San Pedro and the Atacama Desert

San Pedro with a volcano in the distance

The bus from Salta to San Pedro takes around 10 hours and it leaves at the antisocial hour of 1 am, so the first part of my journey was spent sleeping - but around 6 am I was awoken to landscapes high in the Andes mountains.

Sunrise

The road winds through the mountains that still had patches of snow alongside the road.

The road through the Andes

Snow on the side of the road

Until it reaches the Argentina - Chile border.

The border

And after the usual lengthy messing around with immigration and customs, begins to descend to the small town of San Pedro.

Volcanoes just outside of San Pedro

The town itself is a small village almost entirely dedicated to tourism.

A street in San Pedro filled with touristy shops

It is easy to see why, San Pedro is surrounded by areas of incredible natural beauty such as the Atacama desert and Taito Geysers. 

San Pedro is surrounded by the desert and a short drive away the town gives way to the incredible scenery of Atacama.

The desert just outside town

Further into the desert

Various rock formations dot the landscape 

The Three Marias formation

But by far the most impressive is the Valley of the Moon.

The Valley of the Moon

Which changes colour as the sun begins to set.

Sunset colours

Another angle of the valley 

As do the Andes in the background 

Volcanoes in the background changing colour 

The Andes changing colour

Panoramic view of the valley 

Until the sun finally disappears 

Night falls

The next day I got up at the exceptionally antisocial hour of 4:30am to begin the trip high into the Andes to see the volcanic Taito Geysers.

The geysers are around two hours drive from San Pedro and because they are at over 4000m altitude it was -9 degrees outside.

The geyser field

Steam rises from the boiling water, on occasion making it difficult to see.

Lots of steam

But a network of paths enable you to see the pools of boiling water.

Boiling water

Another pool

Erupting geysers 

A geyser erupting

Mini volcanoes 

Steam rises from a mini volcano

And pools of water coloured by extremophile bacteria 

The orange colour is caused by bacteria

Before taking a dip in the nearby thermal pool.

A very pleasant 26°C in the pool, around 0°C outside

Further down the mountain is a lagoon with a myriad of birdlife.

Birds walking on the ice in the lagoon

Overlooked by the only active volcano nearby.

Smoke hovers around the top of the volcano

When I returned to San Pedro there was some sort of festival going on

Music

and dancing

Which went well into the night. However, unfortunately I was unable to join the celebrations as I needed to prepare for the 3 day journey accross the Andes to Uyuni in Bolivia.....

Across the Andes to Mendoza

The Andes range from the road

The city of Mendoza is a 7 hour bus trip from Santiago through the Andes range and it is one of South  America's scenic bus journeys.

Heading into the mountains

The road rapidly ascends into the Andes with the higher snow topped peaks a stunning backdrop to the road as it climbs.

The snow capped high peaks

The road then goes through 28 narrow switchbacks which can be a little dizzying from the very front top deck seats in the bus.

The switchbacks from curve number 20

The road continues through the mountains until it reaches the border with Argentina. 

Farewell Chile

The border itself is actually crossed while heading through a tunnel, and the passport and border control is at Puenta Inca - some kilometres after entering Argentina.

The tunnel that crosses the border

Welcome to Argentina

I had heard many horror stories about the border crossing, but for me it was extremely short and efficient - taking a mere hour, which was a nice amount of time to stretch my legs before the next leg of the journey.

Descending from the high Andes

I had heard that the Argentinian side of the bus trip wasn't as scenic, however I found the descent through the steppe every bit as beautiful as the ascent into the Andes.

The Argentinian steppe

A river flowing from the Andes

Mist comes down over the steppe

The steppe then gives way to the vineyards of Mendoza....

The first of many vineyards that I passed on the way into Mendoza

Cerro Santa Lucia and Santiago Market

Cerro Santa Lucia is a small hill in Downtown Santiago. The park consists of many gardens and a castle is built on top of the hill. The lower areas of the hill contain beautiful terraces and fountains.

Lower terrace

Stairs continue up the hill to another terrace and fountain.

upper terrace

From the terraces the road winds around through the gardens until it reaches the Castle Hidalgo

Circular garden with the Castle gates in the background

The Castle was a defensive fort in the 1800's with several castle gates and cannon.

Gate to the old fort

The area was later redeveloped, adding the lower terraces and a chapel to the hill.

The chapel

On the top of the hill are several lookouts overlooking downtown Santiago.

Downtown Santiago

Close by to Cerro Santa Lucia  are several other attractions. The Galleria de los Bellas Artes is a small, yet interesting gallery with a grand entrance hall.

The entrance hall

And after enjoying the artwork, it's a short walk to the central market. 

Mercado Central

The central market is a huge complex selling a large variety of fresh fruit and vegetables and, of course, there are several restaurants selling freshly cooked produce.

This includes traditional Chilean food such as Pernil (marinated pork shoulder)

Pernil

and terremotos - a local cocktail consisting of a scoop of pineapple ice cream and pipeño (a type of wine tasting similar to a dry sherry).

A Terremoto (with the rest of the Pernil in the background)

It's one of those drinks that sounds like it really shouldn't work... but it's strangely delicious. However, they are also deceptively strong and trust me, more than one of these is not a good idea...