San Pedro De Atacama is a dry dusty little town which is full of character set against the backdrop of the Andes mountains. You could definitely have a great game of cowboys and Indians as this town has pretty much everything for that kind of scenario. We arrived in what looked like the middle of nowhere, getting dropped off by the bus in what seemed like the edge of the desert with the odd truck rumbling by leaving us in a cloud of sand and dust! We eventually realised we was in the right place and only one street away from the town itself and two from the hostel! Making our way to the hostel you certainly wonder what these houses are going to look like inside as gazing from the outside they are single storey, look very small and made out of clay with straw/tin roofs. However entering them you are surprised as they are not just small looking mud huts, they stretch far back and generally consist of a large outdoor courtyard with the rooms stretching down one side and along the back. Settling in we decided to go exploring, which took us all of half an hour! San Pedro is a very small town centred around a square and a white washed picturesque church. Even though it doesn't take long to walk round it is very beautiful and you could easily do a few laps of the streets without getting bored as there is abit to look at with the artisan shops, mini food stores and tour operators. There are alot of trips to choose from in San Pedro; As we are budgeting we unfortunately could only pick one! What would it be... Lakes, Lagoons, Geysers, Valleys and Horse riding tours to name but a few to choose from; however we wanted to pick something abit different so we decided on a mixed tour of Sand-boarding and watching the sunset at Valle De La Luna (Moon Valley).
To get to the sand dunes we went on a mini rally through Death valley; a canyon where the rock formations loom over you and the ground is open and cracked beneath you. It is very amazing to look at! Sand-boarding was very exhausting! For two hours we padded up a giant sand dune only to chuck ourselves off the top, over and over again. A bit of tuition later we got the hang of it and just about made it down without falling over. It is definitely harder than it looks as the board gathers sand on the way down which can slow you down and catapult you over! Also if you hit a track that someone else has made it had the danger of stopping you suddenly or you gather speed quickly and hurtle down the dune faster and most likely for us, out of control. Jonathan and I have decided skiing on snow is much more our cup of tea as it's alot easier, however we had great fun trying this new sport. Also one of the best parts about sand boarding was the views from the top of the dune which overlooked part of death valley. The camera unfortunately didn't do it justice in terms of scale and it definitely had more of the wow factor in reality! Moon valley is titled so because it is the closest place on earth that resembles the moon and is known as the driest place on this planet! We got there in time for sunset to be greeted with a landscape that has craters and mini peaks all over the place. As the sun went down you saw the many colours highlight themselves in the rock and the shadows fall across the landscape giving a dramatic effect. The temperature during the day in the Atacama desert reaches about 35degrees; However when the sun goes down the temperature drops suddenly and a chill runs through the air with a fairly strong wind whipping past your ears! Again on the dunes and this desert we had to be careful of the sand tornadoes as they whip up all of a sudden and blast you from every direction. After a lovely sunset we set off back to the hostel for an early night as we was up early the following day for the Bolivia tour of which we will visit Lagoons, Geysers and the Salt Desert; Generally everything San Pedro had to offer, however Bolivia is meant to be Number1 in terms of beauty! Caio for now Amigos! Hayls and Jonathan. X