Salar de Atacama & Valle de la Muerte

After another night bus, we landed in San Perdro de Atacama on March 17 at 2:00PM. Once we settled into this very hot, touristy town in the middle of the Atacama Desert, we walked around looking for food and tour information. Being a tourist hotspot in Chile, things are expensive, but Phil has refined his bargaining techniques and was able to get us a great deal on an afternoon/evening tour for the next day. After this, and now a pleasantly cool evening, we enjoyed live Chilean music while drinking Pisco Sours in a local bar. The next day we wondered around town, enjoyed the local museum, that tells the story of the people of this area from 11,000 years ago until the Spanish invasion, and set out on our tour at 4:00PM. It is hard to describe the landscape that we saw in the Salar de Atacama region, just south of the town. Our first stop was at the Lagunas Cejas y Tebenquiche, which are incredible salty lakes. We went for the most buoyant swim I have ever experience, it was near impossible to submerge your body in the water. After walking around the other lakes, we rinsed off in small natural pool, with less salt, where we were allowed to dive from the banks because of its depth. Next stop, an amazing salt reserve and lagoon, with flamingos and plovers. Here, we watched the sunset, while sipping, once again, Pisco Sours. It was a brilliant day, filled with sites I have never seen before.

The next day in San Pedro de Atacama, we rented sandboards and bikes, and road to the Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death) to try out this sport on spectacular sand dunes, surrounded by pre-historic rock formations and a view of the Andes. We joined about eight others who were already there. We climbed up to the top, waxed the boards, and headed straight down (after a few tumbles). The advice we received from other boarders, was to just go straight, that you can’t turn like you would on snow, and just have to trust that you will slow down once you reach the bottom. This was easier said then done, as my instinct was to try to slow myself using the edge of the board, which resulted in large spills. Thankfully my landings were always soft, the benefit of sand! The best exercise was climbing back up the sand dune to give it another try, and try we did. Feeling like we got the hang of this sandy sport, we decided to get out of the heat around 2:00PM, and to ride to a nearby pool, fed by a natural hot-spring (which wasn’t hot, thankfully), on the other side of San Pedro. After a great swim and de-sanding, we headed back to town for a cold beer and a quick dinner, before jumping on a bus, once again for a night ride, to Arica, Chile.