¡Hola!

I stopped in San Pedro following a night bus journey involving a hellish two-hour stop in freezing cold Calama at 5am.I fell asleep on my bag in the terminal there and woke up ten minutes after my departure time, but mercifully the bus was late anyway - phew.

San Pedro is a dusty little place in the middle of the desert, surrounded by rocky valleys similar to those around Tupiza in Bolivia, which I guess is not too far away actually.It's a total gringo-trap, but a very cute one, where all of the buildings are made from adobe bricks and are adourned with neatly-crafted little wooden signs advertising their various trades.I wanted to stay one day here to chill and make the most of the agreeable backpacker atmosphere, but it seemed that the only buses to Salta left either immediately or in four days time; I couldn't have stayed here for four days.However, after much questioning of locals, who sent my back and forth from one end of the town to the other I found a company leaving the next day, so I stuck around.It was a great decision.

I decided to hire a mountain bike from a place that rented TREKs - the first time I had seen a recognisable international brand since I left the UK - and I set out with a sketchy hand-drawn map of the 'local' area.I did a few short stretched that he's recommended, including through this amazing switchback route through a deathly-silent low-rise rocky valley, Cordillera del Sal (Salt Range) that eventually turned into an impassable sand dune perfect for sandboarding.In the end, after I'd climbed a huge hill to a viewpoint, I decided to just continue round this massive 39km loop through the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon).The terrain was just like the beginning of the Salar trip from Tupiza, except that there were no lakes; instead the valley was interrupted by huge, imposing sand dunes.The juxtaposition of colours was stunning, with the dark brown/grey sand contrasting with the white and red stripy rock formations.It was seriously hard work doing all this on a mountain bike; I used to do a lot of road cycling, with an exceptionally light bike when I was a lot stronger, and I just jumped on this one as if I hadn't been travelling and wasting away my muscles for the last 11 months.I was knackered at the end, but I did still manage about 60km in total in about three hours, which I was happy about.

In the evening I practised the art of being a single traveller with great finesse by just jumping in front of the first group of people who looked vaguely my age and started jabbering at them in the street - this seems to be the best approach to avoid being on your own in the evenings.There was Engligh/Auzzie couple, and two sisters from Belgium, who were just about to head into Bolivia and the Salar de Uyuni.We all went for a few beers and a great bar with a huge fire (it's fricking freezing here in the evenings) and then a slap-up cheapy meal of roasted chicken and chips.

I left on a bus then next morning to Salta, Argentina, 11 hours away, through more of the same dramatic landscapes.The immigration offices were 160km apart, with nothing really in between except for a very unceremonious sign announcing the demarcation line of Argentina and Chile.

R

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