Tourist hub San Pedro de Atacama

Hello everyone,

Due to poor internet connection in the past few days, I have fallen behind on sharing updates from Tanja and my trip.

I will try to upload short reports with photos for each of the stops we have made during this time.

So, what was the last thing I wrote about... ah, La Serena, okay.

Our journey led us (like every backpacker in South America) to San Pedro de Atacama in the north of Chile. San Pedro is not a big city. On the contrary, only about 8,000 people live here. Why do all travelers want to go to San Pedro de Atacama?! The name itself says it all; because of the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world outside of the polar regions. And it impresses with a variety of different natural spectacles. From San Pedro, you can participate in various tours to explore the desert and its surroundings. Of course, Tanja and I couldn't miss out on that.

On our arrival day in San Pedro, we participated in a tour that took us to Valle de la Luna (a part of the Atacama Desert covered in salt). It feels like being on the moon here, which is why it's called Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). We also drove to Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death), which reminded me a bit of the Grand Canyon. At the end of the day, we admired the sunset from the Coyote Rock.

On the second day, we had hoped to meet Aljona, but unfortunately, it didn't work out due to communication constraints. So, I borrowed bikes with two English girls from our hostel and we cycled 17 km through the desert to a salt lagoon. This was the most strenuous experience of my trip so far (especially the return in the dark under time pressure), but it was definitely worth the effort. The lagoon was so salty that you could simply lie down and float in the water. (Unfortunately, I don't have photos of this yet, as photographer Tanja was not with us and the girls haven't sent me the photos yet. As soon as I have them, I will upload them directly!)

On the next day, Tanja and I had to get up early as we had signed up for a tour to the Geysers. At 4:30 AM, a small bus picked us up from our hostel. We drove for 1.5 hours through the desert landscape up to 4,800 meters, where we could enjoy a delicious breakfast. After that, we marveled at the spurting and steaming geysers, which created a surreal sight in the light of the rising sun. On the way back, we stopped at a small mountain village where we could taste freshly grilled llama. It was very delicious!

In the evening of the same day, we continued with an astronomical tour. Because almost nowhere else are you so close to the sky and have such a clear view of the night sky as in San Pedro de Atacama. We observed the constellations, the Milky Way, and we could even see Jupiter with its four moons. At the end, we had a warm cocoa, as it gets very cold at night in desert regions.

San Pedro de Atacama was a great experience for us and a perfect end to our journey through northern Chile, as we were now heading to Bolivia.

Best regards

Anna