Arica to Putre

5 h30 we were out of bed and off to Putre. We caught a taxi at 6h30 as the bus to Putre was leaving at 7o´clock. The bus station, La Paloma, was quite far from the city centre which was about ten minutes away by taxi.
The bus departed promptly at 7 o´clock. The journey took us through some of the barios of Arica onto the Pan American highway, North to Tacna and onto the R11 to Putre. Our Journey would take us onto the Antiplano. Putre is about 3500m high and to Curt this is just another number and oh! he has never experienced altitude before.

Beam me up Scotty! This is Mars!! Talk about space walking this is truly a lunar landscape of note. We arrived after a 3 hour trip to a scene almost synonymous with Arabian nights. Putre is definitely an oasis in this barren landscape, and everything is at a slow, slow pace. The altitude really impacts, which was a great excuse for me. Of course mechano man was in his element; "acclimatising" is the excuse. Ja, right. 
Met a guy at the hostel where we are staying, a pretty cool dude called Carlos Athens (must be a Spanish-Greek) who thought Eugenio needed his head read after hearing what we plan on doing. Now I am really worried and clutching my return ticket like there is no tomorrow, seeing that a desert hardened Chilean thinks it is a bad idea. Ok guys, so it is going to be really lonely from here on out as we leave tomorrow morning early into the desert. Curt will be going on to Iquique to find a car and then backtracking. 
So dudes out there we are relying on you to keep us company....so comment please and thanks to those who are already contributing....