Our original plan had been to stay in Peru a little longer and to reach Lake Titicaca by bus, then head down through Bolivia, however the UK Foreign Office advised against all but the most essential of travel in Bolivia, so we instead decided to head for Chile. We left Peru a little reluctantly , having really enjoyed our time there. This reluctance was only due in part to our upcoming journey: an overnight bus which would leave at 2pm and would allow us to reach out destination, Tacna (still Peru), at around 7am. From here, we would then have three options for crossing the border to Chile. We could catch the train (very expensive), take a bus (cheapest option but could take ages AND we’d already just experienced the longest bus journey so far), or take a colectivo, which is essentially a very reasonably priced, shared taxi. This would mean that there would only be five or six of us to get through immigration and would speed up the journey considerably. Unsurprisingly, this is the option we took.

Crossing the border was relatively straightforward. We filled in some forms, showed our passports, received a receipt which would act as our visa, then put out bags through security. Fortunately, the journey itself was fairly short and we soon found ourselves in Arica, Chile.

Being a border town, we were unsure what would greet us. From our hostel, the view appeared to be similar to Peruvian towns, with many homes having been built in the traditional way. Across the road from us was the local market where fresh fruit, vegetables and meat were being sold cheaply. In the opposite direction were two large supermarkets and a shopping mall which wouldn’t look out of place in Europe, apart from the sheets of metal covering up the windows and doors to avoid any damage in the on going protests. We wandered through the market but, having no cash, ended up heading to the supermarket to buy some food for the next couple of days. Having lived mostly on a diet of various soups, rice and potatoes, we were both incredibly excited about buying salad and thoroughly enjoyed perusing our options.

The following day, a group of us decided to go and explore a bit more of the town. Ross, our Kiwi hostel owner, recommended that we head to the port to enjoy some lunch and possibly take a short boat trip along the coast. We took his advice and were excited to find pelicans and sea lions making the most of the fisherman’s cast-offs. It didn’t take a great deal of persuasion for us to join the boat tour and we spent a pleasant 45 minutes cruising along the coast.

We very much enjoyed spending a few days in the sunshine without having to do anything or be anywhere, but we decided to head to San Pedro de Atacama – a tiny tourist town in the middle of the desert which averages around 1mm of rain per year (it’s either the driest or the second driest place in the world, apparently). This meant another night bus and we arrived in San Pedro to the sandiest and dustiest place I think I’ve ever visited!

The town now appears to be purely a tourist stop with little else going on judging by the number of tour operators scattered throughout. While there appeared to be a huge number of activity options, we limited ourselves to two choices: stargazing that night, followed by a four day tour into Bolivia to see the salt flats, avoiding the main cities where the protests were happening.

The stargazing was incredible. With no clouds of light pollution, it was possible to see an incredible amount of stars with just the naked eye. Our guide provided two very large telescopes and showed us the Moon and Saturn, as well as focusing on nebulae and constellations. Due to the time of year, we had a clear view of Orion’s Spur (one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way) which included the Orion constellation, albeit upside down, being in the Southern hemisphere! Our guide was very knowledgeable and we were very grateful for his excellent English! We were also offered hot drinks, wine and whiskey to keep us warm.

The next day was spent doing very little and packing for our Bolivia trip the following day – more on that one soon!