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Hello all, sorry for the recent dry spell blog-wise, we've been awfully busy trying to fit in as much as possible in the time we have left, plus we got rather sick of internet cafes.
So after the initial fuss of getting into chile from bolivia (see previous blog) we spent a pretty relaxing 5 days in San Pedro de Atacama - a small village consisting almost entirely of one-storey adobe buildings. We arrived around lunch time and after finding a place to stay walked around the small streets looking for somewhere to eat. this was only complicated by the fact that after we'd ordered our food we realised we had no money. so after 2 attempts I (Tom) managed to get some, only to return to find connie eating my salmon thinking it was chicken! it was alright though as i got to eat some of hers and after initial flabogasted annoyance we laughed as we walked back into the village to look around.
We did little else on our first day other than rent our bikes, which the man kindly allowed us to keep for 24 hours at the normal fair for just 12. So we cycled around
the countryside near San Pedro in the evening light and found it all rather delightful. We then ate in and had an early night.
So the next day we cycled to some salt lakes out on the salar atacama to go swimming and just generally enjoy the ride. it was a 25km round trip on the odd patch of quite bad track, but it was fun and we really enjoyed getting there under our steam. we arrived with no one else in sight and when a small tour group did arrive we took much pleasure in scoffing ruthlessly at the lazy (albiet elderly) tourists. we wandered about for a bit, contemplating getting in the water (our childhood fears of dark, still water returned) and we rather tentatively dipped our legs in for a while before swimming. to our considerable surprise (why had not thought of this i dont know) the water was exceedingly cold and the amount of salt in the water stung any slightly raw part of our skin until we hurt all over. so our dip in the pools were rather sharpish and after a modest picnic we cycled back cursing the combination of cyclers bum and
extremely salty water.
the next day however was a wipe-out as i think the sun and possibly a slightly dodgy chicken soup the evening before reaked havac on my bowls and brain. i spent the majority of the day lying down reading and squirming, with the occasional attempt of venturing out of the room only to be followed by a quick dash back to bed or the toilet. not fun.
the next day however i had miraculously returned almost to full form and managed to get lots done. we saw a dog get run over and very badly injured, not the best thing to see before breakfast, went to a nicely done but almost sleep-inducing museum about the archaelogical history of the area and went on a tour to see strange desert lanscapes that border the town. There's a huge area to the north of the town full of strange, baron rock valleys that have been carved into strange shapes by the wind. Most famously of all the Valley of the Moon which really looks more like mars, all red rock and sand dunes bent into strange knarly shapes. It's very quiet there and quite serenly beautiful, for
the end of our tour we climbed a large sand dune and went along a ridge to sit and wait for the sun set and watch the amber light cast deep shadows across the landscape.
the next we planned to depart san pedro for la serena, a 16 hour bus journey south, so we decided to make it an over night trip again. this meant however that we spent the vast majority of the day sitting in the small leafy plaza with all our things winding the clock down, whilst a pack of stray dogs circled the square barking and causing a fuss. a incredibly boring way to end a rather lovely time in a very lovely place.
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anonymous
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The Ryan
Cool walking on water picture. ... I thought I warned you about evasive chicken soup...? I can't wait till you're home Tom. There's so many things I want to do to you. With you. I meant with you.