San Pedro de Atacama

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We arrived in San Pedro at around 4pm and discovered getting your hands on cash here can be a problem. Only one machine took our cards and rarely had money. We have never appreciated the american dollars in our wallet so much!

After a good nights sleep we set of in the afternoon for the ´Moon Valley´. We were guided through the desert by a newcastle born chap with a south african accent (we don´t know why). After walking through an old river basin and gettting the chance to see rock carvings and listen to the sounds of the salt crystals contracting as the night drew in. Our final stop was to experience the sunset over the Andes. Hopefully the pictures do this justice as the changes in colour were unbelievable. We then ran as fast as our little legs would take us down the sand dune to our bus at the bottom.

The next day will live long in our memories for several reasons. We woke up at 3.30am to set off for a trip at 4am around the geyers of the area. We decided at 5am that the bus was not coming for us so retired quiet annoyed. When we went to get an explanation we ended up accepting the offer of some sandboarding equipment for use at the Valley of Death where we had been walking the previous day. This is both the most tiring and memorable activity of our trip so far. Once you are over the pain and heartache of scaling the dune (they are massive) the trip down is extremely exhilerating, as well as very painful if you happen to use your backside to stop. Having to cycle for 40 minutes in the heat of the desert back to your hostel is also not the best way to end this activity, we have now learned.

We retired early in preperation for our trip to Bolivia the next day.

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Photos

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to the left, the sand dune we 'boarded' down the next day

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formed by the wind. the one on the right was made smaller when someone broke it while climbing it for a photo. some people

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hahaha

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as the sun sets, the area changes colour constantly

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we we're not the only ones there, unfortunatly

Sandboarding 1
trying to get the hang of it

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Danny rides the dunes with style (and a bright blue t-shirt)

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Jake readies himself

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Craig makes it look rather easy

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The new candidate for Pakistan's government enjoys a snack

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Bloody massive!