the whole valley at sun set was beautiful.



Books we read: Saturday by Ian McEwan, not bad.