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Published: June 18th 2007
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Is that Safe?
The amazing desert surrounding San Pedro. Our first impression of Chile was ´How ******* Much???´ San Pedro De Attacama was our first stop and is notoriously expensive - even the guidebooks recommend bringing anything you possibly can from elsewhere. Not sure four walls and a roof would really fit into our rucksacs though! After the fairly tough travelling in Bolivia we were both looking forwards to this more cosmpolitain, european-style country, starting with a few days of relaxing in this backpackers mecca.
Initially we were extremely disappointed, not only with the cost of everything, but also with how quite the place was. After weeks at high altitude we were looking forwards to a few guilt-free drinks, without the adverse effects, and at just 2400m above sea level we figured we could have a little tipple here and there. Unfortunately real bars have been outlawed in San Pedro and alcohol can only be served in restaurants, so our plans of boozing into the wee hours and dancing on tables were squashed. In the end it made no difference because both of us were extremely ill for a week with stomach bugs we'd picked up in Bolivia!! We couldn´t eat a bean let alone drink a bottle of
beer!
Luckily after a few days here the place really begins to grown on you. The dusty cobble streets, the pretty white washed buildings, the spectacular backdrop of volcanoes and the lovely friendly people. In the end we stayed for a whole week, recuperating from the salt lake trip and doing a few touristy things. We also had our first Chilean earthquake, I say first because these things, along with volcano erruptions are part of a everyday life here!
We took a day trip to Valle De La Luna, taking in various amazing lunar like landscapes along the way, and hurtling out of control down sand dunes (great for upset stomachs!). The highlight of the trip was visiting a huge sanddune to watch the breathtaking sunset which turns everything wonderful shades of pink, gold and purple. Unfortunaltely the sun decided to hide behind a cloud for the majority of the sunset so it wasn´t quite the show we´d expected. However, just as we were about to give up the sky turned bright pink and all was not lost!
Our second trip was to the highest Geyser field in the world. This involved a 3.30am start and wandering
around in -8 degree temperatures amindst gurgling, bubbling, steaming and sometimes dangerously spurting geysers. The views were amazing, but I wasn´t quite so keen on the numb toes! We´d been advised that a dip in the hot springs just after sunrise would warm us up, and foolishly we listened, but the temperature of the water was nowhere near warm enough to offset the outside temperature. Still a fabulous experience though!
So all in all we´ve enjoyed our time here. It´s nice to finally be at lower altitude, it makes brushing your teeth in the morning far less exhausting and has the added benefit of some warmer weather - only five layers needed at night instead of ten! I think travelling in Chile is going to be far more relaxed than Bolivia (which isn´t hard), with more English speakers and finally some decent public toilets. However, it´s all gonna come at a price!
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