THE ATACAMA DESERT
way.
We took a walk through an ancient river’s path which had carved a narrow channel in the salt. Then we drove through the Valle de Luna, or Valley of the Moon, a stunning desert landscape, and visited some sandstone rocks with some weird shapes carved by centuries of winds. There was one which resembled a broken heart, a popular photo opportunity!! Our final group activity was climbing a sand dune to watch the sunset over the Moon Valley - yet another truly stunning desert sunset.
We dropped off Tom and Chris and the Germans at the bus stop with a few minutes to spare and then headed off for one final meal, although with a reduced group, so it wasn’t quite the same!! Thankfully we managed to get to bed a little earlier and slept fairly soundly. There wasn’t so much to do the next day other than hang around and wait for our bus. We
We took a walk through an ancient river’s path which had carved a narrow channel in the salt. Then we drove through the Valle de Luna, or Valley of the Moon, a stunning desert landscape, and visited some sandstone rocks with some weird shapes carved by centuries of winds. There was one which resembled a broken heart, a popular photo opportunity!! Our final group activity was climbing a sand dune to watch the sunset over the Moon Valley - yet another truly stunning desert sunset.
We dropped off Tom and Chris and the Germans at the bus stop with a few minutes to spare and then headed off for one final meal, although with a reduced group, so it wasn’t quite the same!! Thankfully we managed to get to bed a little earlier and slept fairly soundly. There wasn’t so much to do the next day other than hang around and wait for our bus. We
had another wander around town and ate our dinner at the market stalls, not the most fantastic culinary experience but authentic we were told!!
Finally half past eight came and we were settled on to our bus to Arica, up on the Peruvian border. The bus wasn’t the best we’d ever seen, but the seats reclined a long way, so we reckoned we be ok. Pachamama had been a wonderful tour, we had met some really great people, who we will endeavour to stay in touch with. It has been a good combination of fun and learning about the ways of the Chilean land. We weren’t alone in moving on as us two, Andie, Pilar and Virginia all had tickets for the bus into Peru, so it was good to not have to say goodbye to our new found friends - there was definitely more fun to be had with these guys!!!
Finally half past eight came and we were settled on to our bus to Arica, up on the Peruvian border. The bus wasn’t the best we’d ever seen, but the seats reclined a long way, so we reckoned we be ok. Pachamama had been a wonderful tour, we had met some really great people, who we will endeavour to stay in touch with. It has been a good combination of fun and learning about the ways of the Chilean land. We weren’t alone in moving on as us two, Andie, Pilar and Virginia all had tickets for the bus into Peru, so it was good to not have to say goodbye to our new found friends - there was definitely more fun to be had with these guys!!!