A Spectacular Journey

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We've just experienced one of the most spectacular journey's we've ever experienced.
Within minutes of taking off from Santiago airport we were high above the Andes.
We'd been given seats at the front of the plane with uninterupted views down.
Below us were mountains of varying shades of browns and reds and beyond them higher snow clad mountains stretching as far as the eye could see.
Nestling in hollows were frozen lakes reflecting the blue sky above. Between us and the terrain below floated the odd fluffy white cloud.
A magical sight and not a sign of civilisation anywhere.
On arriving in Calama we found the shuttle bus that was waiting for us to take us San Pedro an hour and a half away. By the time we arrived there it was beginning to go dark. The hostel we'd chosed was a row of 5 little rooms set under a thatched roof. The owner greeted us warmly and, after checking us in, tried the hard sell with a selection of tours of the area. We told him we'd think about it and promptly told each other we'd do our own thing!
We now have two days to explore the area.

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