Blogs from San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region, Chile, South America

I'm currently in the driest desert in the world, having not seen a tree or a cloud for over two days. I arrived in San Pedro yesterday, after a 30 hour bus journey from Santiago. I woke up at 3.30am this morning to see the nearby Geysers at sunrise and I'm now killing time before visiting the famous Valle de la Luna this evening. I'll then take an overnight bus to Arica before taking another bus over the border to La Paz tomorrow morning. It's fair to say I've picked up the pace a little. This is largely my own fault. At the time I wrote my last blog I had a careful plan mapped out which would allow me to see Santiago, nearby Valparaiso and Mendoza, before heading up to San Pedro de Atacama and ... read more

So to San Pedro de Atacama. A small village of around 2000 souls high up the driest desert in Chile at 2,400 meters above sea level. All the houses are adobe type construction of a single storey. I am writing this entry sat in a hammock in the terrace of my accommodation, the Florida Hostel. Dry, hot day. I am a D.V, a desert virgin so I suppose this is typical deserty weather. Stepping out of the bus at a stop in a mining town of calama i I spark up a cigarette and get chatting to Zane (Zano) and Lisa. They are from Cape Town, South Africa . Zano is a good looking, very amenable 27 year old guy and is of mixed heritage but prefers to be thought of as coloured. This is the ... read more

K - After an 8 hour journey up the Chilean coast we enter the Atacama Desert and arrive in the pretty town of La Serenaand check into our great little hostel, El Punto. We spent a few days here and spent time exploring the streets and eating out in cafes. On one day we decided to walk to the beach via a Japanese garden, which was very pretty but not at all tranquil thanks to its location next to a very busy dual carriage way. However, the trip to the beach nearly killed us – it was a good hour from town and then we walked along it for what felt like miles looking for somewhere to have lunch. The weather on the coast is exactly the same everyday – cloudy until about 2pm, then the ... read more

Apparently, it is well nigh on impossible to drive across the border from Bolivia directly to Argentina. Therefore, Dragoman drives from Bolivia to Chile first and then into Argentina. Today was all about crossing the desert to ultimately reach Argentina..... A 5.00am start with bread rolls toasted on the Dragoman gas burner and a quick hot drink of tea or coffee, then on the road towards Chile. Across the desert with a local guide along mainly single tracked dusty compacted tracks.. The drive across the desert was extremely varied. We stopped for a late breakfast at a stagnant lake at which a large group of flamingos had settled. Bumped along many more tracks over a high pass of over 5,000 metres to a plant where they made boric acid and which was the border point for ... read more

I started my first week of backpacking in Peru, after forcing myself to leave the luxury of staying with friends in Arica. After a 7 hour (very short by Latin American standards) bus journey through yet more deserts I arrived in Arequipa, a large town in the Andean foothills. I was initiated into backpacker lifestyle and soon realised how easy it was to meet people. Although the majority of people are in their late 20s (everyone my age is in Thailand), it was easy to get on with people. Unfortunately, the hostel operated tours which left at 3am, at which point each morning half of the dorm would evacuate and wake me up. So far I have met backpackers from at least 20 different countries and its great to get so many different perspectives on the ... read more