Hi!

Wel, I'm in San Pedro de Atacama! Its in the middleof the desert, and near the Bolivian border. It feels like we're on the set of star wars - all the houses are made of mud brick adobe and often painted white. The town square is paved but the rest of the streets are dirt/sand. But amazingly, thereare some really nice places to eat, compared to other, bigger places we've been to. Tonight we're going to a restaurant that looks cool - all painted white. But it's nice to be somewhere that actually feels really different, in the South, in Pucon and Puerto Varas in Chile and Bariloche in Argentina, itfelt much more european because the architecture is more swiss chalet style.

Today, Laura and I are just having a relaxing day. Most of the others went biking and sandboarding (hence the picture) but I knew I would just get annoyed with the sand and would get burnt to a crisp. (because we're 2400m above sea level its much easier to get burnt -and its hot too, about 35) I even bought 70+ baby sunscreen in anticipation of the altitude! We went to the archaeological museum and are going to search for a pool somewhere this afternoon... But I'm perfectly happy to eat and drink my way through the day!

A few things I've been meaning to point out re food.... in restaurants in Chile, they give you bread rolls that are a bit like scones with butter and some kind of chilli/salsa stuff, varying in hottness but really nice. Also, the fresh juices here are really amazing. Avocadoes are also seriously good - consistently perfect inside, and they're everywhere as well. I'm going to try and eat lots of fruit and veg here as the food choices diminish drastically in Bolivia and also some of Peru.

Tomorrow we're leaving on our 4WD safari across the salt flats into Bolivia. No contact with outside world, boiling during the day, freezing at night and dodgy accomodation - should be interesting!

xx