San Pedro de Atacama - the tourist desert

After our odyssey, we had to find accommodation because we hoped to find cheaper offers on site, like in Humahuaca. But we were so exhausted that we took the first one and ended up in a pretty expensive place.
Then we went on a search for food and found a restaurant about 10 minutes away that we liked. Tom had a salad and I had a portion of pasta, which was enough for another meal for both of us.

Afterwards, we just looked for another accommodation for the next two nights and went to bed.

After moving at noon the next day, we started dealing with the tens of thousands of tour providers in San Pedro. In this small town, one agency follows the next, interrupted at most by shops and restaurants. The ultimate tourist destination!

It's like Byron Bay in Australia - just without the ocean.

After 4 different providers, we decided on an astronomical tour for that evening and a kind of 'laguna hopping' for the next day.

The astronomical tour lasted from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm and cost 20€ per person. First, a film gave us some information about the planets, moons, and sun. Then we walked a little further until it was completely dark around us. A gigantic telescope was set up here. Since Tom and I were the only ones, we had our private tour.

The astronomer or his English-speaking assistant showed us the constellations of Lama, Baby Lama, Scorpio, Virgo, and of course the Southern Cross.

We saw a perfect Milky Way and thanks to the telescope, even stars outside our galaxy 🌟🔭.

It was very funny to see a star just above the horizon. There are more layers of air between the star and our eyes - if I understood that correctly - which makes the star look like it's blinking. When we looked at the star through the telescope, it blinked in all sorts of colors like a disco ball! 😍🎆 🔭
We also looked at the planets Saturn and Jupiter through the telescope.

In between, we had a Pisco Sour, the Chilean national drink. It tastes like sour apple in Germany, only here you drink it from a wine glass and not from shot glasses.

I was also shown how to take a photo of the Milky Way with my camera and took some pictures. In the end, a 'group picture' was taken and then we went back to town.

By now, our feet were half frozen and we were looking forward to bed after a delicious taco (written out as enchilada).

The next day - before we took the night bus to Arica - was mostly spent eating. So we didn't save as much money as we had hoped.

The only worthwhile thing was the Meteorite Museum, where stones are exhibited that are older than the Earth.

One of the largest meteorites found in the Atacama Desert.

Meteorite!

Dinner - Really good pizza!

Finally, Spezi! Although very sweet due to terrible Fanta

Dessert in between - the dogs make themselves comfortable everywhere

When it's too cold and you have to operate your phone with your nose instead of your fingers..😂

Our further travel route:

Actually, we wanted to go to Arequipa from Arica because of the altitude differences. But since the bus prices are so high, we're going to La Paz instead, which means going from 0m to 4000m in 8 hours 😬🖒😲

Let's see how our heads can handle that 🙅😱

Next stop: La Paz, Bolivia