Farewell Argentina and Chile!

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I've spent the last 2 months going between Chile and Argentina as I head north to Bolivia.

My last weeks in these countries included some time in Salta ( minus the salt )and 4 nights in the Atacama desert in Chile ( plus the salt ) where it's dirty, gorgeous, hot and cold all at once.

Salta was my last stop in Argentina, a pretty white city surrounded mountains. I only had a couple of days here and the first day I was sick (flu) so just checked out the town.

I went to a really good museum which told the story of the inca children. This is my recollection of the story from what I seen, so don't hold me to the facts.

The inca children were discovered by archaeologists only recently (1999) at the top of volcano Llullaillaco ( over 6,000 metres). There remains have been there for over 500 years and their bodies preserved by the cold. The 3 children were all young, a 6 and 15 year old girl and a boy who I think was 8.

The children were sacrificed by the villages and buried so high in the mountains as they believed it would help them communicate with the gods and get closer to heaven.

The children were selected for their beauty and were married before they were to walk the journey to the top of the volcano. From there they were given a potion to drink which put them to sleep and then buried.

You actually see the mummies of the children in the museum. I couldn't take pics as it wasn't allowed but I attached a pic from the web just so you can see it. Really interesting ( sad for the children )

Off to Chile!

While I knew I was headed to the desert I didn't actually stop to think what that meant. The bus ride was a good 12 hours and we were dropped just across the border where the bus dude said " just walk a few blocks that way, that's the town san pedro" And so it was, dirt streets, clay brick houses red dirt red dirt red dirt ( not a good place to wear black or white )

The hostel I booked into was a dive.... The directions were something like this " dgu hjik the cemetery...... Blah blah" it wasn't written in English other than the word cemetery, which wasn't a good sign. They were probably trying to tell me the place is so shit you may as well sleep in the cemetery. When I found it ( it was out of town past the cemetery) I had to move a number of cats out my way to get to my room, which had cats in it.... Live cats. I hate cats.

I stayed the night and packed my bags for a new hostel the next morning. I only stayed as it was late and I'm not big on walking around town at night.

My new hostel was super!

Did some amazing tours around San pedro. Flamingos, lagunas, geysers, all so pretty to see. I've put a pic of the Main Street in town so you can get a feel for where I was staying.

In my hostel I met a lovely Belgium couple and we all booked into the salt flats tour which crossed the border from Chile to Bolivia..... More on that in my next blog!

Can't make these blogs to long now can I!!!

B

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Photos

Main Street san Pedro
Notice the desert in the background