The Valley of the Moon

---

---

Next stop after the desert was San Pedro de Atacama, a small colonial town in Chile, not far from the boarder. This route seemed like the obvious way to get to Salta, Argentina which is where I was keen to spend some time on recommendation of friends. Had I known what it would entail I might have thought twice and travelled the extra ten hours back to Uyuni and caught the train!

Does anything actually work in this town?

Dan, Julia and I arrived mid Sunday afternoon to find this cute little town with wide dusty streets, white spanish looking buildings deserted of all people. Ah, good old siesta. Keep forgetting about that one!

First stop was to try to find the bus offices to book an onward ticket, as they fill up quickly. Of the two bus offices, one had sold out all tickets until Friday (Arrrrgh!). The other was closed and their systems were down. I met up with some others I´d bumped into on my journeys and quickly established that this place was going to be a nightmare. Everything cost London prices which was a total shock after being in Bolivia for 3 weeks. Neither of the two cash machines had any money left, no one could get any money out. The ticket booking system for the bus didn´t work. Jules was really poorly. The local swimming pool was closed. Not a good start!

Worried about the bus situation we grouped up with some others and tried to organise a private coach. It didn´t take us too long to arrange one (at double the price of the local service) but there was news of an impending strike on Tuesday. Oh no, not another one!!! The boarders were due to be closed and there was no passing through to Argentina. Nothing is simple in South America!!!

We decided to wait another day before going the private coach route and try the other bus company one more time...... to cut a long story short, I spent the best part of two days waiting around trying to arrange tickets, eventually managed to get the last three bus tickets for Dan, Julia and I, scrapped together enough $US to exchange for payment (still no cash in machines after 3 days). I was so chuffed to be booked on the bus that I didn´t care that I only had US$7 to spare to last me another day! The joys of travel, huh!

Valley of the Moon

Determined to make a good experience of this town I spent my last $7 on a tour to the nearby Valley of the Moon. So called due to the appearance of the salt formations there which look like the moon. It turned out to be a worthwhile investment as the views were spectacular. In the heat of the afternoon we made our way to the salt deserts to learn about the way the mountains and volcanos had formed the landscapes.

The mining and exportation ç of salt was big business back in the day. Interestingly the word ´salary´ comes from the mining of salt. The miners were paid in salt, which was then sold on the black market. They then made their salary by selling the salt to make a means (Salt being ´sal´in spanish). Interesting facts aside, the tour was good fun. Our guide was a laugh and kept things lively.

At dusk we joined the many other bus loads of tourists to catch sunset. I managed to sneak off and find a quiet spot to contemplate life and enjoy the scenery. In the scheme of things San Pedro didn´t turn out to be such a bad thing. Although it was a hassle with the bus situation, strikes and no money, I´d teamed up with some friendly new travellers, conquered some of lifes challenges and my health was still good. Given everyone else was dropping like flies I was feeliong really lucky!

---

Photos

San Pedro de Atacama
Quite a pretty little town, even though nothing works!

Dog patrol
There was a pack of about 15 dogs roaming the streets like they owned the place, hilarious!

Valley of the Moon
This looks like rock but is actually salt formations. You can hear the salt cracking in the heat as the temperature changes it expands and contracts.

Jax!
No, I haven´t lost an arm on my travels. Stupidly trying to hide my water bottle from the photo. Looks ridiculous!

Moon rise
Was chuffed to see the moon rising in the valley of the moon!

classic view
This area is used in lots of movies when they need to film on the moon

Sand dunes
Quite a climb to get up here!

Sunset
Contemplating life.... ahhhh

Gorgeous sunset
I love the colours reflecting off the mountains.

Comments

[Rhiannon]

Jax, sounds like you are having an amazing time! Your photos are fantastic too. Keep having fun! Rhi x

[Stax of Jax]

Ah, thanks Rhi! I am having the most amazing time. So much so that I don´t want to come back. Unfortuantely I have to though. Will enjoy my next two weeks and make the most of it! x