Of star gazing and sun baking

In the middle of the Chiliean desert lives a French man with telescopes pointed to the stars and hot chocolate that warms the spirit after mind blowing visions of the night sky. Having arrived in San Pedro the night before and spending a lazy day around the town, we went to the observatory at 11:30pm and I never wanted to leave. I had about as many questions as there are stars in the sky and I was probably like a child with a new set of Christmas toys. We first looked at Saturn whih}ch was slightly surreal as it was right next to the moon and was very bright. Honestly it looked like those two dimensional stickers that you put on the roof of your bedroom when you were a kid and were illuminated by the light and put you to sleep. But it was really Saturn and the colour and shape were so clear. We then look at Alpha Centaury and other star clusters then a massive close up of the moon which, to be fair, nearly blinded me, but the contours and the craters were so visable it was like you could touch it. Some people feel asleep over the hot chocolate back in the warmth of the house, but I wanted to ask more questions and try to understand the enormity of it. Sadly we had to leave and my mind still boggles.

On our way into Chilie, we stopped at a border check and realised that we were at 5040m above sea level and laughed. I remember how tough the climb over the 4400m pass was when climbing the inca trail and then just walking around at about 4700m in Boliva in the boiling hot sun was kind of surreal considering the cold on the Inca Trail, but I have passed the 5000m mark and am proud to say that I have done it. We are now on the down hill run to the coast line back to a big city before my trip is over. Today we are heading out to some salt springs in the middle of the desert, which will involve some homage to the sun and then we are headed to Moon valley to watch the sun set which I think will be a nice sight over the weird and wonderful shapes of the stones.

It is nice to have some lazy days and I about to go and read yet another book in the sun. It seems that I have become a book monster and am going through them at about one a day. Sadly the truck is starting to run out of books for me to read so I have toswap with whoever I can.

Mwah x

Of winding roads and salty plains

So, La Paz proved to be a bit of a disappointment on the shopping front, but on the party front, well that was another story. It was the Mexicans last night on the trip and we went out with a bang which included dinner, shots, more shots, dancing, shots and then I think probably some more shots. We all had hangovers from Hell the next day, but it was worth it.

After that hangover subsided, we all donned some sexy wet weather gear and headed upto the top to the Worlds Most Dangerous Road to ride down at top speed and try to live. Well when I say top speed, I was always last trying to be sensible and protect my still not totally healed broken knee, but it was still fun and riding down a gravel road at fairly high speed while looking down at the 100m drop on the side only about 1 m from the wheels of my bike was exciting nonetheless. And we all made it injury free, so what a great day. Except for the sandfly bites that I got at the bottm and promptly scratched to infection, so now I look like Leper Legs. Nevermind, the joys of travelling yes?

We then hace headed to the Salt Flats and that was an amazing day of endless salty plains, sun and much creativity with the photos. We spent about 4 hours there and it was a blast, although some of us have ended up with some interesting burn marks from the sun that we havent seen for so long. But all in all, it was a great day and the photos prove it.

We are heading now into the middle of nowhere in the Bolivan Desert and there is an observatory somewhere there, which I am really looking forward to. Trying to make the most of the last 2 weeks of my holiday before I have to come home and face reality, but what that will be I am still not sure...

Mwah x x x x