San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

**First sorry for the extremely long and detailed post, I will add pictures soon for those who cant read ;)**

We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama after almost 24 hours of travelling. Unfortunately along the way, Katie had her iPod and camera stolen. But we will not linger on that because our time in Chile produced some great memories. San Pedro de Atacama is the driest desert in the world. This tiny town is mostly made up of tourists but it is absolutely stunning. This deserts' landscapes vary so greatly from one area to the next. (As I hopefully try to describe).

Day 1 Laguna Cejar

The first day, we spend the morning looking for a tour to do in the afternoon and ended up at the Laguna Cejar and Salt flats. This is a salty laguna with crystal blue water. It is also salty enough that you will float. Also they told us that the top layer of the water is chilly and then underneath it is warm. It took awhile for Katie and I to finally hop in (there are warm spots underneath the cool top but it really wasnt that warm). We did come out of the water with a clear white film all over our bodies..aka the salt. Afterwards, we watched the sunset in the desert which is absolutely stunning (this would be the first time of two). The pinks and orange reflect off the mountains and we were luckily enough to be in the area during the full moon and so the moon on top of the mountains with the pinks, purples and aquas were beautiful.

Day 2 Rest

We found out that the Space stargazing excursion was closed due to the full moon and that the bus that leaves for Salta (our next destination) only leaves S.P.A. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. So in order to do the Space excursion, which gives you the opportunity to see the night sky in the desert through intense telescopes, would be to stay until Friday (after the full moon). Because the sky is almost always cloud free you can see every single star. It was recommended to me by a friend from Chile as well as travellers along the way. Kates and I were both looking forward to it so staying the full week was ok with us.

Day 3 Sandboarding and Valle de la Luna (Full Moon)

On our 24hr journey to S.P.A. we had made friends with a guy and girl from Brazil. Super chill. I went sandboarding with Alberto in the morning before they had to leave for Santiago. Sandboarding took place in Valle de la Muerte aka Valley of the Dead, how ironic! On a massive sanddune. Sandboarding is difficult and I definately ate A LOT of sand. But it was also so much fun. We were lucky enough to have the hill to ourselves plus one other tourist (our instructor was saying normally there are 10 people per group with about 2 or 3 groups). Also Alberto and I were a bit hungover and the heat was intense. So we took it easy. There is obviously no chair lift so you have to climb back up the hill hence taking it easy. If snowboarding/skiing required climbing back up the hill after each run I dont think as many people would enjoy it as much. Oh yeah, and the fact that I have a tiny bit of experience snowboarding doesn´t help sandboarding!

That afternoon/evening, Katie and I went on a tour to Valle de la Luna and Valle de la Muerte. Our guide was amazing, he spoke French (no English) so I was able to translate. He took us to a beautiful look out over Valle de la Luna and then a quick tour around this massive valley. This area looks like what I imagine the surface of the moon looking like (hence the name). It is absolutely stunning. We hurried to the main sand dune where everyone goes to watch another spectacular sunset. This sand dune is huge and you are actually quite high up. (It probably took about 15 mins to climb). The colours and the reflection were absolutely gorgeous. We had a crystal clear view of Licancabur volcano and we managed to capture some great photos of the full moon right on top of the volcano. (At various times and colours of the sunset). We also tried to do the creative pictures of us holding the moon and such...we werent very good at it. Our French friends managed to get some really good ones.

Day 4 Rest - Lazy-ing around our hostel in hammocks, tanning, reading, playing cribbage, a little siesta. Yeah life is hard.

Our evenings usually consisted of making dinner than going out for drinks. There is one street in this town and it is restricted from cars. There is one bar and the rest are restaurants. The restaurants are mostly open air ones with fireplaces in the center to keep everyone warm at night. Its pretty sweet. There is a strict law that alcohol can not be served after midnight and so there are "private parties" for afterwards. Also by the fourth day because the town is so small, Kates and I were pretty well known around town. Most tourists only stay for 3 or 4 days max. We got to be in the know after awhile which was pretty fun.

Day 5 Geyser el Tatio and Hot Springs

Because of the extra day we had we decided to do one last trip. This trip was to the El Tatio geyser Field at over 4,200m in altitude and is a field with over 80 geysers. This turned out to be one of our favourite trips. We had the same tour guide as the Valle de la Luna and he was so great again. This tour required us to be ready at 4am and we were told it gets down to -20 degrees in the morning.

When we got to the field, we were cautioned not to get too close to the geysers which is boiling hot water spewing out of the ground because the ground around the geysers can break and you can actually fall in. This has happened to previous tourists which resulted in death and burns. Some of these geysers are massive and others are tiny bubbles in the ground just waiting to grow bigger. We saw the biggest one of them all and it erupts for 10/15mins then stops and will start again in another 10/15 mins. It was one of the coolest things we got to see. Afterwards, the tour continues onto the hot springs. Our guide asked us if we wanted to go to a real hot spring and not the standard over run one and we all agreed yes. He took us to an area where we climbed down, wondering if there was even water at the bottom. There was a thin river between two mountains (kind of like in a canyon) and the river was of hot water (about 35-40 degrees), from the geysers. At first we were hesitant to go in but when we did it was absolutely amazing and a lot better then the overrun pool. About 6 of us went in from our tour and we had the whole place to ourselves. This was exactly how I imagined hot springs to be like, secluded and naturally hot. There are spots where bubbles come up and you can almost burn yourself they are so hot. Afterwards we climbed back up and I was in my flip flops, and there was a stream of water flowing down to the river and I stepped in it and I think the water was very close to boiling, maybe 75degrees. (definately the water from the geysers).

Day 6

I had made some Chilean friends who offered to take me on a day trip to see some ruins and the valleys and since we had nothing planned until the stargazing that evening, I decided to join them. We had a picnic in valle de la luna, had some amazingly fresh ceviche, which was absolutely delicious with white wine. And just wandered around.
I got back in time for our Space Observatory Night Sky. Bad news bears. We got to the office only to find out the one trip we had been waiting for all week was cancelled due to the clouds in the sky. For the entire week, it had been crystal clear blue skies and nights. We could not believe our luck! They offered us the trip for Friday night except that we had planned to leave for Salta the very next morning. And so unfortunately we were not able to go stargazing and we will just have to come back for this opportunity (and plan not to go during the full moon!) That evening, as a consolation prize, my new found friends took me into the Valle de la Luna at night time. It was one of the coolest experiences ever. Its dead quiet and the moon was still very bright that you could see the shadows of the clouds on the valley. It is quite eerie in there but a really amazing experience.

Day 7
We finally leave for Salta, Argentina. Im sad to leave since it has been our home for so long but we have to keep going. We say goodbye to our friends and race to catch the bus. Which we had missed but it was luckily sitting at the border of town because it is also the Chilean border. (about 15 mins walk/run with our packs on). A random Chilean helped "direct" us to the bus and even took my day pack and ran with us for a little bit before handing it back to me and saying that he had to go. So nice. Because everyone has to go through customs, the bus was still there, otherwise we would never have caught it.

Next post. From Argentina.