San Pedro de Atacama
October 25, 2009
Lorraine and I arrived here in San Pedro late Friday night and found our way through the dark, sandy streets to our hostel, Sonchek. San Pedro is a small tourist town surrounded by the Atacama desert, the driest in the world. First thing Saturday morning we visited the town and the local artisan markets selling ceramics, jewelry and knits and then the beautiful white church that is hundreds of years old. In the afternoon we set off for the first of our three trips. The tour van took us, along with the other travelers, to the Valle de la Muerte (Valley of the Dead) to see the stunning salt mountains and run down the sand dunes. The colors and shapes of the landscape looked like mars. We then made our way by van to another part of the valley where we meandered through an ancient canyon with walls of salt crystals. Finally, we made it to the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) for a stunning sunset over the Andes Mountains whose light reflected on volcanoes and mountain peaks. By the time we got back to the hostel, we were exhausted.
We woke early this morning for the second trip, traveling for a couple hours as the sun was rising to make it to the Salar de Atacama, the 3rd largest salt flat in the word. There we saw beautiful flamingos feeding in the water. Then we drove up several thousand feet to two amazing lagoons, where the glassy blue water was an astounding contrast to the sharp yellow grass and towering mountains. There we saw the aquatic nests of birds and the protected vicuñas (in the same family as the alpaca and llama). We ate a delicious lunch in tiny nearby town and then returned to San Pedro, exhausted this time by the vast changes in altitude throughout the day.
These excursions have been amazingly beautiful and have allowed me to meet more people from all over the world. Tomorrow morning we depart at 4 am to visit the geyser field and bathe in a hot spring and Wednesday we will fly back south to La Serena and visit two more national parks. This weekend has been such a contrast to the frustration I face daily at the school that I really don`t want to return, even if it is only for a week. More to come soon . . .
