After the freezing cold of the Jeep trip it was a delightful surprise to descend 2000 meters from the bleak Bolivian border post down into the 'driest desert on earth'...Seems every single desert I go to has this distinction but....yeah, it is dry and hot here in San Pedro de Atacama.

The most shocking thing is we definitely are not in Kansas...Bolivia, anymore. First obvious thing....the guy who picked me up at the border - me and two other guys who also had been deposited there....starts the engine and says - do up your seat belts...it is the law in Chile......wow....Bolivia doesn't even require announcements when shooting off dynamite in the mine when you are hosting some nice visitors bearing gifts.....

San Pedro is a major Chilean tourist town - two sisters I met, one a travel agent, had flown up from Santiago for the weekend - the airport is over an hour away. She told me this is the second most popular vacation spot for Chileans - after Patagonia - Bariloche.

The town has lots of restaurants and galleries: the weekend was really busy with rich young types strolling about....problem is - there is absolutely nothing to do here. I had the place covered and finished in less than 30 minutes..... did a little hike out of town to some ruins and now I have to wait until Tuesday to get out of town... my Dutch friend and I were so bored we went to the cemetary - which was pretty interesting - so many unique graves and monuments.....it 'killed' some time.....so - here I am on the internet - many hours later - have booked the next big adventure - made a huge detour in my plan but I am excited.........something totally great.....I HOPE.

Tomorrow is a 12 or 13 hour bus ride to Salta Argentina - Chile is too polished and waaaay too expensive for me.....I like cheap and rough around the edges.........not as rough as the Bolivian outback in a snowstorm but a little more cultural......people here look like people everywhere....I miss weird Bowler Hats and colorful ponchos.......off to Argentina and then ........stay tuned.