30 May
Took the early morning bus from Salta, Argentina to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS ride. We got lucky because we got the top floor of the bus and the front row, so we had the best view. We went over two passes, including one at 13,700 feet that had plenty of ice. We drove through completely white and flat salt flats and passed gorgeous snow covered volcanoes towering above everything (6000m plus peaks). The landscape was extremely desolate. No houses or signs of civilization for 10 hours. Really hardly any vegetation, just a high, high desert. But we did see heards of guanaco. And the desert was gorgeous. We left behind the saguaros as we climbed up a winding crazy pass and then it was just landscapes that could have been areas of Nevada, Utah, the moon, or mars. Of course it made it even cooler with an ever fuller moon hanging out over the mountains. Seriously one of the coolest rides I have ever been on. Just rocking out to Josh Ritter and other music while enjoying scenery. Hard to beat.
We arrived into San Pedro in the evening and found a really cool hostel with hammocks, tiki torches at nights, and the friendliest of cats (one that I call Tigre de Pedro snuggled with me all night). They also had a fire (its very cold here in the high desert at night) with free hot cinammon wine
San Pedro is in the Atacama desert which is the driest place on earth (though I have also heard parts of Antarctica are drier). Some places haven't had precipitation in several years. San Pedro is at an elevation of about 7900 ft, so quite similar to Estes Park
31 May
We explored around the tiny little town of San Pedro in the morning and made sure to beat the rush to the ATM. There is only one visa ATM here and they were refilling it this morning, so we made sure to make it early enough before it ran out, as cash is hard to come by here. San Pedro is cute with all the buildings made out of adobe and the streets narrow and dusty. Our hostel is actually a bit out of town in a little adobe neighborhood. We also checked around for tours and such, especially the tour to Solar Uyuni Bolivia.
In the afternoon we took a tour to Lago Cejar, a very salty lagoon, similar maybe to the dead sea, though much smaller. You can go in for a swim, and of course you can just float without doing anything because of the high salinity. The lake had some hot springs, so it was surprisingly warm and nvery nice to float around in. Of course the scenery around the lake was amazing with towering, snowcapped volcanoes all around, and crazy barren desolate scenery.
After the float in the Lago, we headed off to a tiny lake set in a big hole in the ground. This was very cold freshwater, but had some good cliff jumping.
After that we headed to another much larger lake, but one that is very shallow...A Jesus lake as the tour guide called it bc the lake was so shallow in the whole lake(not more than 6 inches), it was like you were walking on water. The sunset on the reflecting lake and on the soft pink mountains was amazing and we ended the evening by having pisco sours and chips beside the lake.
At our hostel at night, we sat around the fire and some of the workers at the hostel had a chicken asado. It was the best chicken I have ever had...seriously!
June 1
Went with a group out to some pretty big sand dunes, where we waxed up some snowboards and hiked up the dunes to sandboard down. It was actually quite a lot of fun, and we could get some good speed. I am lucky bc I have come to San Pedro from the Salta area (about 1 mile high) as opposed to near sea level in Santiago, so I am more acclimated. Most of the people could only do 4 runs because they were so winded and tired, but I was lucky and was able to do 8 runs. Up on top of the dunes there were of course great views of the desert and of the snowcapped volcanoes. To get to the San Dunes, we went on a cool narrow 4wd road through a narrow canyon. Laura wasnt too into snowboarding, so she spent the morning shopping for warm clothes for our 3 day trip to Solar de Unyi in Bolivia
In the afternoon, Laura and I did a tour to Valle de Luna (moon valley). We stopped at several viewpoints and hiked up a ridge in the Valle de Luna National Park. We also did a cool little hike through a very narrow slot canyon that was made almost entirely of salt. It ended in a cave that we explored. The views were surreal, always with the volcanoes in the background and the unique deserty and moon-like landscape all around. Because of all the salt, a lot of the land had a whitish tint covering the red dirt and rocks. It is the combination of this white color and the unique landscape that make it look like the moon. Of course it was cool because a very nearly full moon rose over the volcanoes and the Valle de Luna. At the end of a tour we hiked up a big sand dune to watch the sunset and light up all the volcanoes a soft pink and purple.
June 2
We woke up at 4am for the tour to Tatio geysers. After a 2 hour drive, we arrived at 13,780 feet. It was very cold (about 15F), but as the sun started to rise, we were able to see a huge geyser field full of fumaroles, small to midsized geysers, and bubbling calderas all set in a basin below large mountains. It was cold enough that when the water was far enough away from the geysers, it was frozen. We spent some time walking around the huge geyser field, and then had some breakfast up there.
After we had seen the geysers, we headed to another geyser area and in this area we soaked in a small hot springs lagoon, set at nearly 14,000 feet and below the huge mountains. On the way back home we stopped at a traditional Machuka village and also some some Vicunas (a wild relative of the llama, but smaller than the guanaco).
In the afternoon, Laura and I spent some time getting supplies for our next trip. We are leaving tomorrow to go to Bolivia via the Solar de Uyuni. It takes 3 days in a 4x4, and is supposed to be epic.
After we had purchased our supplies and changed some money to bolivianos, we took a short walk out of San Pedro for some nice views.
