Santiago part 2

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We planned to leave Santiago on day 3 and head North to San Pedro but we didn't book our bus in time and ended up having to stay an extra night and take the night bus the following day.

Making the most of our extra time in the region we tagged along with Alex from the hostel to a vinyard on the outskirts of the city, we learned about the different grapes, the fermentation process, the ageing and finally and most importantly got to taste a few of the wines. Alex works for Majestic and so knew a fair amount about wine, I just thought they all smelled like ribena.

The next day we took a couple of buses to Cajon del Maipo and did some hiking in San Alfonso. At the plateau we hiked to we could see as far as Argentina. We also saw a snake that, although the size of a spaghetti strand, scared the living daylights out of Rich.

That night we departed for San Pedro de Atacama in the North of Chile. We made sure our ipods were fully charged and bought big bottles of water, for some unkown reason though we neglected to buy any food. We certainly regretted that. The seats on the bus provided ample leg room for those under 5'10". For those of us over that height the only option was to sit in the aisle to avoid getting DVT. In our infinite wisdom we booked seats right at the back of the bus beside the toilet. Another mistake that we deeply regretted as the journey wore on.

In an effort to entertain or possibly torture us, the conductor played a couple of the worst movies ever made, ever. First up was The Watcher starring Keanu Reeves and then came The Marine. The crazy thing was that they were pirates filmed in the cinema. Why would anyone go to such lengths for such appalling films?

24 very long hours after leaving Santiago we arrived in San Pedro.

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