bonnie & clyde

we took our nightbus and arrived early morning in san pedro de atacama, a very quiet and desertlike town with mudbrick houses and tourist agencies abound. we´re not the only tourists here, but it doesn´t matter, the town keeps its cool! first thing first, look for a couple of tours to do around here, because the landscape is amazing and the activities are plentiful! forget what we said about the most beautiful thing we have ever seen, this is the most beautiful thing we´ve ever seen! the same day we did a tour to valle de la luna, including valle de la muerte. it is in fact very much like what a moon landscape would look like, dry as hell and peaky mountains as far as the eye reaches. we stayed till sunset and were lucky enough to have full moon as well. the next day we got up very early as we left for tatio geysers up north at 4 o´clock. the ride was bumpy and above all long but we got there just before sunrise to see the damps of the 80 geysers painting the landscape. beautiful beautiful! afterwards we headed to the hot water springs, a small swimming pool at 4300 meters, but hot hot hot. chances don´t come that often to be doing this! one more day to stay in san pedro before heading off to argentina again, and the last day we went to the pukara de quitor, an ancient incafortress.
the next day we took our bus to salta, a whopping 10 hours, and 2 customs to pass by. it didn´t really matter as the landscape along the way was again one of the most beautiful ever seen with many mountains with many many different colours. if that would bore us we had a trilogy of airport disaster movies to keep us entertained. they showed airport 75, they showed airport 77 and to finish it off the showed airport 79!!! glad to arrive in salta.
Salta is a pretty bustling town, not too big but certainly big enough. very nice to stroll around in. the firts night we went to the barrio next to our hostal, where many bars and restaurants reside. the day afterwards we went walking around the city and had a sniff at the local market San Miguel. We finished the day by looking up a concert in our barrio.
Next we´ll be taking off for the Quebradas surrounding Salta, we´ll keep you posted!
ciao

We have had some lazy days up until now, but we needed it after Santiago!
We saw some beautiful wonders of mother nature though, Elqui valley, so nice and quiet... a fertile valley in between dry mountains where the national drink of Chile is made, Pisco (Pico Sour, mmm). Nothing to do in these little towns in the valley, but to enjoy the view...
We wanted to get back to Argentina from there, but this seemed to be impossible, as there was only one pass to cross the Andes, and there was no public transport on that pass, only a few cars if you are lucky, but we decided not to take the risk to go hitchhiking, as we heard that some other tourists had to return... so no other possibility but to stay in Chile, and cross the border with Argentina in the north of Chile, but no worries
We decided to stop over on the way to the north, in a nice beach resort, Bahia inglesa, with beautifull white beaches and a turqoise sea, another day of relaxing...
On the 8 hour bus ride, we litteraly saw not a single human being, only desert, dry mountains, and lots of sand... really beautifull scenery, incredible, wide planes with nothing as far as you can see, it makes one dream away...
Tonight we take a night bus to the north, San Pedro de Atacama, crossing more desert!

Hello!
At the moment, we are in Santiago, Chile, a really great city!
Last week we stayed around Uspallata, Las Cuevas, to enjoy the nature, beautiful! At the hostel there, we were only with 5 guests, so it was very quiet, very nice! We did some great walks at Parque Aconcagua, Puente del Inca, and the last day there we walked up on a mountain to the top where there was a statue of the Christ, and the border between Chile and Argentina, a beautiful view! High, sandy mountains, quite dry, but very impressive! (see pictures facebook)
Friday we arrived in Santiago. We are staying with a friend we met in Brasil, who showed us Santiago's nightlife (lots of fun), and daylife... and we went to Valparaïso, a really beautiful town by the sea, very artistic, built in the mountains!
Tomorrow we are heading of to the north of Chile, see some stars!
Seeya!