San Pedro de Atacama

Sand boarding in Valle del Muerte

Eric, Jordan and I headed north this weekend to explore el Norte Grande. We got to San Pedro de Atacama late Friday evening just in time to get some dinner and go to bed. Yesterday morning, we woke up and wandered around the little town in the most arid desert on earth and booked some tours for our weekend of fun. After doing a bit of shopping for Andean artisan crafts, we headed out for some sand boarding in Valle de la Muerte. Sand boarding, for those of you who don't know, is snowboarding on sand dunes. Our guide offered skis too, which I switched to after one wobbly attempt down the dune on the snowboard. Eric and Jordan fared better on the snowboards since they have at least used one before.

Valle de la Luna

After a few exhausting hours of fun, we moved on to Valle de la Luna, so named for its resemblance to the landscape of the moon. We watched the sunset over the mountains before heading back into town to catch the Chile-Venezuela soccer match (which Chile won!)

Geysers del Tatio

This morning, we woke up at 4:00 to make the trek across the desert to Geysers del Tatio, the highest geothermal field in the world. The 4,400 meter elevation was easier to bare than the -8 C cold. There are over 250 spouting geysers in the area that eschew boiling hot water each day from about 5 to 10 am. After enjoying breakfast warmed in a geyser pool at sunset, we traveled on to some nearby thermal baths to warm up. We then visited the village of Machuca where we tasted local llama skewers and homemade empanadas. We returned to the hotel around 11 for a quick shower before heading out on our next adventure to Laguna Chaxa in the Flamingo National Reserve. The flamingos were almost a pretty as the sunset, but they sure do smell bad!

Flamingo on Laguna Chaxa

Steaming geysers early in the morning

Typical houses in the countryside near Machuca