Atacama Desert

So we are in San Pedro de Atacama, an oasis in the desert at 2,408 meters above sea level. Doesn't sound so high at first, but you can feel the altitude right from the beginning. Some of the highlights here are above 4,000 meters, so it's advisable to acclimate slowly. So we took it easy on our first day. Near San Pedro de Atacama are the ruins of the Quitor Fortress, a fortress built by the Mapuche people in the 12th century. You can climb up to the excavation site on foot, which we naturally did. There is also a path to the top of a hill where you can overlook the Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley, actually named after Mars) and the mountain range. Unfortunately, it's always very hazy here, so the mountains are not clearly visible. In the distance, you can also see the salt flats, the Salar de Atacama. It's only 25 degrees Celsius, but in the blazing sun, it gets pretty hot in the desert. Sandra still hiked up and the view was worth it. After that, we briefly drove to the aforementioned Valley of Death and watched the sandboarders from a distance. The highlight is two viewpoints of the Valle de la Luna, the famous Moon Valley. We ended the evening in a small pizzeria, the pizza was very good and, as almost everywhere here in Chile, there was music from the 80s playing on the radio. My personal highlight was Falco's "Rock me Amadeus" 😂🎼. By the way, the family pizza we shared cost about 15 Euros, but it was very tasty and even enough for breakfast.