Chile: San Pedro de Atacama & The Desert (Day 214-219)

Valle de la Luna

As soon as we took the turn towards inland, leaving the coast behind, the scenery became soon desertic. Nothing around for miles, just sand dunes. Yes, we were definitely going towards the driest desert of the world: Atacama. A stop in Calama, a mining town and not a place you wish to really visit, before boarding another bus to San Pedro de Atacama. Tourists are everywhere in this small town - it looks like it was made for us tourists and backpackers but still very charming and local with dirty little streets... There we met Jeje & Romy (who we first met in New Zealand) and with who we spent then a nice few days having fun in La Valle de la Luna and Valle de la Muerte where you can believe being on the moon. We also ate quite a few 'pollo y papas fritas' and partied a little... When French meet - what do they do? Long aperitifs were indeed au rendez-vous. 

While we were planning  all our activities for the next few days, the weather decided to temper a little... It snowed all over ' La Cordillera de Los Andes', blocking the road to Bolivia and Argentina and making Las Lagunas Altiplanicas and El Geyser del Tatio unreachable, which were on our list. We were told everyday that tomorrow will be ok but we left without seeing them after waiting for nearly a week. We still managed to go in the Atacama desert to see the flamingos in the salar at sunrise (amazingly beautiful), enjoy a snow fight also later that day instead of admiring the Lagunas. We also went to soak very quickly (only 5 or 6 degrees) in La Laguna Cejar, so salty that we floated without any effort. The water is seven times more salty than the sea!

We then finally decided to change our itinerary by going up straight to Peru, leaving Bolivia behind for a few months. We did not know but soon realized that our itinerary will have to be very flexible while discovering South America. 

I should end our story about Chile by mentioning my discovery of the local treat ' Super8' (Chocolate waffle bars)... I cannot and should not count how many I ate... Muy Rico!!!!!!!!!! My sweet tooth was back in track! 

Chile is a country which we will for sure return when not so much on a budget... The south of the country is waiting for us... with La familia Courbis House by the lake!