25th August 2011
So after four days of jeeping it through Bolivia we reached the Chilean border. Ugh the messiest border Iv been to so far. We were there for about an hour lining up, getting our bags searched etc.... But eventually we got into San Pedro.
Iv never been to Mexico but I imagine that if I did go it would look something similar to San Pedro.
San Pedro is a tiny town on the border of Northern Chile and Bolivia. It a massive tourist town for both gringos and native Chileans. Its also EXPENSIVE, especially after coming from Bolivia.
We had no hostel booked so the usual search for one ensued when we got off the bus. We ended up finding a nice hostel for a decent price and settled in. Not much happened for the rest of the day, we explored (all of the 6 blocks that is San Pedro) and then sat in for the rest of the evening with pasta, beers & boxed wine!
26th/8
Today was a major chill out day. I was wrecked after the past four days of action packed tourist stuff so it was lovely to sit out in the sun, read my book, drink wine and catch up with friends and family.
27th/8
So, well rested, myself Todd and Simon decided today to rent bikes and venture off to Valley de Luna (Valley of the moon). San Pedro is the driest dessert in the world so we decided to take a cycle out to Valley De Luna, a valley about an hours cycle from San Pedro which is full of amazing features such as caves, rock formations and lots of sand!
The day started out pretty good. We made it to Luna, explored amazing caves and had our packed lunch.
Then the sand storm hit. It was HORIFFIC! The wind was so strong and whipped the sand everywhere and it was sore. We tried to venture on but the storm was too bad so we had to head back. Man, I was in bits by the time we got back to the hostel, cycling up hill against the wind in a sand storm is not fun, not fun at all!
That evening we booked a bus for the following morning to Salta in Argentina. I was glad to be heading back to civilisation!
28th/8
The bus left San Pedro at 10am and was an 11 hour journey to Salta. Unfortunately we had to get a bus during the day and not a night bus as we had to pass between two border controls that closed at night time. Day buses are not much fun, there's only so much reading even I can do!!!
We got to Salta at about 9pm and headed to our hostel which was basically like a hotel!! I already love Argentina!
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