Greetings from the driest desert in the world!

A few examples of Chilean friendliness:

• When I left Valparaíso, I took a local bus from the hostel to the bus station. I didn't know exactly where to get off, but there was a woman in the bus who showed me to get off with her. She walked all the way to the bus station and made sure I was following her.
• From Valparaíso I took a bus to La Serena. Just before arriving the guy sitting next to me started chatting with me. I asked about his plans for the evening and got invited to go and eat seafood with him and his friends in the nearby city of Coquimbo. So I went. And finally had the courage to taste raw mussels, shrimps, octopus etc. How could I have left Chile without trying the seafood?! I've visited a fish market a few times before, but they don't look like the most hygienic places and the food is raw, so I've only taken photos. After this experience the guys took me to my hostel in La Serena. No expectations, no emails changed; just a nice, random act of kindness.

From La Serena I got a ride to the village of Pisco Elqui in Elqui Valley in the rental car of three French exchange students who stayed at the same hostel room with me. Pisco Elqui is a small, peacefull place in the middle of the mountains. On the way we stopped in Vicuña to learn more about two important things connected with Chilean culture: Gabriela Mistral and pisco. Gabriela Mistral was a poet awarded by Nobel Prize. The ones of you who've been lucky enough to get a postcard from me from Chile have seen a picture of her in the stamp. After Museo Gabriela Mistral we went to a pisco distellery. Pisco is a Chilean liquor distilled from grapes.

Now I'm in San Pedro de Atacama in the northeastern part of Chile. Tomorrow it's time to leave the country. In a month I've travelled through the whole country; seen the granite towers of Torres del Paine, the fjords in the south, the green central part with lakes, snowcapped volcanoes, Pacific beaches and now I'm amazed by the driest desert in the world. There's emptiness like in Patagonia, but still it looks very different.

Full of expectations - hoping for the best, dreaming of it and at the same time trying to prepare myself for a disappointment - I met my new travel mate Andres yesterday. Finally, after exchanging emails for a month. I sent him a Couch request earlier, but he was travelling and suggested we'd go to Bolivia and Peru together. "Why not?" I thought. So here we are. My first impression is pretty good, so I believe we'll have a great time travelling together.

I also met a really cool Belgian/Dutch couple at my hostel. All four of us are a team now; we'll take a tour to the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia together. It feels good to be with other people again. A lot of laughter.