Blogs from San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region, Chile, South America - page 17

Hi, Apologiews for the long time inbetween posts! I am writing to you from San Pedro de Atacama on the border between Chile and Bolivia. I spent one day in Uyuni after leaving Sucre in a hurry (escaping an English drunk at the hostel who tried to force himself on me...not nice) and found myself in the company of two extremely crazy Australian travellers. We decided upon spending a little more for a hotel with hot water and heaters as temps can drop well below freezing at night. The hotel we ended up at was 18 pounds per night, and PLUSH. So plush i had to take a picture. We left in the morning after booking a private tour of the Salt Flats and desert. We saw many things, which I will have to show in ... read more

San Pedro de Atacama is a really strange little town in the middle of the driest desert in the world. Although it gets points for having sandy streets, the backpacker atmosphere here is overwhelming and this desert oasis is filled with tourists who think they are better than other tourists becuase they carry their worldy posessions on their backs instead of wheeling them around. Many people here are using this town as a jumping off point for a tour into the salt flats of Bolivia, which was my plan as well, so I spent my couple of days here researching and arranging that trip and exploring the area a bit. The sunsets in this desert are beautiful and if you find some high ground you can watch the perfectly shaped volcano that watches over the town ... read more

Nach Macchu Picchu und drei weiteren, sehr gemuetlichen Tagen in Cusco (wir wurden mal wieder von einem Streik aufgehalten) gings wieder Richtung Sueden nach Arequipa, der weissen Stadt. Cusco hatte uns wirklich gut gefallen und unser Hostel war top, aber wir konnten uns endlich vom staendigen angesprochen werden an der Strasse verabschieden. Geht man naemlich den Hauptplatz in Cusco entlang und den muss meistens unweigerlich passieren, wird man innerhalb von einer Minute mindestens von zehn Leuten angesprochen, die einem irgendwas andrehen wollen. Hier mal eine kleine Auswahl: - Massagen (gern in englisch oder spanisch "Message my friend?" oder "Masaje amigo?" - Touranbiter fuer die verschieden Trekks nach Machu Picchu - Muetzen und Bilderverkauefer - Und die besten: Restaurantanbieter: Man kommt in die Naehe von ihnen und wird direkt mit allen moeglichen Menues vollgela... read more

Hello all, sorry for the recent dry spell blog-wise, we've been awfully busy trying to fit in as much as possible in the time we have left, plus we got rather sick of internet cafes. So after the initial fuss of getting into chile from bolivia (see previous blog) we spent a pretty relaxing 5 days in San Pedro de Atacama - a small village consisting almost entirely of one-storey adobe buildings. We arrived around lunch time and after finding a place to stay walked around the small streets looking for somewhere to eat. this was only complicated by the fact that after we'd ordered our food we realised we had no money. so after 2 attempts I (Tom) managed to get some, only to return to find connie eating my salmon thinking it was chicken! ... read more

San Pedro de Atacama is in the north of Chile and is the driest place in the world. We arrived into a little town that was straight out of the wild west... ed expected a gun fight to break out at any minute. It's a lovely little town if a wee bit dry and dusty!! We spent the first day wandering around town going to the many (they are everywhere..) tour operators working out what we were going to do with our few days there. At 11pm the first night we went to a place about 15 mins just outside of town to visit a French guy´s (ALain) house. He gave us a tour of the skies!!! He gives an astronomy guide, he has 7 or so telescopes and he brings you through how to read ... read more