Day 20: Dune!

Mood: Relaxed
Music: Air - Talkie Walkie

Today started early, not entirely out of choice, but as I'd woken up at about 4am I decided to stick my head outside and see what I could see skywards. The stars were as clear as I've seen in my life and so I then proceeded to try in vain to photograph skywards without a tripod. No matter what I used to prop the camera up with I just couldn't get anything decent out and eventually I gave up. This was not before a member of staff came into sight with a torch wondering what the light outside was. He caught me in a pair of shorts, a toweling gown and a pair of flip flops out the back of my porch trying to prop my camera up with a pair of shoes! I guess it could have been worse...

The day normal started with a trek (bit of a walk) that took us out along a large ridge and then along the top of a sand dune. The echo from the top was awesome and came back at you on at least 3 separate occasions. From there we ran straight down a very steep sand dune which was great fun. Photos were taken of us on the way down, and my foot prints can be seen on the far right hand side. After that we hopped back onto the bus and were driven back to the resort. From there I ended up in the jacuzzi reading my book before moving onto a sun lounger to avoid getting too sun burnt.

After lunch I went on a brief cycle ride. I didn't get very far as the roads were still flooded and going the back way out of the resort was quite long winded and I had an excursion to catch.

This afternoon's excursion was to go and see the salt flats of the Atacama desert. Unfortunately they were closed due to the thunderstorm that was approaching. As this was a 45 minute drive from the resort it took up most of the rest of the day. The rain was quite heavy in places while in the bus in both directions. So much again for the driest place on earth!

This evening I've been told that my transfer is at 7:50am to the airport tomorrow morning so I'm now all packed ready to go. Time for dinner now :)