A border is only an arbitrary line but it's amazing sometimes how different two countries can be either side of that line. Arriving from Bolivia where we experienced overtaking on potholed roads on blind bends, in the rain, with a 100m drop on one side, Chile was like going home: smooth roads with painted lines, careful drivers- who used their hazard lights to warn of upcoming cyclists- and road signs. Lots of them. I didn't realise how much a few nice road signs mean to me.

Forgiving them for the lengthy border wait, our short time in Chile (to be continued) was superb. We checked into our hostel, which for San Pedro seemed to be a reasonable price for the lovely patio area and very clean bathrooms which we tried out straight away. Our dusty, smelly clothes also very quickly headed to the laundry service. With Raphael, our friend from the journey to San Pedro, we headed out to lunch, clean and dust free and happy to not be in a car. We quickly installed ourselves at a table on the plaza where we enjoyed an extremely pleasant and civilised afternoon of good food and wine- several glasses- in the sun and warmth. I was already in love with Chile!

We managed a bit of a wander around the adobe buildings of the town and decided it was a nice place: very touristy but also relaxed. The three of us booked ourselves on a tour for the following day and even managed to ask about buses out of San Pedro. I think my Spanish improved after three glasses of wine! That evening we went to a popular local bar/ restaurant with live music although didn't stay too late after our 4.30am start that morning.

The following day we allowed ourselves a lie-in after two early starts the previous days and it was wonderful! The small shop across the road from the hostel, which we frequented many times, provided us with cherries and yoghurt for a late breakfast and soon it was time for lunch! After yet more relaxing (sitting in a car for five days had been hard work) we went to the tour agency to be picked up for our first tour of the spectacular area which rivalled our last five days in Bolivia. We had been recommended the company by the English couple we met in La Paz and it turned out to be a really great recommendation.

We were picked up by Pablo, a Chilean who was also fluent in English, having gone to an English school. We were so impressed by him that we went on two further tours with him as he loved his job and wasn't just there to take tourists to the famous sights. He planned the itineraries so that we'd bump into as few other people as possible and go to places other tour companies didn't go. Also, five people was the maximum we had on a tour, so no big anonymous tour buses for us. Our first destination was Death Valley and Valley of the Moon. First up was Death Valley where we visited viewpoints across rock formations caused by the fault lines beneath, and towards the long line of volcanoes that separate Chile and Bolivia. The valley was named because a Belgian priest named it Mars Valley but his Spanish pronunciation wasn't the best and Mars was misheard as "death". Oops. From here we headed to Valley of the Moon where we saw sand dunes, more beautiful rock formations, salt caves and the three Marys. Or the 2.5 Marys to be precise as a tourist climbed on one a few years back and it broke. To be honest, none of the bits of rock looked like Mary at all but they were certainly drawing the crowds and the selfie-sticks. We finished up by taking a walk along a rocky ridge for more great views and then to our spot for sunset, well picked by Pablo for 360 degree views and very few people. Amazing, just amazing.

After being dragged away from the last of the sunset, we were dropped back in town and the three of us found a very reasonable (for Chile) three-course dinner, with wine for about £6.50. No rice or beans in sight.

The next day, the three of us had arranged for Pablo to pick us up at 5.30am- a lie-in compared to the other tour companies which left at 4.30- and were joined by two Brazilians for our Geyser tour. After quite a bit of driving, we arrived at the geyser field in -8 degrees. However, the cold was a minor distraction from the large area of steam vents and geysers which we wandered around, watching the various formations. We found one which spurted hot water every two minutes and found that standing in the trickle of water it produced was a great foot warmer. From here, every other tour went to the public thermal baths but we went one better and went to a deserted and picturesque thermal river. It was just our group there and after breakfasting next to the river, we all got in. It took a while to find a good spot as some bits were burning hot and others a bit chilly but soon we were all happily esconced in the river and didn't come out for a long time. Pablo said he'd never known a group to stay in as long! We were briefly joined near the end by a Canadian couple and their guide but we didn't begrudge sharing too much. When we eventually managed to drag ourselves out and got dressed, Pablo took us to more amazing viewpoints on the drive back. He kept saying we were really late but he couldn't stop himself from stopping the car for more photos as he also had his camera with him too. The places we had been visiting are just too beautiful to describe and even the photos barely do justice to them.

We eventually got back to town where the day had heated up nicely to scorching and spent a relaxing afternoon in the hostel. For lunch we ate the most enormous empanadas (pastry with fillings) from our local shop. Yum. That evening we (including Raphael) managed to make it a long way to the restaurant directly behind our hostel and Simon tried a Chilean speciality, Pastel de Choclo, a chicken, pork and corn pie/stew which was tasty. I ordered some pork with sauteed potatoes which was easily enough for two- Simon was pleased! After this we bought a bottle of wine for about £2.50 and drank it in the hostel garden.

All the early starts/ late nights/ tours were starting to catch up with us so on our 3rd day we took it easy and left Raphael to go cycling by himself. We had the small task of moving hostel as ours was full for the weekend. We moved to a slightly more expensive but not quite as nice one (although the beds were more comfy). Other than this, we had lunch on the plaza and used the internet cafe where the internet was many times more speedy than in Bolivia. We had booked to go on a stargazing tour that night and prepared ourselves for this by eating massive empanadas for dinner. We were picked up at 10pm and taken out of town to where a French man and his Chilean wife have 10 telescopes and run stargazing tours in three languages. We were lucky to get ourselves on an English-speaking tour as the place is really popular and gets booked out. We spent the first half of the tour looking at the sky and constellations just with our eyes and were lucky to have a clear sky after earlier predictions of clouds and a possible cancellation of the tour. The second half was spent looking through the telescopes at different things including Jupiter, a comet, nebulas and very bright stars. At the end, Alain, the French man, took over and took really great pictures of the moon for everyone. We then went inside for hot chocolate and questions with Alain. He was very knowledgable and also very funny but at 12:30 my ability to absorb complex information about the expansion of the universe was next to zero. We got back to town at 1am after a really good night.

Pablo had persuaded us into visiting Salar de Tara so at 8am the next day he arrived to pick us up, along with a Brazilian couple. It was a long drive to the area, back towards where we had arrived to Bolivia but it was also very scenic. We made many stops for photos and on a really large expanse of gravel, Simon drove the pick-up truck for a bit and luckily we all survived. We finally arrived at the Salar itself which is gorgeous. Here we had a very late breakfast and strolled around to take pictures of the lake, flamingos, rock formations and volcano in the background. From here we drove up to get more fabulous views across the Salar and surrounding area. We spent a lot of the day at high altitude again so climbing up some rocky slopes was quite hard work but definitely worth it. All sceneried-out after 4.5 superb days in the San Pedro area, we drove back to the town and said goodbye to Pablo, guide-extraordinaire.

We returned to our good-value three course meal restaurant that evening and later on met up with Antonio and Lys from the Bolivia tour for a drink and exchanged tips as they had arrived from Salta, our next destination.

San Pedro had delivered more than I could have imagined: scenery in shovel-loads; good food; good company and a bit more civilisation, welcome after the last eight months of travel. Our last two months in Chile and Argentina are going to be good!!

Katy