After a hellish journey, a late bus resulting in a missed connection we found ourselves stranded in Calama, the hotels full of miners. After teaming up with another lost backpacker we finally found a room and instead of wasting a day got up early to check out the mines.
Chiquicamata in Antofogasta is the world's largest open pit copper mine and the world's second largest producer of copper, and boy was it big!
A bus took us to the abandoned town which all residents had to leave and the mine grew in size and the fumes became hazardous. The town had an eery stillness, something I personally love, having a guilty pleasure for anything slightly macabre. I would have liked to explore more but after the short explanation about the process of mining copper it was off to see the mine itself.
Looking down into the never ending pit it was astounding to imagine mans power over nature, something I am becoming more concerned about as I travel longer. Saying that it was pretty cool to see 5metre tall trucks look like burrowing ants miles into the depths of the earth.
Dry and hot it was hard dangerous work for the miners who luckily get paid reasonably well for their efforts but under bad conditions.
The derelict factories and out houses added to the lost in time aura of the place and even though I saw men driving the trucks it seemed like a secret operation controlled by a workforce of robots built in the 50s and forgotten about.

SURVIVAL TIP:
Dont lose time! The thought of losing a day in a nowhere town was pretty annoying but a trip to the mine and a little walk around the small non-touristy towns made us glad we'd missed our connecting bus and seemed like a surprise treat!

Situated in one of the driest deserts in the world, Valle de la Luna is just one possible day trip you can take when visiting the area of San Pedro de Atacama. With a full moon on display and excited to stargaze in a few days I thought I'd stick with the theme and opt for a visit to the one place on earth most like the surface of the moon (unfortunately gravity still holds you to the sand, I know, bummer.)
After a bumpy ride out of town we started to be overshadowed by crazy rock formations that had been cut out of the sand by wind and rain. We climbed a dune and watched the sand boarders got their adrenalin kicks as they raced to the bottom. The snow capped mountains in the far distance, the pink blue sky and the orange rock formations in the foreground made me feel peaceful.
Back in the van and we hurtled off to duck and dive through salt tunnels, the sun sparkling off the white sand making it look like a frosted desert. Surreal.
As I clambered up the rocky ascent we reached the top of a rocky peak to watch the sunset over the desert and felt the heat quickly fall away from us. The whole day I imagined myself on another planet, in another world, far away from anything I knew from home. Of course as with any tourist attraction the hoards of other foreigners eager to feel like they'd been to the moon and back reminded me that I was closer to home that I wanted to imagine but to hell with the lot of them, the scenery was out of this world!

During my time in the lazy desert town of San Pedro de Atacama we saw a full moon, which bought with it varying options for wild nights out. Chile has strict laws in regards to drinking and a lot of their partying is done in private. Our hostel had a great social area where a campfire burned nightly and we soon heard rumours of an upcoming 'secret rave' that everyone in the hostel was eager to see. After buying some cheap Chilean wine and pumping some warm tunes we soon found ourselves on the dusty roads of town waiting to be picked up by random trucks and taken to the party. Our new Chilean friend ushered us to a doorway where we purchased a fine bottle of Chilean pisco and as the first truck pulled up a mad rush of people handed their cash to the driver and jumped in the back. We were assured cars would run all night so as the next one pulled up there was a mad rush to get in. I made it, with a group of others I knew from the hostel and drove off to see Gemma waiting for the next van with our bottle of pisco. She'll follow us everyone assured me.
We drove further and further out into the barren desert and I wonders where this party might be until we finally pulled up to a wire fence. We paid to get through and walked towards the fire puts and metal shack fitted with sound system.
I danced to a strange mix of salsa, reggaeton, techno and Sean Paul, lost friends, made new ones and found the old ones again. Ultimately it all came to an end when I went for a pee in what was ultimately a field of cacti and got a thorn threw my shoe. One of the new friends helped me haggle down the price of a taxi and we went back to town together.
Gemma never made it, the police had apparently got wind of what was happening and no more cars showed up, she forgave me though!

SURVIVAL TIP: Take a risk but stay safe! Ultimately I went to this party with people I knew and trusted but it was a far way out in the middle of nowhere and staying with Gemma would have been a lot safer. Saying that, if I hadn't of taken a risk and jumped in that van, I may never have had the experience in the first place!

There are stray dogs in abundance in South America, some friendly, others a little worse for wear. These street dogs had followed us in some countries but nowhere like in Santiago, Chile's capital. Almost as soon as you stepped out into the street you would find yourself with a new walking companion.
On a free walking tour (a must!) my friend asked why wasn't anything being done about all the stray dogs? Our guide was appalled, "We love our street dogs in Santiago, the city wouldn't be the same without them". He explained to us that there were many charities set up for the dogs and almost all of them had had vaccinations. The police took them in and washed them and they were known as friends of the city. From then on our general fear of loitering canine eased, the German Shepherds still freaked me out a bit but I felt a lot better about the drunken cuddle I'd had with a Jack Russell a few nights before!

It's become a general ritual for myself and amongst many travellers to always opt for the night bus when travelling substantial distances, which in south America at least is often. You save on a nights accommodation and save a day for sightseeing. The first ocassion when I would say this was a bad idea was the border crossing from Mendoza to Santiago. 

For an approximate 8 hour journey we opted for the 11pm bus, but wanting to save on cab fare and not wanting to be walking around in the dark headed to the bus station at about 8.30. Finally on the bus after a couple of hours of procrastination and making friends with small children we tried to sleep probably falling into the deep by about 1am. At 4am we were woken up at the border and made to stand in a que in the freezing cold before being let in to immigration. 2 hours, 3 forms and 1 small earthquake later we were back on the bus. We had been shouted at in Spanish that everyone's forms were wrong and waited for 40 minutes ready to have our bags searched while Chilean officials chatted. No one was enthralled. Trying to get back to sleep was a no go and we arrived in Santiago tired and dishevelled.

We headed straight for the cash machine to find that £1 was equivalent to thousands of Chilean pesos and I soon got duped out of a tenner due to my lack of brain capacity mixed with general inability for Maths.
Arriving at our hostel we had several hours to wait around for check in. In short, dont do it!