San Pedro de Atacama on Cloud Nine

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San Pedro de Atacama gave me a new zest to life. It is here that I remembered and became the happy person I once was in Australia, before dreary Austria sunk me. I can't stop smiling and am on cloud nine. I feel like I'm constantly dancing on the inside.

The desert Atacama is the driest in the world. The DRIEST! Apparently it only rains about five times a year. AV was right. This place is magnificant. When I arrived, it had rained heavily the night before, so there was snow on the mountain range lining the town, with view of the red/orange desert on the foreground.

Immediately, I booked two tours - it had been a while since my last educational experience. The first was one with sandboarding and a trip to the Valle de Luna (Moon Valley). The sandboarding experience was great! It was a big sand dune, so walking up each time was exhausting in the heat. But going down .... I wasn't half bad! T'was a different way of seeing the surrounding... which was beauuuuutiful!! Sand, rocky mountains, volcanoes in the background .... Nice!
Valle de Luna is so called because it is th e one place on earth that resembles what it looks like on the moon. How true, how true. So very weird. Like being in another world ... or ... well ... on the moon? I can't describe it, sorry. The pictures are the only way.

In the evening, I went on the star gazing tour to an observatory which was my main reason for visiting San Pedro de Atacama. I have always been fascinated by astronomy. WOW!! It was everything I expected and soooo much more! I saw Saturn with its ring, two other galaxies (!), the moon up close, the orion belt with its three stars and more, even new stars being born! Amaaaazing, amazing!! I learnt the meaning of 'light years'. Can you believe a star you see in the sky may be the reflection from light shone on it from hundreds of years ago? For all we know, some of them may be already dead but we won't know for another 300 years perhaps! The french astronomer giving the tour was, although very french, also H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S. I haven't laughed so hard in ages.

The next day, I was brought by a new local friend to a hot spring. This was different to the two others I had already experienced in South America. It was at the bottom of a canyon, and basically various holes in the ground in one line, the water flowing through it was a river. Each little hole or pool was surrounded by grass and fox tails. In the backdrop were the boulders of the canyon ... it was so frightfully romantic.

It had been a while since I had the 'wow' factor, and this certainly hit the spot!

Notes: Great food, even better company. I appreciated being taken out by a local, since it meant I experienced real good food.

Music: Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson (meanwhile, I am getting really sick of the songs on my iPod!)

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Comments

[Brenton]

You finally got more 'WOW Factor'
Hi Silvia, Sounds like you really are happy and I am glad for two reasons... 1 - that you are once again the happy traveler 2 - that you were so happy when you were in Australia! Obviously hot dry places work for you. I love reading your blog and I am so living vicariously through you right now! Cheers...B

[nigel and margie in australia]

happy times
Hello again; nice to hear your spirits right back up where they belong. Happy again after the chile bus reception of three days before. Do always remember when you're down and blue there's lots of friends here in Oz who care for you! Keep on keeping cheerful, Syl; your blogs are fascinating. We've driven to Sydney to see Edward and Thamsin (Margie's on holidays) and they say hello, too! X

[Alan]

All the Aussies love been told there home rocks
Hi again Sil. Great to hear you keep on getting to new places and experiences. When your home everyone will have to head out to Moreton to go sand boarding - then you can show us your skills ;) Alan