The far north of Chile is a vast desert with not a lot to see, and from where I was in Valparaiso, it was a long way to anywhere with facilities from which to visit. I decided to break up the journey with a quick visit to the Pisco valley. This area of the country is famous for two things. One, it is the center of production for much of the country´s pisco (a sweet but strong liqour distilled from grapes) and it is one of the world´s best star-gazing locations. This is attested to by the location of three massive observatories in the area. I hadn´t spent any time star-gazing on the trip and decided a night spent under the stars was the perfect relaxation.

I headed off to the very quiet town of Pisco Elqui, well up the river valley, and settled in for the night in a pleasant little Residencial located part of the way up the mountain located behind the town. This was a strategic move as it gave me less walking once the sun went down. Luckily, the other person staying in my Residencial was a nice Aussie who was able to point out the southern cross for me. Let me tell you, upon seeing the southern cross for the first time, I understood why I´d come that way (apologies to all readers, I couldn´t resist). I spent a very nice evening staring up at a sky full of stars I´d never seen and tracing meteors as they burnt to oblivion in the atmosphere. Highly recommended.

From Pisco Elqui, I headed north to the town of San Pedro de Atacama. San Pedro is a tiny town located in the Atacama desert and is very much a tourist center. Its sole purpose now seems to be geared towards providing a gateway for gringos to explore the desert and the mountains in the area. There were a number of expensive excursions available to the surrounding areas, but since I was interested in saving money and taking things at my own pace, I decided to scope out a few sites within walking distance. The major attraction is the Valley of the Moon, a barren area 13km outside of town with windswept rock formations and huge sand dunes. It is said to be at its best at sunset, so I set out on foot from town through the desert a few hours early. San Pedro, located in the far north of Chile, is at about the same latitude as Jujuy, Argentina, where I´d done my first bit of desert walking. This desert was a bit worse off, though, as there weren´t even cacti. Cutting across the rocky fields on occaision, I struggled to find any plant life whatsoever. Upon arriving near the park entrance, I walked through an old river valley, engulfed by rock walls and even found a natural tunnel. It was a nice attraction that wasn´t included in the park itself. Only the intrepid (Read: trespassing) traveler has a chance to see.

The park itself was nice, though not entirely unlike the landscape surrounding it. Upon climbing the ridges from which to watch the sunset, though, the scale and beauty of the landscape can really be appreciated. All around the area was littered with small rock towers and mounds, other areas looked like minature mountain ranges.

At sunset, the sky was clear as a bell, unfortunately, and the colors weren´t fantastic. The setting sun did add a nice orange hue to the Valley of the Moon though. Had I paid for the excursion, I think I would have been let down, but having walked, I was very pleased.

Unfortunately, as the sun left me standing on my ridge, I had to contemplate my 13km walk back to town through the abandoned desert. It´s a good thing I like star-gazing. The walk was long and cold and for some reason I kept thinking about the "Large Marge" scene from Pee Wee´s Big Adventure. Funny the things that come into your head when stranded in a North Chilean desert.

I spent one more day in the dry heat of the desert (a chance to wash some deserving clothing and rest some tired feet) and elected to head on to Bolivia. After a couple of less than successful train trips in Chile, I was a bit hesitant to make a third attempt, but stupid decisions are the hallmark of my travel so I searched out one of the least lauded train trips in the Continent.

The trip from Calama, Chile (located a couple hours from San Pedro) to Uyuni Bolivia climbs to 3,660 meters (just under 12,000 feet) and stays there for most of the duration of its 20 hour trip. It skirts the edges of huge salt lakes and travels in the shadows of numerous volcanoes. It all sounds pretty enticing, huh? Unfortunately, as it does all of this, it spends its first night churning through the thin air at sub-freezing temperatures and is a notoriously drafty, unheated car. Or, as I might put it, a terrific adventure. All this for just US$11.

I headed to Calama to buy my ticket for the 11:00 departure and met a few of my travel companions. One, a San Fran surfer named Dave, had been plying the waves of South America for a few months and was now plying the roadways with a 9 foot surfboard bag. Hardly the most practical travel luggage, but who was I to judge. We all piled into the train car for the night and were thrilled to see that it was mostly empty (most people having much more sense). Everyone grabbed a bench and settled in for a long, cold night.

All the info I had on the train trip advised not to try it without a blanket or a sleeping bag. I´d tried to by one of each in Chile, but was disgusted by the prices, so I elected to brave the cold with just my clothing. Not even the locals were that brave (i.e. stupid).

To be fair, the night passed quickly enough, thanks in part to the Pisco provided by Jose, a Chilean traveling in the seat behind me. After six hours of frozen misery (my coldest night thus far on my trip), the sun started to make its presence known on the horizon, and I started to try and defrost my feet.

The scenery really was quite nice, and I thoroughly enjoyed the slow pace of train travel.

We were frequently stopping to drop off or pick up cars, or for no obvious reason whatsoever. The train itself was extremely slow as well, and lent itself to hanging out doors and windows for pictures of the landscape.

To be fair, slowly and surely won the day (there were times we were a bit uncertain) and we arrived in Uyuni, Bolivia more or less on time. Looks like the third time was the charm for train travel. Bolivia, here I come.