S: we got to San Pedro after going through border control, where they search your bags no matter what. We had shared a bus with some French guys and they explained they had had a rough time on the Salt flats. They had had a drunk driver who didn't get up one day and then they had a car crash. I think we were very lucky to have had a great tour and no accidents. We found a hostel and walked around the town and found the best empanadas ever. Nico and Lisi had travelled through to Chile with us, and we brought a few beers to celebrate. We played a few games of cards and spoons again (I think they liked that game lol) and went to the locals pub until we got kicked out at 2:30am because they were closing. It was a brilliant night and enjoyed by all.

J: then next morning the rest of them had sore heads so after a lay in we set off to rent some push bikes, we were a group of six by now as we had more people from the hostel wanted to join our ride to Devils Canyon. We got a deal in a shop and set off, but very quickly a dog started running next to me, a female,looking a little like an Alsatian, then within a minute another dog joined in the convoy. They might have been brother and sister we thought, but either way they just ran beside us. We had to cross a river 6 times. Not sure why they built the road to cross the river so many times, but there was never a bridge and we were up to our knees in the river. The dogs still followed and then we found the start to the Canyon.

S: the canyon was beautiful but it soon became apparent why it was called Devils canyon. We had seen another couple in the canyon and when we saw them for the second time, they asked us for help. We stood at the top and all you could see were rock formations and no clear way out. James took a natural leader role and said let's head down as that is where the river is and I stayed at the back to help in case anything happened. The couple we met had ran out of food and water and were feeling the effects, so we quickly replenished them and headed off. James and I bike quite a lot, so for us it was a good ride but for some of the others it was hard going. But I must admit we were all relieved to get out of the canyon, as we only had a couple of hours of day light left. The guys were really impressed at how James and I worked together and they said they had been scared and starting to panic incase it got dark but we had kept them calm. I think through travelling James and I have had to work together lots to survive kind of, and this was one of of those moments. The dogs had kept us company all through the bike ride and on the way back it started to hail, we arrived at the empanada place and they followed us in and sat underneath the table. James and I ate only half our empanadas and then fed the dogs the rest as they had been really well behaved.

J: I was loving those dogs, they were so gentle and well behaved, although I must admit I was wondering when they would stop following. We stayed at the empanada place while the heavens opened, it was an electric storm and the ladies in the kitchen defiantly didn't like it, I'm not sure if they had seen one before. The streets started to flood and locals where amazed at the rain and taking photos/videos, after all it was the second driest place on the planet and this was more than a years rainfall for them. During a hold in the rain we set off to return the bikes, dogs still beside us, but in the town they where barking at the locals that they clearly wanted to 'protect' us from and it was funny to see. But once we got to the bike shop they decided they had seen us home and set off into the town, it was lovely having them on the journey.
Once back to our hostel we found that it was largely flooded but that our room was ok and hadn't been affected.