Bienvenidos a Chile!

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Two - nil, two - nil. Inglettera!!!! Yes, we made it and managed to get a couple of pints in to celebrate. Thank you to Dave for using his Spanish to hurry our driver along and also to Chile for providing smooth, asphalt roads that you can speed along. Travelling at the same time as the world cup is great as other English travellers are drawn out of their respective hostals to the nearest TV screen showing the beautiful game. After-match analysis also provides respite from the usual questions of where you are from, how long you are travelling for and where you are going next.... We also managed to get a group together to book a reduced price sandboarding excursion the day after.

Other than the landscape, San Pedro could be likened to streets of Shoreditch because there are masses of trendy cafes & bars selling pricey food and the average Chilean here is young, wears funky T-shirts and big sunglasses that take over their face. Just the ticket when you are on a budget and wearing hiking boots and trousers which zip off into shorts. To celebrate the match Tom, Dave and I decided to work our way through the Chilean wine list during our evening meal - a fantastic evening was had by all, until the bill arrived and we realised that Chile was going to be expensive. Although you can take many day trips from San Pedro e.g. Valle de Luna, the world´s highest geyser field at El Tatio etc. we felt that we has seen similar scenery on our jeep tour through the Salar de Uyuni and only decided to opt for the thrill of sandboarding in the dunes. Tom ensures me that its a great experience when you make sure the underside of your board is properly waxed. I, like you, will have to make do with the photos as I was laid up in bed with nausea and other symptoms of giardia (not red wine) which are now being nuked with anti-microbials. Due to the aforementioned illness, the only other highlight in San Pedro was the ability to use our Hostal´s kitchen - cooking is usually a chore but we are both getting restaurant fatigue and missing just a simple bowl of cereal for breakfast. Tom is also missing the Chairman Lao orders to do the washing- up!

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Photos

Big Screen Footie
England scrape past the challenge of Shaka Hislop and co.

Sandboarding
Our Uruguayian sand boarding expert tells us how it´s done.

...And That´s How it´s Done!
In Style.

Wipe-Out
That´s not how it´s done!

What a View
Sand boarding with the backdrop of the Death Valley and the Atacama desert behind.

Making Use of Kitchen Facilities
A cereal breakfast is a real treat after 6 weeks of bread and jam.

Yep!
That´s one for Timmy.

Comments

[Gordon]

habla espaniol?
Is that a spanish dictionary lying beside the Quaker oats box - checking up on the ingredients to make sure it's veggie?