We've had a really good three days up here, although we're finding the conditions a bit tough. San Pedro de Atacama is about 2200m above sea level, and for the last two days we've been on trips above 4000m, and have been suffering from altitude sickness a bit. It hasn't amounted to much more than headaches and tiredness, and has probably been accentuated by the fact that we had to get up at 3.30 this morning so that we could see some geysers before the sun came up. Apparently the geysers are at their gushiest just before sunrise - which is a shame, as at 4000m in a desert at 6am it's bloody cold! So much so that the water running away from the geysers was freezing on the ground...
San Pedro itself is a gorgeous little town. Its just as you´d imagine South America - dusty streets, mud-brick buildings, locals lying in the shade. Its a world away from Santiago and a great place to relax.
The Atacama desert is stunning. Its a mixture of lava fields and salt-lakes, surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. It seems that everywhere you look there are volcanoes - some smoking, some dormant, some extinct. I expected the Andes to be more jungle-clad than volcanic - no doubt they are in other places. We met a Chilean girl yesterday who was going for an interview to work on the new James Bond movie which is going to be filmed here, so it will be interesting to see if we spot anywhere!
We've taken lots of gorgeous photos, but the internet is really slow here so hopefully we'll be able to upload them when we head south.
Hope you all have a great Easter weekend, and speak to you again soon!
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