chile

Chile from the 9th of December to the 23rd 2007.

from San Pedro Atacama to Antofogasta to La Sirena to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar to Santiago.

typing, typing, typing.

crossed the border a few times on foot and once on the bus.

playing w/ a little local kid in San Pedro de Atacama. he came got my attention to play w/ him.

just the point and point to see-saw.

a play at night in the town plaza.

around San Pedro, just the dry, dry Atacama desert. the driest place on earth.

w/ Chelsey and Jesus in Antofogasta. (stickers of Jesus everywhere was Chelsey and Michelle's thing. though Michelle had gone on on her own at this stage). lot's of Australian music played here. just first night i heard Johnny 'the voice' farnham, kylie minogue and men at work.

Chelsey and I in La Serena where a gypsy woman told us to expect news of a baby in two weeks. so glad she was wrong.

at a cafe in La Serena. watched football w/ some, drunk, locals there after Chelsey had gone to rest for a bit.

Valparaiso and some it's houses on the hills.

some graffiti i liked in Valparaiso.

great mural in Cafe Puro in Valparaiso.

some more graffiti.

valparaiso.

in Santiago w/ Chelsey. government building... or something like that.

i like this one. 'weapon of mass distraction'

and some more graffiti. stenciling this time.

salar de uyuni, bolivia

so i met Chelsey and Michelle properly in La Paz and was asked if i wanted to join on trip through Salar de Uyuni. so i did. 7 to 9 of December 2007 this is. 

and here we are. backseat of the 4wd for the three day car trip.

looked more amazing in person. salt everywhere.

some flags.

table salt... tables made of salt in front to salt hotel.

map of area.

Chelsey and Michelle at Isla de Pescado.

view of salt flats from the island. some of cacti are over thousands of years old apparently.

and the posing begins.

i AM huge!

Chelsey and Michelle again.

in San Juan, town in middle of nowhere. alpacas in back roaming all around. Chelsey on see-saw.

fish-eye at the museum.

a mummy at the museum. air is so dry that it doesn't decompose further.

Volcan Ollague. smokestack is in Chile while front part here is still Bolivia.

Chelsey and I. 

flamingoes take off in borax lakes.

same, same. the stench around these was horrible due to the borax.

though they were all sorts of different coloured lakes. some vicunas running around.

at Arbol de Piedra (Stone tree) in Rocas de Dali. landscape was inspiration for Dali. cool, weird place.

surfing some of Dali's rocks.

the red lake. Laguna Colorada at 4 250m altitude still.

the geysers on the last morning before crossing border into Chile. here is where my camera was broken a few seconds later. it was cooold.

Chelsey on teeter-totter.

southern Peru and north Bolivia

after Machu Picchu i headed to Arequipa w/ my friend Marsha. while in Arequipa i also saw the ice princess at a local museum. a frozen mummy of an Incan sacrifice. unfortunately no photos allowed.

blue bees... get it?

love this joke on little kids dressed up as superheroes. they will always, always correct you as though they think you are really stupid. funny stuff.

hostel in Arequipa.

in the central plaza w/ Dom, Marsha, Lucy and Niamh.

on the coldest ever bus to lake Titicaca. Lucy, Mayread, Niamh and I froze on this. so cold we could only laugh and shiver.

in one of the floating islands on lake Titicaca.

Niamh and I playing w/ local girl, Melanie. that is Chelsey in the background on left. more on her later. hadn't met her yet.

floating islands.

reed boat we all went on between two of the islands.

some more floating.

Puno plaza. we were on a tv camera here.

Copacabana, Bolivia.

street parade and dancing at night in Copacabana. we had the worst dinner service ever there. as two of us get our meal and then wait... and wait... and wait. finally asking waitress about other two meals and she tells us that the cooks had gone home. what the fark?

didn't even tell us that at first. made us waste nearly an hour waiting for meals that never came.

day parade in Copacabana.

Isla de Sol kids.

Isal de Sol. went there w/ Lucy, Mayread and Niamh.

little super-cute girl who came up to talk to us.

rainbow off land viewed from Isla del Sol.

in a square in La Paz.

llama foetus' at the witch's market in La Paz.

Chelsey and Michelle after having met them properly in hostel in La Paz. went for a tour of city and lunch. this is near Witche's Market.

Chelsey at a zebra crossing. seriously.

Chelsey and I at Loki hostel. both to afraid to make a move so far. more to come on that.

Loki hostel, La Paz. great looking bar in the hostel. and a fun, fun, fun hostel.