The northern desert oasis
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2008
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17
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Trip End
Mar 19, 2009
San Pedro de Atacama,
Chile
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The trip was the longest we have done so far but was easiest the most comfortable. The last part of the trip through the Atacama dessert was again great scenery and eventually after well over a day on the bus we arrived at the oasis town of San Pedro. I thought it may have been spoilt by tourism but happily with its dust roads and stone buildings in was the perfect desert picture. Even the new builds to accommodate all the new found tourist visitors were done in the style of the town and it is a truly amazing place. Our hotel was just the same with the rooms surrounding a courtyard and looked something out of the old west.
San Pedro
We firstly booked our tour passage to Bolivia and then a couple of tours around the area. The first one we took was to the lakes. They were as blue as ink and surrounded by volcanoes. We saw plenty of wildlife including loads of flamingos.
The second tour was to the valley of the moon and this was the landscape I was expecting. The valleys and the desert were quite amazing and we saw some awesome sights. The grand finally was to watch the sunset over the Valley of the moon. It was a great tour, we meet some great people (including some Brazilians who we keep bumping into on our Bolivian tour) and just a wonderful night.
For my San Pedro had been a real highlight of our trip so far. The town and surrounding desert were just fabulous and something we have never experienced before.
Still tomorrow we're heading over the border to Bolivia and our three day tour though to the salt plains of Uyuni before heading further into Bolivia. We've had a great time in Chile and the people and places have been fantastic. But the northern section of the continent is calling so Bolivia here we come!!!
