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Last Thursday we set out on what was most likely my last long weekend adventure! This time we went up North, flying into a city called Calama. From there, we waited around for a few hours until we could catch a bus for the 2 hour ride to San Pedro de Atacama, which was where we stayed for the weekend.
After arriving in San Pedro, we dedicated the rest of Thursday to exploring the city (which wasn’t very big) and figuring out what we wanted to do for the rest of the weekend. San Pedro definitely has what I would call an “old time” feel to it. It is a small, touristy city, set off by itself, surrounded by miles of desert. The streets are all packed sand with rocks and gravel. It was a laid back city, with a go at your own place kind of attitude.
Friday we decided to rent some bikes and take them to a couple nearby valleys, one called Valle de la Muerte, and the other Valle de la Luna. We heard that there was a cool place to go sandboarding at the Valle de la Muerte, so we started off our trip
by biking there. We took the highway till we got to the turnoff for the valley and that’s where the difficulties arose. Much of the valley was basically straight sand. I don’t know if you have ever tried to bike in sand, but I would recommend it. Unless you like to be tired and frustratedJ Finally though, we made it to the hill for sandboarding.
Sandboarding, as you can probably guess, is like snowboarding, but on sand. Imagine thatJ Also, imagine me trying to do it. Once, years ago, I decided to give snowboarding a shot. After almost breaking my neck about 6.5 times and spending the rest of the time sitting on my butt trying to figure out how I would get to the bottom of the hill, I concluded it was not the sport for me. As I was hiking up the sand hill, many of those oh-so-pleasant memories were coming back to meJ Lucky for me, I did much better than I thought I would. Of course, I fell, but that was expected. But I didn’t seriously injure myself, and that is always a plus. It was one of the many times in Chile where I
just told myself “OK, you are here, just do it. Aprovechar el momento.” So a pat on the back for me, good job Isaac J
After Valle de la Muerte, we first biked back to the city to drop off our boards before heading to the other valley. Boy, am I happy we made that decision. Carrying that board and a backpack on my back while having to bike uphill was not the most enjoyable thing I have ever done. That silly board also left a nice little bump on my back from where it was digging into it while I road!
So back on the same highway. Retracing steps for a bit. Then we made a different turn, and continued to Valle de la Luna. After paying the entrance fee, we continued into the valley. Having never been in the middle of a desert before, a lot of the sights were new for me! At one point, we got off our bikes and walked through a cave/ cavern type of thing. It was awesome, and at times really tricky. There were some tight spaces and some of the time it was pitch black! We finally emerge out
of the cavern, feeling quite accomplished, and who do we see but a group of older people who had just finished doing the exact same thing! I could not believe it. Most of them had to be in their late 60s, if not 70s. I thought it was the coolest thing that despite their age they were still cruising through caves that even us youngin’s found difficult!
Story time. Later that day, I was up at the top of a sand dune, waiting to watch the sunset, when I was approached by a park ranger guy who asked me if I understood Spanish, to which I replied that I did well enough. He proceeded to tell me that earlier he had seen me step across a rope fence thingy (like 2 poles with a rope strung between them) that said “no pasar” meaning don’t pass, and that I needed to leave the park right now because I did that. Now, this was true, I had stepped over the rope. I tried to explain that I was only there 5 seconds, I wasn’t putting myself in danger, and I was just trying to get a view to see if our
other friends were on their way up the dune as well. But he made it clear that there were no excuses! I had to leave now. So, I left, and missed the darn sunset. On my way out of the park (I was about 8 kilometers from the entrance/exit at that point), I kept stopping to take pictures and whatnot. As such, I got some really beautiful pictures of the sky near the sunset, but the actual sunset was covered up by the dunes in front of me!
Before I move on to Saturday, a couple pieces of advice for those thinking about biking for an entire day. 1) take some bananas and water, maybe a lot of both. 2) be in better shape than me (not difficult to do). 3) Find the comfiest bike seat you possibly can. At one point, near the end of the day, I had just charged (read: barely made it) to the top of a hill, at which point not just one, but both of my legs cramped at the same time. Now, if one of your legs cramps you can stand on the other while hopping off the road, right? That isn’t
true if both do at the same timeJ So I basically sat down on the road and probably looked like a fish out of water for a few minutes. Definitely not the highlight of the day, but a funny story to have, I suppose. Also, my butt literally hurt so much that I couldn’t sit on the seat. Haha I could not believe how big of a deal it actually was, but it hurt, and I made it clear to all that were riding with meJ
After our biking adventure, we were all prepared for a long nights rest. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead, we were up at 330 in the morning, were picked up at 4, and took about an hour or so long car ride to go see geysers! It was tough getting up, but as the Chileans say, “vale la pena.” Literally, it is worth the pain. I had never seen geysers before, so that was another first for this trip! We went to one area with a ton of them- it was like a big field of geysers. Our tour guide told us that we need to be very careful and not be idiots. In
his 5 years of being a guide, he said, 3 people had died there. They were messing around around the geysers, or just not being careful enough. Honestly, I am shocked that they still let people wander around that area then. Seems to me that if someone dies, that area would probably get shut down to the public. But what do I know?
In the same park, our guide took us to a little river where the water was hot, like a hot spring. We got to hang out in there for about 30 minutes, which was wonderful! Until we had to get out. Then it was cold, quite cold. After that, we drove back to San Pedro, and it felt like we had just put a full day under belts! In reality, it was before noon, and we had another tour to Laguna Ceja coming up in the afternoon!
After some much needed rest time for a couple hours, we set out again for a drive to Laguna Ceja. The awesome part about the couple lakes in this park was that the water was salty enough that you could float in it without moving! It was a
weird feeling at first for me. I didn’t want to stop treading water, because it is such a natural thing. However, sure enough, I floated! And once I got out, I was covered in salt! It was a bit uncomfortable, but, again, vale la penaJ
Sunday was then basically a day of travel back the wonderful cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. If this was indeed my last weekend trip, then I can happily say my trip-taking here in Chile ended on an awesome note! Though I loved all the trips I went on, I think, overall, this was my favorite! I don’t know though, there were awesome things about all of them! As for now, though, I am really looking forward to this coming Wednesday, when Katie arrives to spend a week here! It will be great to share the sights, sounds, smells and so much more of my life here with her! She flies out Tuesday, so keep her in your prayers that she arrives safely, please! Thanks to all who continue to follow my travels, I hope your adventures are going as well as mine!
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