On arriving in Calama in the north of Chile, I found out that the train to Bolivia was fully booked and was forced instead to go to San Pedro to start the tour of the salt flats. The population of tourists in San Pedro seems to greatly outnumber that of the locals and every other building is either an internet cafe, a tour operator or a resturant. Other than that, the town is a very traditional South American village in its architecture and facilities (tempramental hot water and electricity). It is also pricey England style so I am looking forward to returning to Bolivia.

If I sound bitter it´s because this morning, when cooking breakfast, I was told to that I had to leave my half cooked omlette as they were closing the kitchen. Only after I agreed to clean the kitchen for them would they agree to let me finish. Needless to say, I did a very poor job of the cleaning.