Lost in The Desert!

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA.

PG has forgotten the charger for his razor so we set about looking for one. Check out isn't until noon so we have plenty of time to kill. Every attempt is unsuccessful! We even found a shopping gallery of electrical electronic and technology stores. The final guy tells PG that his is smaller than most and will be difficult to find. (Ooh, Matron!) RJ leaves no stone unturned in her search as you can see.

Our flight is at 15:30 so we check out and ask for a taxi, we don't fancy our chances a third time on the metro. The taxi driver only speaks Spanish but, even so, we manage to maintain a conversation for the whole journey. He can understand us and we him. He tells us that until several years ago there was very little crime hereabouts but since the Venezuelans have moved in and look at it now. He thinks that the area where we stayed is a dangerous one. On to politics as we pass the presidential palace. He doesn't like the current president, too young at 35 and too left wing. Next it's football, is PG red or blue? He likes Pep. He thinks that City are a team for the workers and United for the monied. Finally, family, his son is training to be a lawyer. £20 taxi fare well spent, safety and the week's Spanish lesson thrown in.

There's some confusion at LATAM check-in initially. Electronic check-in is compulsory and we've no idea where to start. A young Chilean man helps us through the process but at the point of printing the boarding passes, the system crashed. It works in our favour because he helps us to jump the queue right to the front counter.

Flight leaves on time. Security was busy, our flight was full with many single guys who we suspect are travelling to the mining area to work. We fly through the hills which surprises PG, he thought the flight would follow the coast. We arrive 10 minutes early but it takes 20 minutes to reach the gate and disembark. We collect the bag and wait in line for the car rental. My goodness, she's slow. There's only one in front but it takes an hour for both of us to be served.

We drive initially into Calama to collect supplies. It takes an age because RJ doesn't know the layout and it's a large store. Naturally, she enlisted the help of a good-looking young man. The woman at the car rental had suggested that one of us should stay with the car in case young delinquents broke in as it's an obvious tourist vehicle.

The journey takes 75 minutes to San Pedro de Atacama on a single road. It's dead easy until we reach the village. Then it's chaos! The satnav takes us to the rightstreet but not the number. It's pitch black, no street lights and the road signs are carved in wood. Several tourists try to help without success. Eventually a lady sat on a wall and she tells us that we are only 300 metres away. If only we had turned left instead of right at the start, there would leave been no stress. We share a bottle of wine to relax ourselves before bedtime.