San Pedro de Atacama to Uyuni

In the touristy town of San Pedro de Atacama in the north of Chile there was one main attraction for us - an astronomy tour offered in one of the best star gazing locations in the world. Looking through some pretty impressive telescopes, we were shown a gaseous nebular, Alpha Centauri, a very impressive Saturn (rings and all) plus a close-up view of the moon. The tour was led by a slightly crazy Frenchman with a great (if a bit risqué) sense of humour and an amazing knowledge of the stars.

Our intention was to get from San Pedro in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia via a bus or two, as we’d heard the 3 day jeep trips across the desert could be a little fruity. After a bit more local research, it seemed the buses could be equally fruity, so we opted for the 4x4 option, and are so pleased we did!

The jeep was in deceptively poor condition (the stickers on the doors promising DVD, reclining seats and aircon turned out to be a ruse!). We nearly lost the exhaust en route, which meant the roaring engine could then just about drown out the noise from the suffering wheel bearings. Only our driver’s ingenuity with a reel of wire kept us heading in the right direction.

With 6 passengers plus the driver (more like a human Swiss army knife, as he also filled roles of mechanic, cook and tour guide etc) it was a little cosy as we bumped our way though desert, mountain tracks and salt plains, but luckily we had a great group who all got into the spirit of things (fried corned beef was a treat for us all!). Our first night was spent at 4300 metres above sea level, and would easily qualify as the coldest night of our lives! The altitude gave everyone thumping headaches, and even turning over in bed became a chore that required rest afterwards!

The scenery was absolutely amazing - we saw loads of multi-coloured lakes, smoking volcanoes, flocks of flamingos, crazy rock formations, geysers and of course, the pièce de résistance - the 12000 sq kms of Salar de Uyuni. We also stopped off at one of several "islands" on the Salar where cacti up to 1000 years old grow to massive heights.

Rolling into Uyuni to end the tour, we stopped off at the train cemetery and celebrated with lunch of llama neck (it wasn’t as tasty as it sounds). With the altitude sickness subsiding, our gang ended up in a Bolivian lock-in until the wee hours - nice!

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