Valparaiso

Sorry, long time no post, mostly because I've not been doing much.  Basically after some consultation with the camera fixing man in Iquique it transpired that there was no way of fixing my camera without going to Santiago.  So I took a bus there, stopping off at San Pedro de Atacama for a bit of mountain biking and some sandboarding on the way.  For the curious amongst you, sandboarding is just like snowboarding, only slower and you get sand everywhere, worth it for the novelty values and the views back over the desert though.  Had an awesome sunset from the Valle de la Luna, which does look impressively lunar.  Didn't do the salt flats at Uyuni because the tour from San Pedro had pretty much doubled in price, I reckon because petrol prices had doubled in Bolivia.

Anyway got to Santiago after a lengthy bus journey (with a bed), spent a couple of days there getting the camera fixed (the most expensive fuse-change ever) and picking up some spare inner tubes and bike grease, bike is all shiny again now, and then headed across to Valparaiso where I am now.  Am just waiting for my stove to arrive from home then I'll be off again, the next couple of weeks promise to be excellent route-wise.

Valparaiso has definitely won me over, with a combination of Cuban sandwich joints, ice cream shops with middle aged ladies with steaming banter, and incredibly colourful houses, not to mention a hostel with homemade bread and jam for breakfast.  Some photos below, there would have been more had I remembered to put the memory card back in my camera before starting to take photos...

Will also put up some photos for La Paz and the trip into Chile, in other news I booked a flight home.  Will be back in the UK on the 19 Feb, hopefully just in time to get some skiing in...