Contact Admin. Part 4 of 9: Argentina and Chile The crossing of the Atacama Desert After eight days of uninhabited high altitude desert and mountain landscapes of southwest Bolivia I was back in the inhabited world in San Pedro de Atacama.
I walked with my bike through the streets lined with adobe houses, in search for a hotel. It was Friday night and almost all the hotels were booked. The desert town was packed with tourists. Bike tours in the desert in the Valle de la Luna, jeep tours to hot springs on the Altiplano, ascents of high volcanoes in the Andes and surfing sand dunes in the Atacama Desert, the offer of the tour providers was versatile, but not cheap. The price level was ten to twenty times as high as in Bolivia.
San Pedro was no budget destination. I myself lived on a budget though. That meant that tired of the heavy Salar and Laguna route I had to continue my odyssey for an affordable place to sleep. After two hours of searching and asking I finally found a tiny room.
Relieved, I laid down on the small bed. But I had not enjoyed my rest for a long time. The hotel owner knocked on the door.
He explained that he had made a mistake. The next few days were already reserved. I was thrown out of the hotel unscrupulously. I was not fully recovered yet from the Salar and Laguna route of the last days and so I found myself looking for another overnight stay.
