We are woken by the bus attendant while he is handing out
everyone’s breakfast, a cookie, fruit salad and a drink. The scenery in the morning was great, we have
really hit the desert now! Plenty of different rock formations and salt plains.
We arrive in San Pedro at 9.30am. We are
really in Hicksville now, but the place is pretty cool. This is a small town of 3,200 people and is
at an altitude of about 2,500 metres above sea level. The road was fully paved all the way to San
Pedro however as soon as we hit the town, the streets were dirt! Also the
buildings are predominantly made of mud. Behind
the town is large volcano which just makes the backdrop look incredible! It is also very hot and dry. We are drinking alot more water here! We arrive at our hostel, which is pretty
good. We had read some horror stories
about the hostels here in San Pedro, so are very happy with the one we have
picked. We have booked dorm beds here
for 9,000 pesos each (NZ 27) and we are very happy to hear that because it is
the low season, that we have the room to ourselves. Construction is of concrete aswell, so no mud!!! We then head into town to book some tours
(the hostel is about a 15 minute walk from the centre of town). It is a different experience walking through
town, but I enjoyed it. There are limited cars, but for
being in Hicksville, there are alot of people around and these people are
walking and biking down the middle of the street. The town has become very touristy over the
last 10-15 years with all the sights and activities around the area.
The first tour we book is the 4x4 3 day trip to Uyuni in Bolivia for Tuesday 3 April. We booked with the following company http://www.cordilleratraveller.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 . This cost us 75,000 pesos each (NZ 215). This includes our accommodation, transport and food. We will get to see the salt plains here. The tour is in Bolivia so we will be crossing the border on Tuesday morning and then beginning the tour then.
After this we booked the Valle De La Luna tour for the evening. This costs us 15,000 pesos for the both of us (NZ 45) http://www.sanpedroatacama.com/ingles/agencias.htm - The tour is number 3 on the list in the above link. We then booked a star gazing tour for Sunday night which cost 18,000 pesos each (NZ 50). We will find out on Sunday if we can take this tour as it is dependent on a clear night. http://www.spaceobs.com/en/tour.php
We then head back to the hostel for a bit of rest and a shower before our tour begins at 4pm. We all jump in a mini bus and head west of the town towards our first stop (about 15 minutes drive). The tour starts with a 20 minute walk up the great dune. This is large sand dune. Once at the top we can see the sand dune and the salt crystals around it. The salt crystals are fantastic and sparkle. This walk up this dune normally would have been fine, but it is just so incredibly dry and hot here that we all walk super slow. After this, we head to the formation called the three Maria’s (tres Maria’s in Spanish). This is a rock formation that looks like three ladies. These formations have occurred as a result of the wind carving the rock. They actually do look like ladies. After this we head to Death Valley. We climb to the top of the valley to take some photos. Up here you can see why it is called Death Valley. There is a very large drop and below are very pointy little hills. We spent about 30 minutes here enjoying the scenery and snapping a few shots and then walk to the mini bus to head to our next destination, which was another valley where we were to watch the sunset. At this valley there is a piece of rock that juts out over the 70 metre strait drop to the bottom. Would have made a good photo but it was pretty windy at the time. A couple of people in our group decided the photo was worth it and got out to the edge of the rock, I hope the photo turns out well!!! Then we watched the sunset over the valley. It was more interesting to watch the volcano and the Andes than the sunset, because the mountains change colour as the sun goes down. They went from grey to red to purple. After that it was time to head back to San Pedro for the night.
San Pedro de Atacama - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_de_Atacama
The first tour we book is the 4x4 3 day trip to Uyuni in Bolivia for Tuesday 3 April. We booked with the following company http://www.cordilleratraveller.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 . This cost us 75,000 pesos each (NZ 215). This includes our accommodation, transport and food. We will get to see the salt plains here. The tour is in Bolivia so we will be crossing the border on Tuesday morning and then beginning the tour then.
After this we booked the Valle De La Luna tour for the evening. This costs us 15,000 pesos for the both of us (NZ 45) http://www.sanpedroatacama.com/ingles/agencias.htm - The tour is number 3 on the list in the above link. We then booked a star gazing tour for Sunday night which cost 18,000 pesos each (NZ 50). We will find out on Sunday if we can take this tour as it is dependent on a clear night. http://www.spaceobs.com/en/tour.php
We then head back to the hostel for a bit of rest and a shower before our tour begins at 4pm. We all jump in a mini bus and head west of the town towards our first stop (about 15 minutes drive). The tour starts with a 20 minute walk up the great dune. This is large sand dune. Once at the top we can see the sand dune and the salt crystals around it. The salt crystals are fantastic and sparkle. This walk up this dune normally would have been fine, but it is just so incredibly dry and hot here that we all walk super slow. After this, we head to the formation called the three Maria’s (tres Maria’s in Spanish). This is a rock formation that looks like three ladies. These formations have occurred as a result of the wind carving the rock. They actually do look like ladies. After this we head to Death Valley. We climb to the top of the valley to take some photos. Up here you can see why it is called Death Valley. There is a very large drop and below are very pointy little hills. We spent about 30 minutes here enjoying the scenery and snapping a few shots and then walk to the mini bus to head to our next destination, which was another valley where we were to watch the sunset. At this valley there is a piece of rock that juts out over the 70 metre strait drop to the bottom. Would have made a good photo but it was pretty windy at the time. A couple of people in our group decided the photo was worth it and got out to the edge of the rock, I hope the photo turns out well!!! Then we watched the sunset over the valley. It was more interesting to watch the volcano and the Andes than the sunset, because the mountains change colour as the sun goes down. They went from grey to red to purple. After that it was time to head back to San Pedro for the night.
San Pedro de Atacama - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_de_Atacama
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