13th January Antafugasta – San Pedro de Atacama 205 miles, 6768 so far

Well having gone into Antafugasa for a quick drink and find Wifi to update the blog we struggled to find a bar with internet. About to give up we finally found one and I was having a really hard time with the photos etc, out of desperation rather that a strategic thing to do I restarted my computer and bingo. Having faffed about for so long we were there until 3 am and it was still buzzing, so shatted we drag ourselves back to camp. Thats 2 nights with little sleep!
Back on the road all gassed up we hit the desert and make good progress although today there seems to be a few more trucks but overtaking is not difficult and often they pull over onto the apron of the road to give you a bit more room. I should mention something her, in the UK trucks and some slower vehicles will indicate left if it is OK to overtake, they do the same here but they still indicate left, bear in mind we are driving on the right.
We come into a small village and our timing is perfect to be behind, they are just moving off, another 3 artics transporting 1 chassis and 2 tipper bodies for those massive earth moving vehicles. They must be 25 feet wide and are travelling at walking pace and stopping frequently to check clearance on lampposts and the like, so even motorbikes cannot get past.
As the temperature is 34 degrees, which is fine all the time we are moving but we are now cooking at walking pace, time to stop for a drink and an ice cream.
The traffic seems to have eased so we are on our way again and about half a mile out of town there it is but now there is a ripio road to the side which we take to and pass.
After Calama we start to climb but it looks as though we are decending, optical illusion. I can see the road for about 15 miles ahead running absolutely straight, we get to the dizzy height 3800 metres and we are still in a massive desert surrounded by mountains, Temperature has dropped to about 25 as we start out desent, we can see the Salar de Atacama in the distance a massive salt flats, but it is not flat and has rocks all over it. Just before we reach San Pedro we pass a road to the Valley of the Moon, which we want to visit later and as we go over a ridge there before us us is what we now know to be the end of the Valley of the Moon. Lots of vehicles have stopped but Martin goes back up the hill as he believes the better picture is at the top of the hill.
We continue the final few miles and arrive in San Pedro, the streets are a combination of tarmac, ripio hard packed earth with stones (very rough). Martins first comment was ‘this isn’t what I was expecting, I thought it would be more finished than this’. We found the campsite and moved on to explore a little further, the place is buzzing with travellers, there are lots of restaurants, shops, places offering tours to various attractions.
Having had a chat with a local we go back to the campsite and get ensconced and then have a wander in the town,. Having got a bit of shopping we are directed to the Plaza which is like a mini Covent Garden, in that people are playng instruments, singing, have rope strung between trees and are doing slack rope walking and juggling. There is also an interesting church which Martin tells me is the second oldest.
Back to camp to eat and rather that going out for a drink we decide bed might be a good option, so bed at 10.30 and although awake earlier I did not get up until 9.30. A complete recharge after the previous 2 nights.