San Pedro de Atacama

Hola everyone from the middle of the desert!

Sorry I was a bit short on details for yesterday's part, I was tired and running out of time!

I also meant to say about the border crossing into Chile that the officials were so friendly, even coming over to wish Sarah a happy birthday! Bit different to the grumpy idiot that threw my passport at my crossing into Bolivia. The weirdest part for me now with border crossings is writing my profession as 'teacher' - ever since I was 5 I've been a student and writing something different is very strange!

Dinner last night was good. I had mushroom chupe which was like a stew and was delicious. I shared a Terremoto drink with Courtney. It's a Chilean drink made up of wine, liqueurs and pineapple sorbet. Was delicious but went straight to out heads - lucky I only had half of it!! We then had birthday cake because it was Sarah's birthday!

I shared a room with Rachel and Courtney and slept with a face washer on me. Farrrrr out it's hot here. I get warm very easily and have been the only one not wearing a jacket in what the others consider a "cold" climate in previous days. Now they're all loving it and I'm struggling!!

Woke up after a ten hour sleep and had brekky. Then Rachel, Courtney, Anthony and I headed out for some exploration. San Pedro de Atacama means San Pedro of Atacama, there must be another one someone else. Five thousand people live here and it's definitely the most touristy place we've been so far. Everywhere else we've gone it's been low season, but from now on (here, Argentina and Brazil especially) it's high season. 

We walked around and saw the cute little main square, but the church was under renovation. Then we went to the Museo Gustavo le Paige, a collection of artefacts by a Belgian man called - you guessed it - Gustavo le Paige who used to live here for 10-15 years. It was quite good, I learned that the first trace of inhabitants in the Atacama desert was 9000 BC. 

Afterwards we had a nice lunch (tummy now behaving as "only" 2400m above sea level) and looked in the shops. I got my magnet (of course!), a small pencil case and a cute bracelet. 

Afterwards Courtney, Rachel and I walked to another hotel nearby to use their pool, our hotel and that one work together. We somehow managed to sneak in undetected and didn't pay! Enjoyed an hour in the sunshine and pool and then headed back. 

At 5pm we were picked up by a tour guide for a tour of the Valley of the Moon. This is a valley that looks like the surface of the moon! We climbed through some caves with much difficulty and then headed to the 'The Three Marias' - some rock formations that apparently look like the Virgin Mary. The end of the tour was meant to be enjoyed sitting on the end of a cliff sipping Pisco sours and watching the sunset, but the weather had other plans! I poured with rain so some of our sunset viewing was done from the bus. It was still beautiful though. It was actually hilarious because when we first arrived and got out of the van all of our hair stood up on end due to the lightning and static electricity in the atmosphere. It was so funny, I laughed so much I cried! Check out the pics below. 

Now it's pouring with rain. The streets are flooded, the roof is leaking. It's insane and I'm saturated! Hoping the electricity and wifi holds out long enough to post this. 

Tomorrow we are off to Argentina! I may not post then as we have a twelve hour bus journey so won't really be doing anything. So if no blog tmro you know why!!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox