Undecided on what we wanted to do and if we could afford it, we wander round the town. We bumped into Pete and Jen again, so they joined us on a search for a cheap tour. By the off chance we walk past a tour agency just before its was about to close. Next thing we know we are paying for a full day tour of the Valley and the evening at an observatory. Panicking we spent too much, we decide to do something crazy and buy a night bus for just after the tour to a town further north and then another night bus to our desired destination of San Pedro de Atacama, the driest place on the Earth!
The following morning we were picked up and off up the valley we go. The sky was cloudy and we can't see how it will clear? Driving down the road past fruit and veg farms, we get to the point where they start to grow grapes for the Pisco. Suddenly the sky became super clear, not a single cloud was visible it was so bizarre. On the way up the Valley we stopped at a German engineered damn, and saw hundreds of vineyards. Finally we make it to Pisco Elqui, where we tried some Pisco (it tastes like Brandy) before heading down to have lunch at a Solar Restaurant food cooked off solar energy(which we though was bollocks as they had to cook for 30+ guests and they didn't have enough solar ovens!)
The only oven that had something in!
After lunch we were dropped off in the nearest town where we waited to be picked up for our tour of the Observatory. 3 and a bit hours pass before we are picked up, and taken high up into the mountains to see the stars.
The tour was amazing the sky was so clear we could so many stars the black became the small specks of colour! We looked through telescopes seeing Mars, Andromeda, as well as giant clusters of stars and nebula. We had a amazing time.
So we returned to the Hostel picked up our bags and went straight to the bus station for our crazy travelling. First stop was Copiapo where the miners got trapped! We spent the day here hanging out in the square, seeing the Mineral Museum and experiencing an earthquake. At 9 that evening we got on the second bus to the desert. Crazily meeting up with the other English couple that we usually met with Pete and Jen and an English girl we met on the ferry through the Fjords.
After another bad nights sleep on the bus we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama. We headed to the Hostel where everyone has booked in (it was cheap). Over the next few days we book tours to Bolivia and the Salt Flats, the Moon Valley and Death Valley. The two Valleys we saw first and were crazy, the earth was so dry and slowly was being eroded to sand dunes. We watched the sun set and looked forward to next day and Bolivia.
However Bolivia didn't happen, problems with the boarder control we had to wait. Due to this we had to find another hostel and wait! Two days later we set off. The tour starts well, we see Flamingos and brightly coloured lakes. We take a dip in a hot spring before what we thought was more lakes and Flamingos. But this didn't happen we started to drive to Uyuni and our overnight accommodation. Unhappy we complained to the travel guides but our tour was cut from 3 to 2 days. Annoyed we went to bed. The next day we got up at 3.30 to see sunrise on the Salt flats and take silly photos as perspective on the lats is distorted. The Flats were breath taking (as we were at 3600m above sea level and we tried to run to see sunset!) We had a great time, loads of fun photos, then we went to a train graveyard to end our day.
The next day we had to stay inside as Bolivia were undertaking a census. Feeling like prisoners we played cards and Yahtzee, and read books. The following day desperate to leave the town we take a bus to Sucre and the judicial capital of Bolivia. The bus journey went without a hitch even with a change in Potosi the highest town in the world of its size (whatever that means??).
In Sucre we get a good value Hostel, grab a bite to eat and enjoy a meal for two for £5.
Over the next few days we explore the cities Indigenous Museums, Churches and Cemetery. On the last day we went to a market town called Tarabucco which had beautiful kitts and weaves, before getting the bus to our next destination Samaipata and Che Guevara's Grave!
In the market square, do you think they are trying to scare us?
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