In the space of a little over a week, we had traveled from a magnificent waterfall wonderland to the driest place on earth. Here I was, standing on the top of one of the peaks surrounding the La Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) in the Atacama Desert watching the sun rise and light up the great desert expanse. It sure felt like the driest place on earth as there was brown emptiness for miles and my right eye was stinging like a large gash with a gallon of vinegar poured into it. After junking my worthless contact, Adam, Fabrice, Pedro, and I walked along the sandy ridge to a larger peak where a small tour group was gathering.
That morning we had woken up at 5:00 in the morning. I had set an alarm on my i-pod to wake me up. Sarah Mclachlan sounded strangely good as I opened my resisting eyes. Maybe that is because I can actually relate to her sadness when I am up an ungodly hour like that. After 10 seconds, I was just annoyed and turned her off and considered not waking anybody up and just drifting back to sleep…but we had a plan. I got up, roused everybody, and 15 minutes later we were riding our bikes into the cold, dark, desert morning. It took us about an hour to reach our first destination of the day, Moon Valley, to catch the sunrise.
The sunrise itself was not that impressive, but the way it lit up the desert peaks and valleys was breathtaking. The scene looked like something out of a movie. As we scuffled along the sandy ridge toward the tour group, it sure felt like a scene out of a movie. It felt so epic. I looked around but saw no video cameras.
Fabrice and Pedro had already talked with the tour guide from the group we were approaching while our foursome seperated to get two different viewpoints of the sunrise. The tour guide had agreed to take us on as part of their tour later. They were going to a big cave next.
We finally arrived to the next peak and the view was even more spectacular than the first. The moon valley lives up to its name as it seems just as likely as finding life or water there as it does in this barren land. We enjoyed the scene for a couple minutes and ate breakfast (which consisted of crackers and cookies). The tour guide lady then sprinted down the seemingly untouched dune toward the salt flats and their two pickup trucks in order to prepare breakfast for the group.
After waiting for the tour group to finish their first class breakfast, we put our bikes in the back of the truck, hopped in, and cruised toward the cave. bla bla bla.
Ok, I thought it would be fun to write in story mode but if I do, this update will take up the rest of my day and you, my fellow reader, would have your eyes watering from staring at the computer screen too long. So now I am in summary mode. More boring, I know. But less for you to read, and less time spent typing for mua.
This story is actually taking place on our second full day in San Pedro de Atacama. The first day we rested from our record shattering elevation and spent most of the time reading and hanging out. Pedro is a guy we met from Brazil. After we parked at where we would start hiking to the caves, one of the trucks got stuck in the sand. It took over an hour with much digging and failed attempts until finally, with our big gringo muscles, we were able to push the truck to freedom. The guide then led us to this huge cave. It took over an hour to wiggle our way through the cave and when we came out we found ourselves on the top of a mountain. It was extremely strange since it did not feel like we were walking uphill inside the cave…probably because we were distracted by the unusual positions we had to contort our bodies into. We walked down to of course amazing views…yadda yadda…I could describe it but I will leave it to you to scroll through the pictures.
After the cave we rode back to our hostel and ate lunch and took a nap. We had to return the bikes at 7:00 so at 5:00 we decided it was time to back out. Fabrice, Pedro, and I went to this old Incan fortress while Adam had an adventure of his own (which you can read in the moments section). We watched the sunrise on top of this hill and admired the views of the desert, San Pedro, and the beatiful volcanos of the Andes (one of which decided to erupt the day after we left San Pedro…go figure).
The next day, Easter sunday, we spent time relaxing with our new friends that we met while we were there and walked to the Incan Fortress again with a guy named Julian, from Germany. We went out for dinner and drinks later that night. Stephen, from Ireland, explained the rules and politics of Gaelic Football. Gaelic Football is huge in Ireland and apparently no player gets paid a cent. The sport appealed to me as it has been kept completely pure from the corruption that money usually brings into sports. Money is the biggest problem with sports in America as players motivation becomes getting a bigger contract rather than playing because they love it and playing to win. We also played spoons at a bar which was really fun.
It is important to note that Easter is not a big day here but the lead up to Easter is huge. On Thursday, there was a procession that we took part in which involved many people from the town walking down the streets singing, priests preaching and people carrying statues of Mary and the cross. On Friday, it was more or less the same except they were carrying Jesus´ body in a coffin. But on Easter, there was nothing.
Anyway, we are in Calama, Chile now. We took an uneventfull hour and a half bus ride from San Pedro yesterday because we needed an ATM. This town does not have much going for it but we need to wait here until Wednesday night, when we will take a train to Salar Uyuni in Bolivia, joined by Julian who will meet us in Calama before then.
The pictures and moments pages were both updated. I hope everybody is doing FANTASTIC and I send much love to you all!
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