Sand, Sun and Stars

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Upon our arrival in San Pedro we immediately made our way to the nearest restaurant and wolfed down 2 man-sized pizzas. We then checked in to our b&b on the outskirts of town, a whole 10mins walk from the centre. The b&b was very homely with its adobe walls and limited electricity and running water. Our first morning there was a Sunday and it turns out that the people in charge of San Pedro don't think anyone gets out of bed until 9am as thats when the electricity comes on. Being such an early riser I had to shower in torch light with my maglite rammed into the straw ceiling. To make matters worse the shower went cold half way through.

Venturing back into town in daylight I was amazed to see a sky entirely clear of clouds. All the roads in San Pedro are dirt roads and you find a thin layer of dust over all your clothes after being outside. We booked ourselves onto a couple of tours around the San Pedro area and hired bikes to do some exploring ourselves. We headed off in the direction of the Quitor ruins but ended up way past it thanks to the complete lack of signposting. We found ourselves at an icy river with no dry way across. We ran into a couple of guys who said that as we had gone that far we might as well keep going and climb up to a viewpoint. So off came the socks and shoes and we braved the freezing water. The cycle and then climb was well worth it though as we reached the viewpoint. We were the only people there and the only thing we could hear was Rich's watch ticking. The silence and views were stunning.

Later on we took our first tour to the Valle de la Luna. Which unsurprisingly has otherworldly scenery. We saw some interesting rock formations and took a walk through dark brown sand dunes and through salt rock that was cracking as it contracted in the shade after having been heated by the sun all day. At the end of the tour we climbed big dunes to watch the sunset over the valley.

Very early the next morning we took our second tour up to the Tatio geysers at an altitude ov over 14,000 feet where we were warned it could be as cold as -15 degrees C. Fortunately for us it was a mild -8 degrees C when we got there. We wandered around the geysers and then had some geothermal boiled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast we made our way round to the biggest geyser and the hot springs. Being somewhat adventurous I didn't hesitate in stripping off and slipping into the disappointingly tepid water. Rich who remained wrapped up was feeling rather smug at this point. Getting out of the not-so-hot springs and getting dry wasn't quite as horrendous as I was expecting in the sub-zero temperatures.

On the way back to San Pedro we stopped at a small village to sample llama kebabs and goats cheese empanadas. Tasty.

Once back in San Pedro we booked ourselves onto a 3 day jeep tour of the Bolivian Altiplano.

That night we went off to visit a small observatory run by an enthusiastic Frenchman. We learned some interesting space stuff, had constellations pointed out by green laser pen and then got to look through the collection of telescopes. By far the most stunning sight was Jupiter and 3 of its 4 moons. We also saw a couple of clusters, great detail on the moon and Saturn and its rings. The Frenchman very kindly took pictures of the moon with our cameras for us as well.

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Photos

Rich crossing the river
Look closely and you can see the grimace.

Comments

[Linda Lowseck]

Al - you must sign up to Ye Ancient Amphibians and join them for their Boxing day or New Years Day (I forget which) swim in the Tay!