"Above - this painting is of part of the plaza with the police station on the left, and one of the volcanoes in the distance.
 
After an easy morning in Calama, spent sending off postcards, I left on the 11am bus for San Pedro. The 75 mile ride across the Atacama desert was a pretty featureless one, except for an impressive string of snow capped volcanoes, on the distant left. 
 
San Pedro is a small oasis town on the edge of the Salar de Atacama, a flat and mostly dry salt lake. On the other side, a few miles to the east, rose enormous volcanoes, some over 18,000' high. A picturesque setting for this delightful little town, that looked like it could almost have been built for a film set for a Clint Eastwood movie.
 
Standing at around 7,000' above sea level, San Pedro had a nice dry climate, for, athough it got quite hot at midday, the nights were cool and pleasant. It was also the centre for a number of interesting excursions, but as I was to find over the next few days, it was also just a nice relaxing place to be. It had been my hope during this trip, that I would be able to find a nice place where I could stop and have a few restful days. After a short walk round San Pedro on the first afternoon I had no doubt that this was to be the place." - MH