Now we are watching the Bolivia vs Chile soccer match. I am pretty sure at this moment there are no Chileans out on the street. Our hostel is packed with the workers of the hostel watching it
Took the early morning bus from Salta, Argentina to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS ride. We got lucky because we got the top floor of the bus and the front row, so we had the best view. We went over two passes, including one at 13,700 feet that had plenty of ice. We drove through completely white and flat salt flats and passed gorgeous snow covered volcanoes towering above everything (6000m plus peaks). The landscape was extremely desolate. No houses or signs of civilization for 10 hours. Really hardly any vegetation, just a high, high desert. But we did see heards of guanaco. And the desert was gorgeous. We left behind the saguaros as we climbed up a winding crazy pass and then it was just landscapes that could have been areas of Nevada, Utah, the moon, or mars. Of course it made it even cooler with an ever fuller moon hanging out over the mountains. Seriously one of the coolest rides I have ever been on. Just rocking out to Josh Ritter and other music while enjoying scenery. Hard to beat.
We arrived into San Pedro in the evening and found a really cool hostel with hammocks, tiki torches at nights, and the friendliest of cats (one that I call Tigre de Pedro snuggled with me all night). They also had a fire (its very cold here in the high desert at night) with free hot cinammon wine
San Pedro is in the Atacama desert which is the driest place on earth (though I have also heard parts of Antarctica are drier). Some places haven't had precipitation in several years. San Pedro is at an elevation of about 7900 ft, so quite similar to Estes Park
31 May
We explored around the tiny little town of San Pedro in the morning and made sure to beat the rush to the ATM. There is only one visa ATM here and they were refilling it this morning, so we made sure to make it early enough before it ran out, as cash is hard to come by here. San Pedro is cute with all the buildings made out of adobe and the streets narrow and dusty. Our hostel is actually a bit out of town in a little adobe neighborhood. We also checked around for tours and such, especially the tour to Solar Uyuni Bolivia.
In the afternoon we took a tour to Lago Cejar, a very salty lagoon, similar maybe to the dead sea, though much smaller. You can go in for a swim, and of course you can just float without doing anything because of the high salinity. The lake had some hot springs, so it was surprisingly warm and nvery nice to float around in. Of course the scenery around the lake was amazing with towering, snowcapped volcanoes all around, and crazy barren desolate scenery.
After the float in the Lago, we headed off to a tiny lake set in a big hole in the ground. This was very cold freshwater, but had some good cliff jumping.
After that we headed to another much larger lake, but one that is very shallow...A Jesus lake as the tour guide called it bc the lake was so shallow in the whole lake(not more than 6 inches), it was like you were walking on water. The sunset on the reflecting lake and on the soft pink mountains was amazing and we ended the evening by having pisco sours and chips beside the lake.
At our hostel at night, we sat around the fire and some of the workers at the hostel had a chicken asado. It was the best chicken I have ever had...seriously!
June 1
Went with a group out to some pretty big sand dunes, where we waxed up some snowboards and hiked up the dunes to sandboard down. It was actually quite a lot of fun, and we could get some good speed. I am lucky bc I have come to San Pedro from the Salta area (about 1 mile high) as opposed to near sea level in Santiago, so I am more acclimated. Most of the people could only do 4 runs because they were so winded and tired, but I was lucky and was able to do 8 runs. Up on top of the dunes there were of course great views of the desert and of the snowcapped volcanoes. To get to the San Dunes, we went on a cool narrow 4wd road through a narrow canyon. Laura wasnt too into snowboarding, so she spent the morning shopping for warm clothes for our 3 day trip to Solar de Unyi in Bolivia
In the afternoon, Laura and I did a tour to Valle de Luna (moon valley). We stopped at several viewpoints and hiked up a ridge in the Valle de Luna National Park. We also did a cool little hike through a very narrow slot canyon that was made almost entirely of salt. It ended in a cave that we explored. The views were surreal, always with the volcanoes in the background and the unique deserty and moon-like landscape all around. Because of all the salt, a lot of the land had a whitish tint covering the red dirt and rocks. It is the combination of this white color and the unique landscape that make it look like the moon. Of course it was cool because a very nearly full moon rose over the volcanoes and the Valle de Luna. At the end of a tour we hiked up a big sand dune to watch the sunset and light up all the volcanoes a soft pink and purple.
June 2
We woke up at 4am for the tour to Tatio geysers. After a 2 hour drive, we arrived at 13,780 feet. It was very cold (about 15F), but as the sun started to rise, we were able to see a huge geyser field full of fumaroles, small to midsized geysers, and bubbling calderas all set in a basin below large mountains. It was cold enough that when the water was far enough away from the geysers, it was frozen. We spent some time walking around the huge geyser field, and then had some breakfast up there.
After we had seen the geysers, we headed to another geyser area and in this area we soaked in a small hot springs lagoon, set at nearly 14,000 feet and below the huge mountains. On the way back home we stopped at a traditional Machuka village and also some some Vicunas (a wild relative of the llama, but smaller than the guanaco).
In the afternoon, Laura and I spent some time getting supplies for our next trip. We are leaving tomorrow to go to Bolivia via the Solar de Uyuni. It takes 3 days in a 4x4, and is supposed to be epic.
After we had purchased our supplies and changed some money to bolivianos, we took a short walk out of San Pedro for some nice views.
Now we are watching the Bolivia vs Chile soccer match. I am pretty sure at this moment there are no Chileans out on the street. Our hostel is packed with the workers of the hostel watching it
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