High, Dry (and dizzy) in the Atacama Desert

Having a quiet day today in San Pedro de Atacama - an oasis town in the middle of what is supposed to be the highest and driest in the world. It is not a sandy desert like Dubai but has salt lakes and some serious mountains and volcanoes,

Had a great trip yesterday (up at 0530) to see the flamingos and then on and up (to 13,000 ft) to a couple of lakes. Stunning scenery but definitely felt the effects of the height. Tina suffered the most with headache and sickness when we came back to the town and is spending time recovering by taking it easy and staying in the hotel for this morning. Hopes to be up and about later today. Trip to the lunar valley tomorrow!

The desert is really cold at night - down to -10 degrees and up to around 25 degrees plus during the day. Slept in our sleeping bags in the bed on the first night - didn't trust the heater. Hotel insisted on trying to fix it when Tina was feeling her worst - the smell of WD40 was certainly not the recommended cure for altitude sickness!

Had a good flight here on Tuesday. The driver to meet us had a sign 'Ian and Pina'! - I'll get it right one day!. Anyway, a stunning 2 hour drive through the desert (in a van with no name) to get from the airport. It was just as the sun was setting and the colours were incredible.

Was sad to leave Santiago as we could have spent some more time there and met a great family (through a work contact) who not only gave me a football shirt but also took us to the coast on Monday and really took good care of us. Good to see the Pacific coast although the weather, whilst perfect in Santiago was cloudy and misty at the beach. Still, had a great lunch at a little beachside fish restaurant and went to Valparaiso, a really interesting old naval town - a bit like Portsmouth, not everyone's cup of tea! Some great old, dilapidated buildings and 100 year old lifts to the top of town.

That's it for now - further update tomorrow hopefully.