Friday 5 March 2010

Arrival in Chile

I'll post about the nightmare flights and journey here when I get back.  Needless to say it's cost me an extra £1k in flights, Santiago airport was chaotic, but under the circumstances they really had things organised well.  It was all in tents, as the terminal was too badly damaged from the quake.

Managed to get an internal flight to Calama, for top dollar, and got off the plan into the bus and a 6.6 quake hit about 40 miles from us.  Bus rocked from side to side for a while, but all was well.  Managed to share a room with a guy who had a hotel book.  I arrived a day earlier than planned due to my original flight being cancelled, so had no hotel.  Spent a comfortable night in the Altplanico hotel and now I'm in the Race HQ hotel in San Pedro.  Race is delayed, now starts on Monday.  People still arriving from all over the world with stories of their journey.  As fas as we can tell we only lost about 10 competitors who can't make it.  Amazing when you think about it.  It's been the secret first stage, just getting here.  Going on a excursion with some new found friends to the High Altitude Geysers tomorrow at 4:30am, up at 4300M, then back for a restful afternoon.  Admin day on Sunday and into the deeper desert for the first night before the race.

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