A new country and a whole lot of driving...

The tour of the salt flats was great, except we got stranded for 28 hours longer than we expected. Apparently it snows one day a year in that part of Bolivia. Usually in June or July we were told. However it snowed and snowed and snowed our first day... the 30th April. Many cars turned back, but we kept puttering forward with the hopes we wouldn't have to return to the dreadful Uyuni (surely anyplace would be better than there!!!!) Our wonderful driver Felix navigated us through the salt flats to our first stop, The Fish Island. I foolishly thought it would be in the water, but I was then informed it was once in the water as the salt flats were a giant lake. Now it is just an island in the salt with hundreds of cacti. After hiking around and having some lunch (even a vegetarian one), we went onwards to the salt hostel. This was a warm night and I felt able to strip off one of my many layers (I was able to put on every piece I own, and the llamas socks/leg warmers were a saviour). We had a fabulous multi-lingual car with Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Italian being spoken.

The second day was really when all the snow came in. We kept going and saw some lakes, but Felix looked worry so we put on a barenaked ladies CD and sat back with our fingers crossed that we would make it to the next hostel. We did! Not as nice or as warm as the one made out of salt, but we were at least further away from Uyuni. We had been told when we booked that trip that we would be waking up at 530am, but Felix made our day when he told us that because of the snow we wouldn't have to leave until 8, because IF the border was open it wouldn't be until 12.

The third day we arose and went straight to the thermal baths, where five of us went into the hot water. Getting back into the cold was horrible, and I thought surely I would lose at least one of my limbs. We did it and were on our way again to see some geyers. They were nice to see, but at this point most of us were too cold to get out of the car and just managed to open the windows enough to take some photographs. Those who booked a full tour went back to Uyuni and those of us crossing into Chile went on. We were now composed of two brazilians, a norweiegen, two dutch, and two confused nationality children (being James and I) We made it to the border at elven, and waited nervously (playing a newly learnt dutch game) until the border opened. Twelve came and passed and no bus. The road on the Chilean side was closed (at least someone cares about road safety). This meant we had to go back to the "hostel" 5km away near the entrance to the national park. We were told that it may open at four. We played several hours of cards until four came and went.... the border was still closed. Then we were told 9am the next day. We were given food and huddled together to keep warm. It was FREEZING so we managed to fit four people on a tiny bench. It was warm but rather uncomfortable. After playing EVEN more cards we went to bed thinking we would leave early the next morning.

We awoke the fourth morning, feeling not very refreshed and rather smelly (it had been 4 days since our last shower). At nine the roads were still not opened and we were worried that we would still be stuck. Nobody had the money for another night at the hostel, so we though we would have to sleep in the snow. We played MORE cards then made a football. It was rather sunny, so we couldn't understand why the roads were closed. We were told they were still too dangerous. At four, they opened them and a bus came! We were finally on our way to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It could have gone a lot worse. We had a good group and were with a good company. Some people were dumped at the border earlier that day and had to wait outside for several hours, not knowing if the border would be open or not.

Five of us (two dutch guys, a norweigan girl, James and I) checked into a hostel and took some much needed showers. We went out for a wonderful dinner and had our first taste of Chilean wine in Chile. After a late night (later for some), we went to bed ready for a new day.

The next day after some much needed Laundry, Ida (norway) and I rented some bikes and started biking through the desert in search for a El rio de san pedro. We never found it, but did manage to stumble accross some ruins after our picnic of Empanadas. The ruins were rather disappointing and were really just a bit of stone in the ground.

Our second day in San Pedro, James, Ida and I decided to rent some sandboards. We cycled out to some Sandunes and gave them a try. After a few unsuccessful attempts at standing up, I decided mine made a good enough sled and was able to make my way down pretty fast. This was entertaining for about 20 minutes, because the sun was out and walking up sandunes isn't a whole lot of fun. We cycled back to the town and managed to stumble accross the "river" which was really a creek. Our plan had been to shower in the river because we had to check out of our hostel. This was not possible so we returned dusty to San Pedro. The dutch guys had already gone to Argentina, so we said goodbye to Ida and waited for our 730pm bus to La Serena...

...or so we thought. We had really bought tickets for the 700pm bus, which we found out when we arrived at the station at 705. We were told that since we missed it, we could get 50% off our next ticket. It turned out to be cheapest to buy a ticket straight to Santiago. It cost the same as it would have, had we bought it in the first place. So our 15 hour bus, turned into 24. It went smoothly, and I got the best sleep I had had in WEEKS. Got to practice my spanish by watching badly dubbed bad movies and read the entire South East Asia guide book I have been carrying around for months.

We arrived in Santiago and checked into a lovely hostel. Thinking we had no money (neither of us could use our cards), we bought some cheese and bread and to our suprise I found a 20,000 peso note ($20). We spent today walking around, and ringing Natwest. We are staying in Barrio Brasil which is near downtown. Some areas look strangely by home. Especially the area which looks a bit dodgy. Looks very similar to the west way and up near the westbourne park road tube station.

We have payed for a week here. I have a lot to do. My back pack broke, my shoes have hole, and I am slowly losing my underwear (a pair goes missing everytime I get laundry done). I also need to sort out what I am doing with myself. I have changed my flights and will be breezing through New Zealand and Australia getting to SE Asia sooner than I had planned. After a week here, we should be going to Mendoza, Argentina before flying out of Santiago.