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3/7/9 Salta to bushcamp
Phil spent all night depositing his steak into the toilet so we were pretty tired in the morning but had been told check out wasn't until 11 so we were having a lie in . The irate cleaner hammered on the door at about 10 and we sent her away saying we had another hour but it turned out to be 11 after all as we hadn't changed to Argentinean time yet!!! Whoops bloody tourists. Once we had finally checked out we were taken to the pharmacy by the lovely hostel owner to get some good local bung up drops, as we had a long day on the truck ahead!! We are pretty sure it wasn't food poisoning but what a terrible waste of a good steak-it would have ended up there eventually in the end though!!! We went off for lunch in the Plaza De Armas before we had to go to meet the truck at a huge hypermarket just outside town. After a few hours driving we pulled into our bushcamp near to the Chilean border which was a stony river bed . We had Chilli for dinner but phil had a bowl of grated carrots as Chilli didn't seem like a good idea after his bad belly the night before! As we were round the camp fire there was a coyote nearby quite close to the tents but he disappeared pretty quickly. We all headed off to bed as it was a cold night and pretty windy.
4/7/9 Bushcamp to San Pedro
We all had a really bad night as it was really windy. One tent was completely blown over and a couple were pretty flat looking. Phil had been up to secure ours in the morning but Liz didn't get much sleep as the walls of the tent kept blowing over her face. Phil didn't move all night and kept peacefully snoring throughout the dramas. In between the Argentinian and Chilean borders there are 30kms of no mans land!! We packed up and headed off towards Santiago and reached the Chilean border at lunchtime. The border guards were pretty thorough again but were searching for plant and animal products. We had a truck plant called Robert which was confiscated and also some of the others had souvenirs taken as they were made of animal products. We just didn't admit any of our contraband so were able to keep all our things...great. Finally we were allowed through the border and arrived in the town of San Pedro De Atacama which as the name suggests sits on the Atacama desert which is the worlds driest desert. It is a really pretty little town with white brick buildings and small lanes and a lovely town square. The campsite was ok but we wanted a room again so we went into town to find a hostel as the rooms available at the campsite weren't up to much. The hostel rooms in the town weren't much better though so we returned to the campsite and took a twin room. The sun was going down and it was freezing cold so we were happy with any bed. We drove out to see the sunset over the valley of the moon in the dessert which was great and then returned to town to get some food. We ate in a little restaurant in the town with a big fire pit and lots of happy hour cocktails before heading off to our cosy beds...nice!!!
5/7/9 San Pedro
After a really warm night unlike the others who had been really cold in the desert night we joined the others who had started to clean the truck. As part of the trip all the passengers are expected to spend a few hours giving the truck a quick clean. We rolled up sleeves and began to wash absolutely everything on and in the truck as it all gets really dusty on the roads. We all stared off really jolly but it wore off after 5 ofr 6 hours. Kristy our tour leader is cleaning obsessed so she was a stickler for cleaning standards. Once relieved of our washing up duties we had a wander round the town. There were a few travelling hippies around the place and it had a laid back quiet atmosphere. We went for lunch where Phil had a monster plate of steak eggs and chips. He was in heaven eating it all but was stuffed as it was a massive plate of food. We found the others later in the evening at the resturant we had been to the night before and we joined them round the fire. Phil needed "pudding now" and ordered apple pie. When it arrived you could barely see it as it was such a small portion. He took two bites and it was gone!!! Disappointed in his little piece of pie we went to bed.
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