Day 34 - Chilling in the Desert

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After the pandemonium in Santiago, today was a day to rest and explore this tiny town in the middle of nowhere. We all gasped as we stepped out of the hostel to see miles and miles of desert, surrounded by mountains and beautifully conical volcanoes. We hadn't been able to fully appreciate our location on arrival, and we spent a good few minutes just staring at the view. The morning was dedicated to booking a 3 day trip to the salt flats in Uyuni, Bolivia, as well as some activities for the following day.

Conscious that we shouldn't eat a big meal for dinner as we were going to an altitude of 4200m the following morning at sunrise, we opted for a 3 course lunch! A charismatic charmer called Rocco encouraged us into his "gourmet" restaurant for an almuerzo (3 course set lunch). To our amusement Rocco thought Chris looked like Prince Harry - a comparison that has been made before! We all had the South American speciality for starter - ceviche, raw fish (in our case chunks of salmon and reuneta) marinated in lemon and seasoned with celery and chives, delicious! After perusing the shops we had a cupa in a cute little salon de te, which Taryn had already been to once that day, and we returned a couple of hours later for dinner! I couldn't eat though - had been feeling ill since the long bus journey - aching muscles, splitting headache, unsettled tummy and no appetite. I attributed it to the dryness of the desert and the altitude, although we were only at 2400m, the same height we had climbed to on the volcano. It was an early night as Chris and I had opted for the sunrise trip to the Tatio geysers.

Chris's Corner

In the morning we set out in search of breakfast, Roberto directed us to the local "supermarket"... the smallest supermarket I have ever seen. Not only that, a true highlight, the old man in the shop had no till but one bit of paper he wrote everyone's bills on, adding up as he went, very covered in sums. We trusted the prices were not just touristy but maybe an end to the two tier pricing system we had endured on the beaten track.

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