Rolled in Tacna Peru to the hussle and bussle of a packed bus station ready to get on our bus upto Arequipa. However luck was out and there appeared to be a few road blocks around Peru. As Tacna is a s*** hole we wanted out of there and all we could get was a bus at 07:30pm. Chilled for a steady 8 hours in a rubbish bus station. The Uno cards were out and we were not looking forward to the 17 hour bus journey ahead (it should have only been 4). After what seemed...

On Tuesday we had to change buses for our first time. Stopped in Calama and the b****** dropped us off in the wrong place. However we didn't find out until 16:10 and our bus was at 16:15. Flagged a taxi down and he sped across town. Got to the bus terminal but shouldn't have worried. This i Latin America time! Back on the bus and after a bit of a hairy cliff top bus journey, with some soft core porn on the TV, we arrived in Iquique at 22:15. Checked into the back...

After the early start we sat on the Tur bus for a cheeky 14 hours on our way to San Pedro De Atacama. It was an absolute monster and being again unable to sort out a prior hostel we pulled into the desert in the dark with not to much of an idea where to stay. San Pedro only has one street at night lit, so it was off in the dark with nothing but dirt roads to walk on to find something! As San Pedro is really small in 10 minutes we were at Hostel Florida and checki...

After another Tur Bus session we pulled into Copiapo on Wednesday 4th June 2008. Having no luck with Hostel World the lads arrived with no accommodation sorted. Having looked in their trusty Loneley Planet and agreeing that nothing looked decent let alone close the lads got themselves into the hotel Miramonti - a stones throw from the bus station. Now the Miramonti was a little full so the boys headed up town to another hotel only to be told they were also full. ...

After a lengthy journey we arrived in what Lonely Planet calls the ruff and tumble of Coquimbo. Slightly anxious that they had seen nothing but a bit of a hole on the way in the lads jumped in a taxi and headed off to Hostel Normade. Travelling through what can only be described as an industrial estate the lads arrived at a hostel that James quickly pointed out looked like the house out of the Burbs. Slightly wary the lads headed in to be greeted by the couple th...