Desert towns and salt flats

So, my South American adventure has sadly come to an end. It was an amazing trip, and I'll try to sum it up soon. But in the meantime, I'll be posting some more lagging entries. This one is from the Atacama desert - the driest desert in the world. The Atacama lies in northern Chile, its landscape filled with sand, salt and lava flows. Over the border from Bolivia, we drove through the barren landscape, through winding (though paved!) roads, past active volcanoes to the desert town of San Pedro de Atacama. Set in an oasis in the desert, San Pedro was tiny and extremely touristy, with every other shop selling tours of the salt flats, sand dunes, moonscapes. But it was lovely, relaxed and warm. A welcome respite after days of cold.

A picture of the 16th century church in San Pedro.














The main drag:













A lovely fire keeping the restaurant warm as we sipped our Chilean wine.