San Pedro De Atacama

We have spent the last 5 days in San Pedro which is in the Atacama desert, the most arid desert in the world. It is also 2,500ft above sea level. We arrived on Easter Sunday, the owner of the hostel picked us up from the bus station which was very helpful. The hostel itself is a small family run place 15 minutes out of town. Its a very relaxing place, if a bit dusty, with hammocks in the courtyard and amzing views of the desert and volcanoes from our doorstep. The main road in town is a dusty path but is made for tourists. There are lots of restaurants and cafes, tour companies and touristy shops (i bought myself a bobble hat, even though it is very hot here, im told its going to be needed at night during the inca trail). There isn´t a great deal to do in the town itself which is where the tour companies come in as they offer a variety of trips out onto the salt flat. On Monday we explored the town and visited the archeological museum. It was very small but taught us a bit more about the history of the area. There are a few indoor markets in the town off of the main square which we enjoyed walking around. We then did some shopping around looking for the best deals on tours, we settled with one company who booked us onto two trips, one to Salar de Atacama (the salt flat) itself and another to the Valle de la luna (Moon Valley). Tuesday was our first day drip to the salt flat but we first stopped off in a small oasis where there is a small river and fruit trees. After 2 days in the desert, it was extremely strange to see plants and water only 40mins drive away. We walked through a garden picking up fruit to eat along the way. We also saw carvings in the rock which are thought to be 3,000-5,000 years old. We then drove onto the salt flat to see flamingoes. It isn´t as white and pure as the flats in Bolivia, but it is a very strange environment. We were there for sunset which was amazing as the volcanoes and rocks in the distance turned a purpley colour. On Wednesday morning we lazed around in the hammocks reading and chatting and then got ready for our next tour to the Moon valley. Only me Ashling and Liam did this trip but it was great fun. We stopped off at at a few viewpoints to see huge empty spaces that looked like the surface of Mars. Our guide then took us to some salt caves, we had to squeeze through tiny spaces and climb up archways to get through them, it was a lot of fun. The final stop was at the moon valley itself to see the sunset. Yesterday was our last day in town as we had a night bus booked for the evening so we spent the day wandering the streets, and then sat in the plaza de armas (town square) for a few hours doing some more reading. It has been really great to just relax in one place and take it in at a gentle pace, it makes a change from jumping on buses every other day!

We arrived in Arica this morning at 7am and jumped in a taxi who took us to the hostel, as we had no idea where it was! We are very close to the border with Peru now and are working out our options to get us across the border, it looks like we will get a taxi or the train to take us to Tacna. We then have a flight booked to take us to Lima where we meet our group for the inca trail before flying to Cuzco on the 21st where it begins! We have worked out that in the next 2 weeks we will be taking 5 flights! Oh, and I now have my flight home booked for 1st August. I will upload photos when I next have my camera lead with me!