Scenes From Another Planet

San Pedro de Atacama is a small town in the middle of the desert that has developed into northern Chile's tourism center due to its proximity to a number of natural attractions.  Despite its isolated and desolate location, hordes of Chileans and foreigners alike come here to spend a lot of money (San Pedro is easily the most expensive place we have been so far, even much more so than Lima).  Magge and I arrived in town not expecting too much, and left with some of our best memories yet.

One of the most popular tours offered is a trip to the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) to catch the sunset. However, we got some advice from a fellow traveler in Peru that it is better to bike to the valley yourself and skip the tour. We took the advice and are glad we did, as the experience was the best of our time so far in Chile.

Road to Valle de la Luna

Our hostel lent us a pair of bikes, and we pedaled three miles to the park entrance on a road that split the Andes and volcanoes to the left and various rock formations to the right. We were passed by maybe one or two vehicles, and I realized that we would probably have the park to ourselves until the sunset tours arrived. Once in the park, it was another three miles to the first "point of interest": a set of caverns and a trail through a small canyon. We weren't able to get too far into the caverns because we only had a tiny pocket flashlight (I left my more powerful LED lantern in the US), but we got deep enough to cool off. Magge won't let me post the only good picture we got of the cavern because she doesn't think it's flattering enough to her backside. We then walked through the canyon, only to emerge onto the road nearly a mile from where we left our bikes.

 

Into the canyon

Set of Star Trek

The lonely road back to our bikes

After getting our bikes and suffering through a lengthy ascent (it probably wasn't that lengthy, but we both rarely ride bikes), we were looking forward to going downhill, but the wind was so strong that we had to pedal hard just to move forward. It was disheartening, but I figured at least the wind would help us up the hill on the way back. We got close to the end of the park, took some pictures of some rock spires carved by erosion, and headed back towards the entrance, stopping at the spot where all the tours go for the sunset. The wind that slowed us down the hill was nonexistent on our way back up the hill, and somehow had shifted direction enough so that it was in our face once we reached the top of the ridge. Ahead of me, I could hear Magge scream "what the!", and I just put my head down until we got to the lookout point.

 

Some of the few visitors we ran into before the tour groups showed up 

 

Effects of erosion

We hiked up "The Great Dune", ate some peanut butter and banana sandwiches for dinner (trying to cut costs), and waited for the sunset. The valley got its name because of its resemblance to the moon, but it looked more like Mars to me, although I'm not an astronomer. Either way, the terrain was definitely otherwordly, and the changing colors of the sunset enhanced it even more. The sunset itself was beautiful, but when we turned around to get back to our bikes, we saw that the moon was rising in the crimson sky, pushing the scene over the edge. We snapped many pictures, and rode our bikes home under the light of the brightest moon I've ever seen. For the day, we biked over twenty miles, and I definitely felt it the next day.

 

The Great Dune

Looks like Mars to me

 

One of our favorite pictures so far: us in the Valle de la Luna, with the moon and Lincacabur Volcano in the background.  And my glorious hair.

 

The moon at sunset

The next morning, we were up at 3:45am for a tour to the El Tatio Geysers. Despite being told we'd have an English-speaking guide, we did not, and we were the only English speakers in the tour van. When we arrived at the ticket office, I realized that I did not have enough money to pay for our entrance fees, as I thought I had grabbed all my cash out of my other pants, but only took a few small bills. Unforunately, this type of bonehead move is common for me when I travel. Just ask my friend Alex about our freshman spring break trip to Whistler. We went back to the van and Magge explained to everyone we didn't have enough money to enter, strongly implying that we would like to borrow some (US equivalent of $6). Nobody offered to help. (Sidebar: Americans don't have the best reputation as travelers, but there is no doubt in my mind that if that van had been full of Americans, more than one person would have offered to lend us money. So far, I have found the bad reputation unwarranted, although we have not run into that many American travelers. Ironically, the two times I thought Americans were living up to the reptuation, the travelers ended up being Canadian. Sidebar over). Magge went back to the office and explained we didn't quite have enough, and they decided to give us the student discount. Back in the van, Magge rubbed the fact that we paid less in everyone's face.

 

Geyser at 6am

Much like the Valle de la Luna, the geyser field felt extraterrestial, or even primordial. We wandered the field for about an hour, trying to keep warm in the -5 degree Celcius temperature, before getting back in the van and heading back to a natural hot spring. It was more of a warm spring than a hot spring, but the air temperature was still cold enough to see the steam from far away. Despite the temperature and the fact that neither Magge nor I have been big fans of hot springs on this trip (why? Because they're typically disgusting), we stripped down and joined the legions of Speedo-clad men and too-small-bikinini-clad women in the water. After ten minutes of trying to remain as fully submerged as possible to keep warm, we scrambled to get dressed and back in the van. On the way back to San Pedro, we stopped in a town that was fairly uninteresting, except for a quaint church and a food stand that served llama-kebobs. I had not yet tried llama, so I immediately bought one. I don't know if it was typical of llama meat, or if it was a bad cut, or if it was cooked improperly, but it was extremely tough and sinewy. I'll stick with alpaca.

 

 Geyser field at sunrise

 

  

It didn't look real in person either

Magge dangerously chowing down on breakfast in front of a geyser

 

Must... stay... warm... and avoid... men in speedos

  Church in Machuca

Does not taste like chicken

Our last full day in San Pedro, we took a tour to see three lakes: Chaxa in the Salar de Atacama (the largest salt flat in Chile and second largest in the world, after Uyuni in Bolivia), and Miscanti and Miñiques. Overall, the tour was a disappointment, as we both felt like we were rushed through all the sites, plus there were some filler stops as well that were just a waste of time. We got some great pictures, but were not able to explore the way we like to. It reminded us of why we like doing things ourselves most of the time.

 

Flamingo in Lake Chaxa

  

Lake Chaxa, with the Andes in the distance

  

Salar de Atacama

  

Mountain rising above the altiplano (high altitude Andean plateau)

  

Lake Miscanti

  

Vicuñas (animal related to the camel) around Lake Miscanti

 

Lake Miñiques