Off to the desert

After two days of being sick in Arica, Rivvardo thankfully recovered somewhat and we were able to continue our journey to the Atacama Desert as planned.

The Atacama Desert covers a large part of Chile and also extends into parts of Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. It is the driest desert on Earth and is about 15 million years old. There is still plenty to see there. Although we had already researched excursions and activities that can be done from the small town of San Pedro de Atacama, our expectations were exceeded!

Day 1:

On Sunday, after a 12-hour bus ride, we arrived in San Pedro. The town is mostly made up of hostels, restaurants, and agencies that offer various excursions in the region. Everything is geared towards tourists, which was very convenient for us after the two days in remote Arica. After checking into our hostel, we spent the first afternoon gathering information on the numerous offers and booked our first two excursions. We still had to take it easy as Riccardo was still recovering and I had some difficulty with the altitude (San Pedro is already at about 2100 meters). However, after the first very restful night, circulatory problems and dizziness had already passed.

Day 2:

Our first excursion started directly at 9 am. With a small minivan and a few other tourists, we headed to a sandy section of the desert. Then we changed shoes and strapped on boards for sandboarding.

Sandboarding works basically the same as snowboarding, just on a sand dune. I have never tried snowboarding, but I believe sandboarding is much easier. You quickly get a good feel for the board and steering. Additionally, sliding down the sand is initially slower than on a ski slope, which was good for me (a little scaredy cat).

We were allowed to go down the dune as many times as we wanted for about two hours. The disadvantage compared to snowboarding: there is no lift to comfortably take you back up. With the board in hand and the thick shoes on, climbing up the dune in about 30-degree heat and blazing sun was quite exhausting. But it was definitely worth it! It was so much fun!

In the afternoon, we also took the trip to Valle de la Luna. This section of the Atacama Desert is extremely dry, to the point where not even cacti can be found. It also really looks like the moon.