Through the desert into Chile on a horse with no name

Into the Desert

After the salt flats we had two days crossing the Atacama Desert. At times this felt like we were taking part in the Dakar Rally. Again we had a convoy of four 4x4 Land Cruisers.

Ours was the lead and at one time they wheels got stuck in a rut on the hard ground which took us sideways up the bank, we all felt we were about to roll but the driver managed to regain control. Speaking to the people in the vehicle behind us they said it had looked pretty scary!

The first morning in our 4x4 the playlist was the Red Hot Chilli Peppers but unfortunately each time we stopped the playlist restarted so we heard the same 4 songs 5 times before we went back to local music!

The desert was a mix of mud, rock and sand and more amazing scenery as we were still in the Andes. We felt like we were getting a harsh massage as we travelled.

Take the weather with you

We had various stops on the desert for the amazing sights including lakes coloured green due to arsenic, volcanoes, hot springs, various rock formations, flamingos as well as when llamas and pecunia decides to walk across our route

At one point even our driver was taking pictures we asked why and Juber explained that neither of them had ever seen it rain here before! WE suggested the rain was from England.

The desert was amazing, and at times no obvios route just around 30 sets of tracks in front of us and we hoped the driver could pick the smoothest. We saw very few other vehicles as we travelled but at some of the more popular stops could be 10 or more other groups.

Border Crossing

On the second day we reached the Bolivian/Chilean border. This was in the middle of nowhere and just a few buildings in each location. We'd be warned that they can both be a bit OTT but luckily for us we got through smoothly and headed to San Pedro De Atacama in Chile. We are looking forward to two nights in an hotel. We're also glad to have come down by 2km in altitude.

The night at the desert lodge I think was the highest we had slept with an altitude of 4350 metres. Although we had all become more used to the altitudes, the majority of people said sleeping had been difficult at this height with waking up short of breath.