I am now in Chile and the change was incredible. Suddenly we were driving on tarmac roads, there are seats on the toilet and sometimes it even has toilet paper. Overall, this country is the most modernised country in South America and there is a lot less poverty. Therefore we also got a big shock when we suddenly had to pay $12 for a one-course meal, instead of $2 for a two-course meal in Bolivia. My daily expenditure was about $10 in Bolivia, it is now $50. But San Pedro de Atacama is also especially expensive as it is very touristy, though really nice.

Anyway, this place, as the names tells us, is right on the edge of the Atacama desert which is apparently the dryest desert in the world and I could swear someone told me that it hasn't rained there in 400 years. So I couldn't believe my eyes when I went sand boarding in 'Death Valley' (because there grows absolutely nothing in that part of the desert) as it suddenly started to drizzle down and the dunes were covered in a thin layer of wet sand!?!

Well, this obviously didn't help the smoothness of boarding down the dunes, but sand boarding even in normal conditions is a big mission! First you have to walk up the dunes, and then you have to wax your board with a candle that constantly falls into the sand. It gets really horribly dirty and more and more difficult to cover the board with. Made me freaking mad! Though my few snow boarding skills helped me getting down the hill easier, unless you suddenly stop half way down and can't move any further because the wax on your board has already worn off! It's crab really - nothing for my impatience, so I am not going to do this again! However, I was told that there is a place in Peru, Ica, where it's not only a lot cheaper to sandboard, but you also have buggies that bring you back up to the dunes. Maybe if I ever go back. There are a few things that I missed out on in Peru, so it could be likely. After my two hours of sand boarding taster course, we went to the Valley of the Moon to watch the sunset. This is really a very beautiful place. It's just as dead but it looks partly like the surface of the moon.

We only stayed in San Pedro for about two days before we took a 16-hour bus to La Serena a place on the coast.