Is that a desert mirage, or is that my trip´s end in the distance?

Inside the Valley of the Moon, with snow covered 20,000 ft peaks
in the distant background.

Wow. Talk about your dramatic change of scenery! San Pedro de Atacama stands alone on my trip. The dream-like otherworldlyness seems inconguent with the rest of my journey. I´ve visited alpine mountains, rainforest, big city, and vast pampas, but nothing like San Pedro. Sitting at 8,000 ft above sea level on a parched plane with dusty, obscured horizons, San Pedro is a tiny pueblo of adobe buildings and one tiny main street (more accurately qualified as an alley, really). The Andean Cordillera runs along the eastern edge of the valley, and this area is the driest place on Earth. Honestly, I wasn´t terribly jazzed about coming here due to its remoteness and touristy reputation, but the place has really charmed me with its lazy attitude, surprisingly cool and breezy courtyards, and some crazy landscapes.


The town itself really isn´t terribly impressive, but rather quaint. Every structure in the town is crafted from adobe, even the central church (pictured above). Outside of the town (which is something of an oasis, because they have gushing aquaducts inside the city), nothing grows. Only vast stretches of baked sand and stone, with occasional mirage-like salt deposits. Very, I want to say, creepy...


The one thing I was really excited to do here was rent a bike. It has been 2 months since I have ridden a bike, and I had almost forgotten how liberating it can be to have two wheels to push around. Yesterday, I gathered my supplies and rode out to the very near regional park, Valley of the Moon. It was strikingly beautiful and it was refreshing to get there on my own time and accord. I can´t wait to have bikes again!

I´m going to keep this post quick because everything here (including the internet) is outrageously expensive. For instance, due to a complete lack of options, I am paying 8,000 pesos a night to camp (around $12). That is just silly. It is a really nice campground, but still!

Tomorrow I am catching a bus to climb the pass (over 12,000 feet, I believe) back over to Argentina. Salta, to be exact. A couple of days there, then will push on. I was going to try to get to Bolivia from here, as it is only about 40 km away, but I am (sadly) running short on time and have a handful of places in Argentina to visit still. Hard to believe I only have 17 days until I´m outta here! Time flies, am I right? Ah, such is life. Those of you back in the good ol´US of A, run a bath and put some beer on ice for me, will ya?