Chile,aka 'the moon'
Trip Start
May 19, 2007
1
2
15
Trip End
Sep 12, 2007
Santiago/San Pedo, Chile
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Ruth had flight already included in her ticket up the west coast of Chile to Antofagasta (more about that in a minute) and i had great intentions of hopping on a 20hr bus journey and meeting her up there as per 'Marks' advice from trailfinders who reckoned iŽd be missing some of the most beautiful scenery in Sth America coupled with the fact that i didnt want to spend $300 on a 2hr flight. In the end decided to mossey out to the airport at 5am when Ruth was going for her flight to see if could haggle a last minute deal....lets just say was pretty unsuccessful mainly due to our appalling lack of Spanish...but gave in and paid for a $180 ticket later that day!! Wimp!!
In hindsight was delighted i did so, as the scenery is pretty limited...once you have seen one mountain/desert you've seen them all...kinda depressing stuff really. Now as for Antofagasta, well....lets just say the moon wudnŽt have a patch on it...definitely the land that time forgot!! Not helped by its high standard of accommodation...we stayed in a stable (as so accurately described by Ruth)..sleeping bags came in very handy and we legged it out of there on the first bus at 7am next day!! Mental note to ignore trailfinders advice in future...
Made it to San Pedro de Atacama,Chile yesterday...the border crossing into Bolivia...very cute backpacker town...middle of desert and feckin freezing at nightime...i wasnt too far off having the entire clothing contents of my rucksack on me last nite...woolly hat,thermals,gloves,the works....the fact that their note big into putting glass in their windows possibly dosen't help!! Daytime temps are quite pleasant and at night all the restauants/bars have huge wood fires lit...feel like am away skiing..
Headed on 3 day jeep trek tomorrow AM into Bolivia (Uyuni), across the salt planes,geysers etc which should be good...gets to altitudes of 4500m so am now heading off to but more woolly socks, and then a bit of mountain biking planned this afternoon... Should make it to Uyuni,Bolivia by Sunday afternoon....
Comments
Marathon madness!!
Em..can you give more info re the irish rugby team..you skipped over that detail pretty quick!!
beginning to be able to walk normally 'sortof' now...how the hell have you done so many marathons..madness!!!
How did you find the cold on the Salar trip..think I wore every item of clothing in my rucksack that night. Thank god for thermals is all I can say!
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