Our bus left Salta at 1am and headed over the mountains to the Chilean/Argentinian border. There were only about 6 of us on this massive double decker bus and we had a seat at the top with windows in front of us. At 4am the full moon woke me up and I looked out to where we were travelling and it was the most amazing site! The moon was lighting up a massive valley of mountains and we happened to be winding our way up one… the turns the bus was taking were doubling back on themselves, and the bus driver was listening to some kind of Latin American opera… so it was all a little eerie and amazing all in one…
I couldn’t stay awake too long and it was over the border at 8am and off to San Pedro de Atacama. This place is in the Northen desert region of Chile! The town is a little oasis in the middle of the desert which was really cool! There were old white washed buildings and trees surrounding the square. We had spectacular ceviche (fish cooked in lime with red onion and corn) at a local restaurant and just enjoyed chilling out in the heat! Yes it was very hot!!
San Pedro was going to be our base to do a tour over the Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia and on into Bolivia. In the meantime, we took 2 days to check out the local sites around San Pedro.
Day one we got up at 4.30am to head an hours drive away to see the Geysers del Tatio at sunrise. It was absolutely freezing up there as they are at 4,320metres above sea level but the reason you go in the morning is to see the cold cold air condense into steam leaving the geysers. There were thermal pools up there also which crazy people could go swimming in… it was too freezing for us! Give me NZ thermal pools to swim in any day:)
Another day we did a trip out to see 3 lagoons close to San Pedro, one is the closest you’ll get to the Dead Sea with its concentration of salt and you can float in the water. Again, it was a windy day and quite cold out there, the water was FREEZING!! But Matt was determined to know what it feels like to not sink in water (I didn’t feel the need), the look on his face in the picture below tells us how cold it was…
Donna, you’ll be sooooo proud of me… We also went horse-riding while in San Pedro. We met a local girl who arranged a trip for Matt and I as beginners. I now love horse-riding no more than I did before… (which is not much at all). Nah the experience was awesome! We were riding horses through the desert like cowboys/wild rangers from the wild wild um…. South… We went over sand dunes and through a place called “Death Valley”, not a great place to ride when you’re scared of horse-riding and aren’t wearing a helmet….!! 🙂
Initially we were both so slow with the horses… we just let them walk at their own pace… Which was slow. And Marta (Martha) kept turning around and seeing if we wanted to go faster (I think she was bored! lol)
I was happy with the horse walking… just taking in the sites (chicken)… Matt got his horse into a trot and didn’t take too long to get into the rhythm of things… We got to these beautiful sand dunes where the horses knew they would get a run! Matt took to it so well and cantered up the sand dune and for a bit of a run…. He was surprised at how much it takes out of you riding but he did really well! Later in the day, he and our instructor were cantering off into the sunset (well… not sunset, but distance) as I… well…. I struggled!!! lol
My horse was probably so frustrated with me… but he was so good, he knew I wasn’t getting the rhythm of anything he was doing and when I’d start losing balance he’d slow down for me… So there I was… TRYING to trot, starting to get the hang of that… then we try to Canter… I just completely lost my balance and he slowed right down and just walked up the hill for me. I was determined to get it, and kept asking him to go faster, he’d go faster… I’d lose my balance… then he’d slow down… And I’d yell out to him “I’m sorry!!!!” Anyway… so I just tagged behind and enjoyed the scenery, and tried to ride better when they weren’t looking… As they were waiting up ahead for me, Matt later tells me Marta was telling him he got married too young! Look out!! haha
Funniest thing is… when we get back to the horses home… I find out that my horse is the fastest in the town and wins heaps of races all the time… LOL! I think he’s also the smartest and nicest… 🙂
We also visited the Valley of the Moon one evening for sun set and watched sunset over a massive sand dune which was beautiful…
San Pedro was a cool Oasis town in the middle of no where! We found that they had the best food of any place we’d been in Chile which we thought was funny for a desert town! But mostly because it’s so close to the borders of Argentina and Bolivia.
Next stop… Bolivia.
Timeframe: 18th – 21st September 2013
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