I did know that it was coming. I knew ever since I took that first breathe of smoggy santiagan air that I was playing with fire when it came to my lungs. And so i pushed it and pushed it - having one too many beers, too little sleep and trying to lug 20kg of crap on my back.
So then it came to San Pedro de Atacama. It took 20 hours to get there. 3 different buses and complaints from the bus driver to put our shoes on (come on! 20 hours!) We arrived in San Pedro and decided to have one beer, one little cocktail during happy hour to brush off the memories of a long bus ride. We ordered two margaritas and as the owner passed our table, he asked how we were enjoying our drinks. THinking that this would be a good time to demonstrate my prolific knowledge of Spanish I said "mmm rico" because I thought apparently "rico" meant tasty. He looked at me with a strange expression on his face because as I was to learn "rico" is also what you say when you think someone is a bit of alright - more of a "rrrriiiiiicccccoooooo" (with raised eyebrows and a suggestive smile). So he was pretty pleased with himself and promptly began feeding us drinks. Pisco sour after pisco sour - we left finally when the alcohol ran dry. But then as we (Rod) went to pay for the drinks we found they werent so on the house after all. The owner made us pay for them. We didnt even want those drinks - they were just free and all we wanted to do was have a hot shower and go to bed - but who says no to free drinks? who?
So the next day - the shit hit the fan - I had the worst hangover ever and to top it off the flu had finally caught up with me. I tell you what it really sucks to be sick in the desert. The air was so dry that it caused my nose to bleed from all the blowing, my lips were splitting and chapped and I couldnt even get out of bed to get some water becuase I was so hungover. And the heat - my god the heat - San Pedro is the driest place in the world!!! My only thought was "uh oh - I´m naked and I need to get to the toilet to vomit - should i stop to put clothes on or hope that no one else is in the corridor?"
But the next day it wasnt so bad - after the hangover cleared up a bit of a runny nose isnt gonna kill ya - so rod and I borrowed some bikes and went tripping around San Pedro. We came across some ruins of a fort that the Atacemenos used to defend their land from the Spanish but were unfortunately vanquished and beheaded. From here you could see the amazing landscape that characterises the area. The beautiful Andes, a wonderful dormant volcano and all the dirt you could ever want to see shaped by the wind into amazing shapes. Later in the night we went to see the Valley of the Moon - so called because the landscape reminds people of the moon (this place is seriously dry!) As the sun went down, the valley changed colour - yellow, pink, orange, purple and finally black. Gorgeous!
The next day we got out our bikes again and headed into the desert. We went 10 km down a dirt track to see a little town and visit what apparently San Pedro would be like if it wasnt overrun by tourists. So it was the middle of the day and we thought sweet we´ll support their town, buy an icecream and check the place out. It was threee buildings and a church. Great! I could have cried. But it was an awesome day - one of the best yet and as rod and I wound our way back to the campsite - I couldnt have been happier. That night we dined in dusty luxury in our cheapie campsite and made a meal fit for kings (tomato tuna and rice - thanks caroline for the recipe) all washed down with some fine Chilean cask wine. Fantastic!
