San Pedro de Atacama is by far my favorite place I have visited in Chile, and is one of the coolest places I have ever visited. In three days we saw some many things, but this was probably because it was a group trip, meaning everything was already planned and paid for. The trip almost felt 'free'! I didn't have to pay for anything, it was great (thanks mom and dad)!
We got to Calama, the closest city to San Pedro that has an airport, at around 6:30 Thursday night. It was a really tiny airport. Our bags came fast and our guides met us right outside. The ride to San Pedro was about 1 1/2 hours long. The rides weren't that great, and our driver wasn't stellar, but we did make it in one piece! We dropped our stuff of at our hotel/hostel, which was a lot nicer than anything we would have ever stayed in if we were here on our own, and went off to dinner. A great meal, and a celebratory pisco sour and we were on our way!
We woke up at 7:30 Friday morning and got right down to business. We first went to a really pretty laguna with a lot of flamingos. There are a lot of different types of flamingos, a lot of who only live at certain altitudes. San Pedro is about 2000 meters above sea-level? I'm kind of making that up, but I know wSan Pedro de Atacama is by far my favorite place I have visited in Chile, and is one of the coolest places I have ever visited. In three days we saw some many things, but this was probably because it was a group trip, meaning everything was already planned and paid for. The trip almost felt 'free'! I didn't have to pay for anything, it was great (thanks mom and dad) e were high up. Surrounding this laguna, and almost all of San Pedro are a lot of volcanoes. Our guide constantly tested us on all the names of the volcanoes, and I can't remember anything except for the fact that one of the volcanoes is 5916 meters high...We next went to a really beautiful valley with a very small "river" and some llamas.
After a big lunch (we never went hungry), we went to see some what I thought were the prettiest parts of San Pedro. First was valley de la muerte (death valley). There is a certain reason for it's name, but all I can remember our tour guide saying is something about tourists falling over the edge...We next drove to this rock called '3 Marias' which was shaped completely by the wind. It's supposed to look like women, but I didn't think it looked much like anything. After walking through some caverns, we made it to Valle de la luna (moon valley) just to watch the sun set and the moon rise. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun turned sand turned different colors, and being so high up we had a really great view. I don't think the pictures do it justice. The moon was so huge, only a few other times has it looked so close.
The next day we woke up at 4:00 to go to the geisers. I cannot remember the last time I woke up that early. We drove two hours, and up to 4200meters to get to the geysers. It was absolutely freezing up there. At the time we got there, I think it was about 10 degrees. With 3 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of socks, jackets, hat, scarf, and gloves, I still couldn't feel my toes or fingers. It is best to go early in the morning because the geysers are clear. They 'smoke' better (but it's not really smoke). We walked around the geyers, and then went to the 'big geyser' which also a pool you could go in. It wasn't exactly hot, but more like a lukewarm bath with an occasional burning hot current. Never have I taken of so many layers to find myself in a bathingsuit. Next stop, a small village called Machuca, with a population of about 5 people, but with a lot of visiting tourists. Their specialty is llama meat, and it was quite good! We made it to the thermal baths before noon. It was quite the productive morning! It was really nice to relax in these baths. It finally got warm out, so we were able to enjoy the pools without freezing. After another big lunch- i think salmon, funny I've eaten more salmon in the desert than anywhere else, we went back to the hostel for a nice siesta.
That night was the Chile-Venezuela fútbol game, one of the games for entrance into the world cup 2010, so we decided to go to a bar/cafe to watch. This place had the biggest empanadas I had ever seen. Anyway, we watched the game with a lot of Chileans which was really cool. They got really into it and so did we. Chile completely dominated the game, but it the score didn't show it. The game ended up tied 2-2, so I guess it's better they didn't lose. The Chilenos didn't seem too bummed, so what do we do once the game ends? dance of course. A little bit of cueca, some jumping, a little bit of everything. Every once and a while we would have to sit down and be quiet because live music and parties are illegal. When the police came around we'd have to sit around and pretend we were just eating. The whole thing was pretty funny. We spent a lot of time dancing which was really fun.
Sunday morning we did my favorite activity of the trip: sandboarding. It's like snowboarding down a huge sand dune. We climbed up a super high sand dune, waxed a wooden tablet, velcroed our feet in, and then slid down. When our guide waxed the board, I literally went flying. It was scary at first, and I think everytime I went down the dune I screamed, but it was still fun. My director took a lot of pictures so as of right now I don't have them, but I hope to get them soon. We were at the sand dune for about an hour and half, and I progressively got better. But even by the end I think I was better at falling, but I had some pretty great falls... In the afternoon we went to two different archaeological ruins, which were both really interesting, and so crazy to think that these ruins were built so long ago and are still here. Our last dinner was at our first non-touristy restaurant, which had really great tacos. I know it was non touristy because as we walked in, it was clear that the men had not seen many foreigners. I think we were stared at the entire meal.
It was sadly time to go...sorry that this was extremely long. It will definitely be difficult to live up to this weekend...
Another update: watched Chile-Brazil fútbol game tonight (look at me becoming such a soccer fan!) but they lost, too bad.
Everything sounds just perfect.
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