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Published: December 1st 2008
Next stop San Pedro de Atacama
Arrived bleary eyed to a warm sunny morning in San Pedro and stumbled way to the hostel.
Got chatting to some people in the hostel and joined them for breakfast, turned out the hostel was organizing a trip that evening to sand-board at night, decided to signed up and then spent the rest of the day chilling around San Pedro and the hostel.
The evening’s boarding was brilliant, it was not quite full moon, but it was bright enough to see with out any trouble. We drove off in a mini van into to the desert, through Valle de la Muerte to our boarding dune. It was quite an effort to climb up to the top, quite glad we weren’t there during the heat of the day! Spent an hour or so getting the hang of throwing ourselves down the dune on the boards and then scrambling back up, brilliant fun, if quite a work-out Next stop was to visit a site with some caves, though obviously we couldn’t do much investigating, but there were some pretty impressive views.
The next day was actually full moon, and so Amber, Romain, Koen
and I (all in the same hostel) decided to hire bikes and return to the same spot as the previous night and camp out in the desert. As we had the bikes and time Romain and I decided to cycle out to a campsite which had a swimming pool. On the way there we had to pass the Chilean border control, which was really strange as it had a big sign saying “Welcome to Mexico” on the front, after passing the border there was a 2nd sign for the United States of America…… All was explained later, as it turned out there was a film being shot there which was supposed to be based in Mexico, though it was quite surreal at the time. Arrived at the swimming pool, was not at all what we had expected! and at first glance looked really grubby. As it turned out the water was mostly clean and it was the sides and bottom that were a bit dirty. Still it was quite an experience to float in a swimming pool surrounded by desert, and a refreshing one after the bike ride!
Back at the hostel we met up with the others, Roffey and
Valerie had also decided to join in, but left ahead of us. By the time we actually got ourselves organized it was past sunset, but as the moon was full and very bright it we could see easily. Only the first part was following the road, and soon we turned off towards the Valle de la Muerte, even with the moonlight light the going was tough and we were all relieved when we finally arrived back at the dune, and got our selves to the top. We spent an excellent couple of hours perched on top of the dune chatting and trying to keep the sand out of our drinks and snacks. The next morning was also spectacular, seeing the dunes and mountains in the early morning sun, and so quiet….
On the way back we quickly realized why the cycle there had been so difficult, it was all up hill! We hardly had to pedal at all to arrive back in San Pedro for a much needed breakfast and shower.
As Romain, Roffey, Koen and I all had similar plans next we deicded to book on to the same tour leaving the next day for Salar de Uyuni.
In
the afternoon I joined Romain and his sister Alex for a 2 hour horse trek, was fantastic, great scenery and defiantly want to do more horse riding.
The evening was spent chilling around the hostel and getting ready for the departure the next day.
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The Parnell family lawyer
non-member comment
Pressing legal matters for the roving Parnell.
Following your acquital in the Luxembourg sad case of the stolen Boyzone cd (they accepted the permanent insanity plea) I am pleased to update you on the latest case against you. On your fleeing to Peru to escape the Chilean boat owner's action for sinking his boat, he confirms he will not press charges, on condition you fully cease dancing, travel and associations with Germans... I regret to inform you he has now commenced action, has refused the stolen Boyzone cd as settlement of the case and is seeking to impound your blog!