Chile - San Pedro de Atacama - I'm So Over the Desert

Our driver Edgar dropped (ditched?) us on a bus at the Bolivian border. We were told it would be up to a 4 hour wait to drive to San Pedro in Chile. One small revolt on the part of several passengers hurried the driver along and we were on our way in an hour.

Now Mick and I had been looking forward to parking it in San Pedro for a few days to get a break from moving vehicles. We were even talking up local activities such as sandboarding and sunset tours of the Valle de la Luna to our new friends from the Uyuni tour, Sebastian, Lisa and Sebastian. Not a typo. There were two Sebastians.

But then we drove into San Pedro and saw four by four streets of a dusty red sand town. Yes! More desert!



I was trying to think of a way to break it to Mick that I would cry if we had to spend anymore time in the desert when he taps me on the shoulder and asks if I would mind very much if we went straight to Argentina that afternoon. That is why I like traveling with this guy. We are usually on the same page.

Alas, our escape was not meant to happen that day. Trips to Salta, Argentina only left every three days and we had just missed it. We scouted other options and the best we could do was a 24 hr overnight haul to Santiago the next afternoon. While I cried a fair bit on the inside at the thought of 24 more hours on a moving vehicle after almost a straight week of transit, I hated the idea of staying any longer in the desert more.

San Pedro had a lot of potential for fun for those who hadn't just emerged from the desert and hadnt had access to a shower in three days. But it was not for us at that time. Best part of the less than 24 hours we spent there was the 2 Cristal beers I had in the afternoon when we arrived and the amazing steak I had for dinner.

Worst part was jumping into the promised hot water shower before bed at the hostel to find out that the water only ran from 6-9am and usually ran out by 5pm. I have never felt more cheated or desperate to see a tree or a body of water. By 4pm the next day as I boarded the bus I was more than happy to say Sayonara to San Pedro.