San Pedro de Atacama

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When we got to San Pedro we were dropped off in the middle of a dirt field pretty much. We walked to our hotel and it was like being on another planet. All of the building were made of mud more or less and I would venture to guess that 90% of the locals were indigenous peoples. It was incredible. San Pedro has become a very touristy place so it was pretty expensive but it was a very cool place. Our hotel was a hotel/campground and we were staying in little mud hut style cabins. It was really cool but also a little chilly. We spent the day wondering around town and just basically getting settled. We arrived late in the afternoon so there wasn´t a lot of time to do much. We went for dinner at a really cool restaurant which had no roof and there was a gigantic firepit in the middle of the floor. I thought it was so individual until I realised that all of the restaurants in the town were designed like that. Nonetheless it was nice to have a good meal around a big bonfire. After dinner we just went back to the hotel to go to sleep because it had been a very long day. In the morning Reneé and I rented bikes and rode out to a ruin site. The bike ride was very nice but the ruins were less than impressive. We rode through Valle de Luna (Valley of the Moon) which got it´s name because the landscape is very similar to that of the moons. It was a really good way to spend the afternoon. The altitude made it hard to accomplish much in terms of activities so me and some of the girls went for lunch and then wondered through the markets and did some shopping. The next day we were supposed to leave San Pedro however the border between Bolivia and Chile was closed and we couldn´t get across to continue our trip. We hung out at the tour agencies office/house/barn for a bit of the afternoon but soon realised that we would in fact be spending another night in San Pedro. Herbie and I got beer and food and sat on the patio and read our books and wrote in our journals for most of the afternoon. Babes and Mag and I decided that we should make the most out of our extra time in San Pedro and we went and booked a 3 hour horse back riding trip. It was incredible. We rode through the Valley of Death and came up out of the valley just in time to catch the sunset. It was a great way to end the journey. We did pizza for dinner and then called it a night because we were leaving very early the next morning to take an alternate route into Bolivia which extended our 1 hour drive to 6 hours. But we made it off ok and that is all that matter right?

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Comments

[Ambry]

Biking
Hey Alicia i wanna bike with u there it looks really fun hope ur having a great time luv ya. ambry