The following two day drive to Calama in Chile was like driving on the moon: dirty salt panes changed to stone deserts and they again turned into mining areas - all surrounded by volcanoes. It was quite spectacular but very slow (30 km/h on average). A lot of military signs reminded us that this part of Chile had once belonged to Bolivia - before the war. Mine fields were signed and we were happy when we had gone through.
Our arrival in Calama, a mining town, was incredible. After having gone through poor Bolivian areas, salt and stone deserts, having shopped on markets where even butter was not available we found ourselves in the most modern shopping mall we had ever been in. While it was sort of a cultural shock we enjoyed the fast food, the ice creams and the ample shopping opportunity.
Lili's account: Where we were going to camp for the night we stayed near the train track. We always counted the wagons going past. In the afternoon we flew kites because it was very windy. Mummy was a bit annoyed because Anna always went in front of the kite. Daddy got out our pink bucket. Suddenly, a gush of wind took the bucket away. Daddy tried to run after the bucket but could not reach it anymore. That's why the bucket is still there somewhere in the desert....
After a few days we thought we would attempt to get back into Bolivia to go North - as far possible towards the point when we had to turn round because of the bad track conditions. So we filled up with water, petrol and food and left the low land to drive up into the high land of the Bolivian Atacama desert. After 10 km on the brand new road leading towards Argentina we made turn towards North on to a broad sand track and crossed the border back into Bolivia.
Then we drove on to San Pedro de Atacama, a small tourist village at the bottom of volcano Llaganuca, close the Bolvian border. Compared to the Atacama desert San Pedro is at a low 1500m altitude with a pleasant arid and warm climat. We were told it had not rained for 15 years in San Pedro! We decided to stay a few days to relax. I went on a bicycle outing with Anna up a river bed. We also met a few Germans that had come on converted Unimog trucks to discover the area.
