A travel day and my arrival in the Atacama Desert

A couple of days of travel as I arrived back in Santiago for my flight to the Atacama Desert. which is one of the driest places on Earth besides the polar deserts. The desert is located by the Andes Mountains which subsequently blocks rainfall in the area. The Pacific Ocean to the West of the Atacama Desert also hinders the formation of clouds and consequently rain. Although it did rain in 1971.

The flight was pretty uneventful, (you can bus it here from Santiago in 28 hours) but the 100km bus trip from Calama (tiny airport) to San Pedro de Atacama was spectacular. Huge volcanos on the horizon and nothing but dirt (in spectacular shapes and formations) everywhere. The town lies at 2400m and when you arrive the narrow streets are dirt roads, the houses are adobe (mud bricks) and the place is full of tourists. Tonight I ate the local delicacy of llama - which kink of tasted like a mix of beef & lamb, slightly tougher and leaner. They say you are likely to get altitude sickness here but so far so good. I am here for three days so tomorrow I will start exploring.