We had a great time in San Pedro. The town is very small, basic and seems just to exist for tourism sake. We could easily spot every type of traveller there, from the hippie doing nothing all day, every day to the retired couple travelling through in their fancy hire car. It's the base for some very expensive tours to the driest place in the world, The Atacama Desert, but we managed to keep costs to a reasonable level by hiring bikes and checking out a few things closer to town. Our days were spent exploring the rugged, dry and often spectacular surroundings and our evenings were spent chatting away with a very fun crowd in our hostel. The hostel was one of the dirtiest we've stayed in all year, complete with mouldy food and a population of flies that puts Australia to shame. On top of that, there were three Chilean men with drug and alcohol problems that lived there and stole any alcohol they could get their hands on. Nonetheless, the other travellers' friendliness and conversation made the hostel experience one of our favourites.