Valle De La Luna, El Tatio and Salt Lakes

Trip Start Jan 26, 2000
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Trip End Jun 14, 2000


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Saturday, April 8, 2000

From Arica we took an overnight bus (I was becoming quite an expert at sleeping on buses) to San Pedro De Atacama. San Pedro was a oasis town slap bang in the middle of the Atacama desert. A small town with a mainly indigenous population, it was the gateway to many natural wonders and also the nearby Bolivia. The town itself is on the verve of becoming a hippie hangout and it could be seen why. A small, sleepy green town, with mud houses well away from the hustle and bustle of the major cities. San Pedro had an arid climate with immense active and extinct volcanoes rising all around. It was an excellent place to hang out for a few days and pig out in the local restaurants while watching some of the wandering traveling population try to earn some extra cash by performing fire juggling acts. While we were there we did 3 excellent side trips. Trip number one was to Valle De La Luna, an area of striking eroded landforms, which as the name suggests had a moonscape appearance.
Trip number 2 and probably one of my best days yet was spend on mountain bikes with 2 Brits we met, Amanda and Claire. Together with Francois we cycled 15 miles through the desert, passed the imposing and threatening looking volcanoes to 3 lagunas. The main laguna we were going to see was a crystal clear blue lagoon, surrounded by large rounded edges made up of hard, sharp(as I was to find out to my peril when getting out of the water) crystalised salt. Beyond this were salt plains, flamingos, desert and volcanoes, altogether this made up a truly magical setting. The lake itself was hugely salted and just like the Dead Sea in Israel we were able to lay there floating, while at the same time reading a book.
The journey back to San Pedro was equally enjoyable, a 'short cut' back took us through some small rural village where the locals were herding their cattle and sheep through the narrow streets, as we stood there with our bikes we were praying we wouldn't get bowled over by a stray cow (funny really just like the Yorkshire Dales!).
Our last side trip from San Pedro was a visit to El Tatio Geysers. At 4300M (14500ft) this was the worlds highest geyser field. For some reason the tour operators decided it was best to get there for sunrise, as San Pedro was a 3 hour drive away this required a very rude wake up call at the time of 3:55am (5 minutes before departure). We were told that this early departure was required as this was when the geysers were most active and also the cold air at that time in the morning (well below freezing) counteracted with the hot water to produce more steam. The colours and structures formed by the mineral deposits, together with the early morning sun which kept appearing and disappearing through all the rising steam made it a mystical and unforgettable beautiful experience. That evening I managed to meet up with Heidi, Manny and Paul, people I'd met earlier on the trip and together with 6 other people who we were going to do a 3 day tour with the next day we headed out to one of the local restaurants, and as it was Saturday night this was followed by a bit of a boogy at a local South American dancing spot.
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