San Pedro sits smack bang in the middle of the Atacama desert in Chile's north. The desert is ringed 360 degrees by mountains and volcanoes, however for some bizarre reason it all looks 2 dimensional and the distance from you to the volcanoes on the horizon is impossible to guess.
SPdA was an unanticipated stop on our journey, however as it was so close to Salar de Uyuni it made sense to check it out rather than backtrack to La Paz (as much as I really did want to spend more time in Bolivia). I hadn't really heard much about the Atacama, but boy did it deliver in spades!
The Atacama is the driest desert in the world and possibly one of the highest at 2,600m. It is renowned for being one of the best spots in the world to observe the stars and a few world class observatories and dish arrays are currently being built. Unfortunately the days we were there featured the so called 'super moon', which meant that all observation tours were cancelled so we didn't get to look deep into the night sky.
We did however have a great time in SPdA! Aside from watching the final of the World Cup in a packed local pub, we took it upon ourselves to ride into the Valley of the Moon. Wow! Aside from a welcome bit of fitness the landscape in the area was amazing - huge dunes, multi coloured cliffs & valleys in addition to very unusual rock structures.
The following day we visited Laguna Cedjar, a lake so salty you can float in it really easily....like the dead sea except bloody freezing (15 degrees). While that was nice we were also taken to another lagoon close by to watch the sunset over the desert. Spectacular!
Our time in SPdA was far too short and it's definitely a place I want to come back to so that I can climb the amazing volcanoes (both dormant and active) as well as check out the night sky with super powerful telescopes.
Riding through the 'Valley of the Moon'
We only had time for a short hike into the valley as the World Cup final was to screen shortly, which made for a sweaty ride back to the town.
The didgeridoo didn't seem like a very local traditional instrument. When in Rome.......as Ron Burgandy would say.
Oh the pain (or the joy) of watching the Argentineans celebrate the first goal of the game! Oh wait.....offside. Hahahahaha.
A somewhat deflating end to the world cup. Germany were good, but a bit of a boring result in the end.
We ventured out to the salt lagoons to take in the amazing scenery around Atacama
I really wanted to hike this Volcano, except we ran out of time. This caused us problems later on...... to be continued.
As you can see the water in the salt lagoon was indeed very salty! Apparently if you dunk your head in, you are in a world of pain as it burns your eyes etc.
Considering the current political situation, this is a great alternative to floating in the dead sea! Except for the fact it was like 15 degrees in the water.
It was an amazing sunset in the middle of the desert...
The mountains got pinker and pinker as the sun dipped beyond the horizon....
A very relaxing way to end the day and our time in San Pedro de Atacama.
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