New Year's Eve in San Pedro de Atacama

So we returned home from our first desert adventure, had lunch, bought some wine and a bunch of grapes, and then went to sleep for a couple of hours.

We woke up at about 8pm, had something to eat, and then at 11pm headed to the Plaza de Armas to see in the Nuevo Año. We sat by the flashing and tuneful Christmas tree - there weren't all that many people around, probably only about 20, so it was quite peaceful.

We had an FM radio, but the stupid station we were listening to didn't bother to 'bong' at midnight, nor did the church on the square. Maybe it's not something they do in Chile... Anyway, a big siren went off somewhere at about the right time, so we decided that that must be the right time.

The Spanish have a fun New Year's tradition - you're supposed to eat one grape after each bong, so twelve in total. Because we didn't have any bongs to listen to, we thought we'd go with seconds (according to my watch) instead. Big mistake. You can replicate the ensuing disaster at home - try eating a grape a second for twelve seconds and you'll realise after about three that it's impossible (that's what Katherine did). If you plough on regardless, you'll realise that after about eight you're choking to death (as I did). Important Lesson: one bong does not equal one second.

Anyway, we finished off the remaining grapes and the wine (Chilean red, very posh!), then made our way back to our hotel. The streets were a bit fuller by now - South Americans like to burn effigies of famous people from the old year, so we had to squeeze our way past a couple of ferocious blazes. We watched some fireworks from the porch, and then retired at about 1am.