The best place in the world...San Pedro de Atacama DesertSep 16, 2009
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Sand boarding
geysers
For four days, our group made a trip to the San Pedro de Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. San Pedro is the world's dryest desert and you could definitely tell the moment you stepped off the plane and felt like all the liquid got sucked out of you. We left Santiago on Saturday at about 4 am, went on a 2 hour plane ride, and arrived at about 8:30 am, tired but excited. As we drove into the dessert, my mouth just hung open. Ive never seen anything like it. The sand and the mountains go on forever!
We arrived at our hotel/hostel which was pretty nice and then explored the town of San Pedro a little bit, which consists of pretty much one main street filled with tourists, restaurants, and gift shops. It was a change to see so many tourists when Im so used to feeling like one of the only gringas. Then, in the afternoon, we left for our first adventure.
With a tour guide, we took a bumpy ride in a truck to death valley; a valley with lots of dunes and rock formations. From there on, it just kept getting better. Our next stop was an area in moon valley with a huge cave. We all climbed through the tiny passageway of the cave, not being able to see anything! People had to make their flashes on their camera go off so we wouldnt keep bumpng our heads on the walls! We exited the cave and ended up on a sort of rock mountain formation with an awesome view. Next, we went to another part of moon valley where we hiked up a big sand dune. It was definitely tiring but the view was worth it. To end the day, we watched the sunset on a cliff over the dessert with wine and cheese. This was by far my favorite moment of the trip. I had to pinch myself to make sure i wasn't dreaming!
Other excursions we went on included trips to a few different lakes and salt formations. At one of the lakes we saw a whole bunch of flamingoes! The contrasts in this dessert were crazy. It is the dryest dessert yet there are beautiful lakes, a waterfall, flamingoes, and all sorts of thing that seem like they just dont go together.
The third day we had to wake up at 3:30 am to go see the geysers. We boarded into the truck and embarked on a 2 hour bouncy ride to the geysers. When we finally got there, the windows had icicles on the outsides! We were all really bundled up but it was about 10 degrees farenheit outside so there was really no way to stay warm. The geysers were definitely worth it. Everywhere you looked you saw columns of steam coming up form the grond. Then, to be even crazier, we all stripped down to our bathingsuits and jumped in a hot spring! I couldnt believe we actually did it!
After seeing the geysers, we made a few stops on the way home. One was to see a bunch of wild llamas, then, 15 minutes later we arrived at a town that was serving llama to eat! It was sort of weird to be petting and taking pictures of llamas, and then eating them shortly after but I have to say it was delicious!!
Later, we came across a little hike through a bunch of cactuses. Then, out of no where we came upon a bunch of rocks and a waterfall! We rock climbed all around and it was just beautiful and unexpected.
Finally, our last day in San Pedro sadly came and some of us decided to go sandboarding with our free time. We hopped in a van, and ended up at a big sand dune. We were all slightly nervous and were wondering what we were getting ourselves into. We climbed up the dune, an almost impossible task, and arrived at the top, petrified. But, it really wasnt as bas as it looked, and i only had a couple of falls on my butt! At the end of the day I had about a pound of sand in my shoes and in my clothes.
Finally, we had to say goodbye to San Pedro and get back on a plane. I can truthfully say the four days could have been some of the best in my life. I have been to a few different countries in Europe, and even Australia, but none of that compared to San Pedro. I don't know how I got so lucky!
