San Pedro de Atacama

After spending 23 hours on a bus - which actually was not too bad until the last few hours as I slept and read a lot and the scenery was great - I made it into town here last night around 9:30. It was a little shady, as the bus station was not actually a station but really an outdoor dropoff point. I was trading emails two days ago with a woman who ran a hostel here who said she would pick me up at the bus stop. She was not there, so I tagged along with two Americans to their hostel as it was pitch black out, found out that their hostel had no empty rooms, then found one down the street. The bed was clean and the room pretty simple, though the bathroom left a little to be desired. Im exploring town now to see other hostels and likely stay there for the next two nights.

San Pedro itself is in the middle of nowhere in the Atacama desert. According to a couple books, this desert is the driest place on Earth and no measurable precipitation has ever been recorded. The town itself is very small, with dirt streets and stray dogs wandering around (the dogs are a consistency so far in South America). Right now I am typing on a dirty keyboard with a cat in the chair next to me, so that´s cool. Going to go walk around a bit and check this place out, as there are some awesome sights around this area. Adios.