The next 6 days were spent on the "Pachamama" tour bus travelling through the Atacama Desert ending up in San Pedro, Northern Chile….the driest place on earth, in some parts there has never been a drop of rain recorded! There were 7 other travellers on the bus…3 Aussies, a smelly Swiss and a French couple….in nicer terms, the desert wasn't the driest thing on the trip! BORING!

Day 1 - Pichidangui (small raft in local lingo) - And I thought cactus only grew in the desert….yesterday we visited the beach where one type of cactus, in actual fact, does grow on the beach. Unlike Lewis to get camera happy, you can see for yourself that we're not lying about the cactus! We also discovered dinosaur-like birds, which we were told are called pelicans…yet again snappy happy evidenced this for you to all see! All in all an exciting day…which got more exciting as we approached our accommodation for the night…..a song sprung to mind???!!!!!.......

…….the Adams family dun na nanun 'click click'….dun na nanun 'click click' . I thought Lerch was going to answer the door…but in fact it was a miniature women who seemed about a foot tall compared to the humongous doors! The place seemed very creepy at first… Hostel Nomade - a place where anything more than a whisper would feel out of place. "HERE'S JOHNNNNNYYYYYYYY". When lying in bed I kept imagining Jack Nicholson poking his head through the door! After a while we got used to the surroundings and it was actually quite a nice place with lots of "character".

Day 2 - Yet again, Chile in the winter is not a good mix…the boat trip to the national reserve for dolphin/sea lion spotting, was cancelled because of winds, so instead we spent all day on the bus, however, we did get to stop off for a two breakfast, one dinner shop before we reached Bahia Inglesa camp site…. woop deeeeee do! Ha ha ha, not that were moaning much…sitting here from our (less than normal sized) single bed, while the Frenchies have the huge double bed because they chose heads….grrrrrrrr! Should of went rock paper scissors…..bloody French!

Day 3 - 'A day to relax on the beach'……….up early to visit the small town of Caldera, a town selected by William Wheelright as a bay to export minerals from Copiapo to the southern hemisphere. Apparently, in this small town, the same guy who constructed the Eiffel tower also constructed the local church - whatever he was thinking when he built the Eiffel tower, he wasn't thinking when he built this church. After having ample time to explore the town/urinate on the local cinema, we were picked up, to taken all of about 50 yards, for lunch. 'The best empanadas in the Empanadopolis'. Headed back to Bahia Inglesa camp site where we chilled out for the rest of the day, preparing ourselves for the BBQ……..starving!

Day 4 - heading towards Antofagasta (the driest part of the Atacama desert) we stopped off at a rather strange tourist attraction…..a cemetery in the middle of the desert with nothing else around. The minerals in the sand are meant to preserve the bodies like a mummy and you can sometimes still see the hair on the bodies…..was morbidly looking out for this but did not get to see any bones! Further on the road we stopped at the "Mano del Desierto" (hand of the desert) - a Chilian artist designed as lending a "hand" to the environment to raise awareness of the effect we are having on the planet and to try and prevent the world turning into a desert because of global warming! Lewis thought he would join in by revisiting his school assembly days by illustrating "he's got the whole world in his pants"(see photo).

Day 5 - another day, another cemetery! But this time for trains??!!! Abandoned trains that were used for transporting minerals are here…we got to have a play on them and Lewis thought he was the fat controller in Thomas the tank engine! Interesting fact - Quantum of Solace was filmed here also - the part at the end apparently! Travelling along the Tropic of Capricorn, 150km later we reach the Atacama salt flat, Chile's largest. Randomly there is a flamingo reserve in the middle of the salt flats, where they flock because of the microorganisms in the oasis.

Day 6 - San Pedro de Atacama, possibly the nicest place in the Atacama so far. Quirky little town, surrounded by the Andes mountain range. We had the morning to mooch around, so we raided the local shops and BROUGHT (just for you kerrysimonabroad) the traditional alpaca hats and gloves….even though Jodie's peanut head looks ridiculous! Back on the bus in the afternoon and we headed to the salty Laguna Cejar…a dense salt lake where humans turn into corks. Water was freezing (according to Lewis), Jodie wimped out and was photographer to capture Lewis dive head first into the lake forgetting about the salt density and physically burning the inside of his nostrils/throat/belly/eyes/face - tequila suicide seems like an easier option! Next stop….moon valley, which is famous for, no wait you guessed it, a valley that looks like the moon! We watched the sunset over the valley and the Andes and said goodnight to our amazing bus trip through the Atacama Desert!

Next stop - Salta, Argentina…….don't cry for me....we'll be fine, it's only a 12 hour bus journey!

Lots of love to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxx