Pachamama Bus Tour (north Chile)

After a fun filled day of visiting vineyards all over Maipu and with very sore heads we hopped on a bus back to Santiago to start our 6 day tour up to the north of Chile. We were joined by 4 others and our very strange guide, Yerson. OUr first stop was in a small fishing village where we caught our first glimpse of the Pacific ocean and later in the evening we stopped in a town called La Serena where we rested our heads for the night and after a few bottles of wine our guide felt the need to divulge his most intimate sexual fantasies...nice! The next morning we hopped back on the bus to make our way to Pinguíno de Humbold National Park. And as the name suggests, it's where we could sight some penguins that make their way from Patagonia during winter to the Chilean coast. So we hopped into the teeniest boat ever where the people on the one side of the boat had to hold up some plastic sheeting to protect us from the icy water and headed to the island where the National Park was. It was incredible. Seeing a little penguin waddle off into a cave, hundreds of sea lions perched on rocks in the middle of the ocean and dolphins swimming along side us. It was fascinating! We stopped on a small island for lunch with the most beautiful deserted beach we'd ever seen. That evening we stopped in a place called Bahia Inglesa. We stayed in a little cabin on the beach where Mitch cooked up a storm and we drank the night away with our 3 litre bottles of red wine! With very sore heads the next morning we walked the beach to clear away the cobwebs and when that didnt work we cracked open the beers and basked in the mid afternoon sun. Later that evening our guide started up the barbie and we ate like kings and queens for the night! Of course the highlight for me was finding 4 puppies underneath our cabin! The next day we started our trip into the Atacama desert - the driest desert in the world (apparently the last time it saw rain was in the 50's). We also passed through the Chilean salt flats and finished off the evening watching the flamingos take flight at sunset...amazing! The next day we arrived into San Pedro de Atacama a few miles from the Bolivian border. We spent an amazing day in the Valle de la Luna climbing through caves and canyons, listening to the Pachamama (mother earth in Quechua) talk to us and finished the day watching the sun set over the dunes in the desert. After a few days in San Pedro (where we had no electricity) we said goodbye to some great friends and hopped in a jeep for a 3 day trip to Bolivia.
(pic1: Flamingos in flight at sunset on the Atacama Desert)
(pic2: All of us in front of a huge hand structure randomly placed in the middle of the Atacama Desert)