We had one whole day to spend in San Pedro. After I used the internet and heard the story from some of the others how one of our party almost got arrested by the police - some mix up with exchange of money, I wondered around the dusty old town which is purely for tourists before heading back to the campsite. Ross and Ewan had headed to a big town about 90mins away in the truck to do a big grocery shop but were meant to be back so we could do lunch. We waited and waited, some people decided to go into town to buy lunch and eventually Ross walked in, minus Ewan and the truck and with a few bags of groceries. Apparently the nuts or screws hadn't been tightened enough from the previous work and had come loose again so Ewan was trying to sort that out. Ross did have to get a taxi back, which cost $40,000 pesos. Exchange rate is about US$1 = 620pesos.

After our late lunch we headed out on our Moon Valley excursion. As they didn't have a bus big enough for us, we split into 2 groups. You would think we would do the same thing, but we ended up with slightly different itineraries. First stop for us was at Death Valley where we went for a small walk. Then to a lookout over Cordillera de la Sal (Salt Mountain range). Then another small walk to these rocks where you can hear them cracking - something to do with change of hot to cold and salt. It was then a stop at the Three Maries which are some rock formations that are meant to look like Mary praying in different positions - only if you have had one too many to drink in my opinion. A quick look at some salt mines and then to the big finale.

We had been told we would be walking up a sand dune to see the sunset. Yeah, right. We were driven to this lookout and arrived after the sun was down behind the cloud and mountain range. We were told we really didn't want to walk up the big sand dune as there was 200 other people doing it. We think it was because there was more older people (not from our tour) on our van. Not impressed. Was really hoping to see the changes of colour in the rocks and sand - not to be.

Back to camp for hamburgers for dinner, nicely cooked by Ross and Ewan. A group had been booked to go out stargazing, but of course it was cloudy and they couldn't go. We were on the edge of the driest desert in the world, it hasn't rained in over 250 years in the desert. In town, they average about 50mm a year and it is hardly ever cloudy. Well it rained that night, although not heavy.

From there we had a long drive to Bahia Inglesea, a beachside camp spot for the night before heading to La Serena where we are currently. On the way to Bahia Inglesea, we stopped at the big hand, a sculpture in the middle of the desert. Go figure. La Serena is a big beach town and tonight I am going out with some others to a big observatory to learn about the stars.