Like something out of the wild west, San Pedro De Atacama is full of adobe buildings and surrounded by dry deserts and volcanoes. As the starting point for our tour across the Salar De Uyuni into Bolivia we spent a few days acclimatising to the altitude and taking some much needed rest.
The 3 day 2 night trip was spectacular and we couldn’t have been luckier with our fellow travellers;, Canadians Paul and Nalin, Irish Paul and Austrian Lizzie who became the official translator of driver Reuben’s Spanish commentary. Climbing to almost 4900 meters at the highest point we visited some very smelly geysers and angry pools of boiling mud. Despite the strong sunshine it was bitterly cold. Braving the weather and lack of changing rooms we stripped off to bathe in a natural thermal pool; lovely on the way in, excruciating on the way out! At 4300m our first night’s accommodation was freezing and we piled on the layers to keep warm.
As the only couple there with altitude sickness pills we became the official drug pushers on the trip as people frequently sidled up to ask if they could have some pills to cure their ’soroche’. I was happy to share them as they disagreed with my system and I have never needed to pee so much in all my life. I can now fully sympathise with my pregnant sister’s situation.
We visited many lakes that were teeming with Flamingos and they were so graceful to watch as they noisily chattered amongst themselves. Our second night was spent in a hotel made from salt, slightly warmer and lower than the first and the interesting floor of salt crystals made you feel as though you were living in a large tray of cat litter. Alcohol wasn’t recommended on the first night due to the altitude so here we were able to enjoy a few beers before another chilly night’s sleep. In the morning only the impressive Salt flats separated us from Uyuni. Stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. The bright white conditions remove all perspective from photographs so we had lots of fun posing for different shots. Lunch at an oasis full of Cacti was our last stop before heading to Uyuni. We got our one and only flat tire a few kms outside of the town, so watched on as Reuben got covered in dust as he changed the tyre, not an easy task in deep sand.
36 hours on a bus up to Santiago was not entirely appealing so we opted for a quick flight up from Punta Arenas instead. This was the most southerly point on our trip so far, though our experince of the town was restricted to the airport.
We didn’t have great expectations of Santiago but needed a base to visit the surrounding area. It’s certainly no Buenos Aires, however it does have its charms and was entirely redeemed due to it’s close proximity with some of the best ski resorts in the Andes. Naturally we spent a day on the slopes and had a great time ripping it up. Santiago is almost always shrouded in cloud and smog and we expected the mountains to be the same. Bluebird skies greeted us at the top however and we now both sport bright red faces, expect giant white patches where our sunnies were. This resulted in total strangers approaching us to ask with a grin and in broken English if we’d been skiing recently 
We spent a day in Valpariso, Chile’s alleged culture capital. Sunday was clearly not the day for culture however so we consoled ourselves with some fantastic swordfish straight from the morning’s catch. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the many funicular lifts that whisk you up to the streets and buildings clinging to the side of the hills. Certainly beats walking up!
San Pedro de Attacama was our next destination but rather than spend another 25 hours on a bus we split the journey up by over-nighting in Caldera. Along with Bahia Inglesa these are the places to go during the Chilean summer. It was a lot sleepier when we arrived but the perfect antidote to our first hectic two weeks back on the road.
We crossed the Argentine border into Patagonian Chile and headed straight to Puerto Natales, gateway to the Torres Del Paine national park. Though only 3 hours further south than El Calafate it was much colder here and the wind cut straight through our many layers of long johns. Puerto Natales was even quieter than El Calafate and we as we stood shivering and banging on the hostel door we wondered if we’d made a big mistake. Eventually the surprised owner let us in and though the place seemed colder inside than out, after cranking up the heaters we were soon snug as a bug.
Since we weren’t carrying arctic grade camping gear we opted for a day tour of the of Torres Del Paine. Again we were really lucky with the weather and got a whistle-stop tour of all the highlights without the 5 days of trekking that usually go along with them. The abundance of nature was great to see and our eagle-eyed driver kept us up-to-date with his latest sightings so we could snap away.
