The Night Sky

Our first tour from San Pedro was a taste of the night sky. The arrid desert conditions coupled with the clear skys and high altitude make the perfect conditions to star gaze. So we set off into the desert in the crisp night air (thermal underwear well tucked in as it can reach a cool, -10 degrees) to learn all about the sky in the southern hemisphere from a crazy French man.

Alain was from Paris and spent his life studying the sky in the northern hemisphere and he now runs his observation centre in the Atacama desert with his wife. His witty chat enlightened us on the milky way, several other galaxies visible with the naked eye and the naming conventions of constelations. It was truely fasinating and only got better when we started to use his telescopes, of which he had seven, all of different strengths. The first star we saw through the telescope twinkled just like a diamond and we then went on to look dead stars, clusters of stars and finally galaxies, just over a 100 million light years away. He could have showed us more, but then they got a bit fuzzy. We left completley frozen, but in total awe. When we return, I think we will find it a bit frustrating looking up at the cloudy, British night sky. Oh hum.

The Gringo Town

San Pedro is a strange place. It was originally an outpost for when the Argentineans moved cattle to northern Chile, now it´s a town that thrives on the souls of tourists. It´s a necessary evil to access the National Parks nearby and one that Stu and I are not happy about. It´s sad when a town tries so hard to rip you off at every possible moment, with touts as you get off the bus to every street corner. Our first disappointment.

The positive thing is that this is the gateway to incredible scenary and tonight we embark on our first excursion...

Crossing the Desert

Leaving Salta we embarked on a 10 hour bus ride across the Andes to Northern Chile and the most amazing scenery yet. We thought that this part of the Andes would be quite similar to that near Mendoza (snowcapped peaks rising from the desert), but how wrong we were. After two and half hours we embarked on the slow upward struggle in our five star coach and the scenery dramatically changed. From one window, we followed what looked to be a canyon with strange rock formations either side and from the other window of the coach the high mountains of the Andes displayed layers of rock of different colours - up to seven colours in total. It was really quite incredible. Unfortunately no pictures as the camera battery was dead (we´re not doing too well on the pictures, but I promise, some will follow). This scenery continued for an hour where it plateaued out on to high plains above the mountains and where only the highest peaks pushed through in the distance. To my amazement we were at 4,000m and the highest we´ve ever been. That explains why we were finding it hard to breathe. We reached the Argentineanan border crossing at the highest point of 4250m and struggled to take deep breaths. It was such a problem that several people collapsed and were rushed to the sick bay in the border offices (actually, not more than a shack).

This is the driest place on earth and rarely, if ever sees rainfall. The flat lands give way to salt lakes, which are dried up leaving vast spaces of white salt. The only living things are a few shrubs at the edge of the road and a couple of llamas, being shepherded by the hardiest people on earth. As we slowly make our way down the other side, flatter land appears, still at a considerable altitude, except now in the distance there are volcanoes instead of mountains and canyons, and the arrid landscapes rolls on.

We arrive at our destination, in awe of our surroundings as the volcano in the distance sits ominously close and shadows the village of San Pedro. We find our hostel and settle in for the night.