Chile > San Pedro de Atacama

At the bus station, our luggage is loaded into a minibus. We then walk about ten minutes to our hotel in the center of town. Even early in the morning, San Pedro de Atacama is a lively and charming little village. It feels as though time has stood still here.

Chile - The colonial church of San Pedro de Atacama from 1641 was painted by soldiers

The hotel looks very cozy — all the rooms open onto an inner courtyard, and with our travel group, we practically occupy the entire place. Fortunately, the sun is already warming the courtyard a bit. The rooms themselves have no heating, and it’s clear that the night was quite chilly. It’s nice that the rooms are already available so we can freshen up right away (literally and figuratively). In the center of San Pedro de Atacama, we visit the main shopping street, the church, and the archaeological museum. The church is being painted today by soldiers, who are using all sorts of improvised tools to apply the whitewash. The ground next to the church—and the soldiers themselves—are mostly white by now. We have lunch in one of the many small cafés.

Chile - A tour through the Valley of the Moon

In the afternoon, we walk out of the village toward the salt lake. It turns out to be farther than we expected, and just outside San Pedro de Atacama there’s another checkpoint (which later turns out to be the border post toward Bolivia). At three o’clock, we leave by bus for an excursion to the Valle de la Luna — the Valley of the Moon. The route first takes us to a viewpoint near San Pedro de Atacama, offering a beautiful panorama over the desert valley. Soon after, the bus leaves the paved road, and we drive bumping and jolting between the rocks. When the minibus can go no further, we get out and take a walk to admire the stunning view over the valley — it’s absolutely worth it. The walking trail gradually descends, and at the bottom, the bus is waiting for us again; the driver has taken a detour to meet us there. On our way to watch the sunset, we take a short hike through the rocks. The path winds through a deep crevice, and at times we have to climb a bit. We can’t walk all the way through the gorge — apparently it gets very narrow — and we need to be back in time for the sunset. The minibus takes us to a large sand dune, where many other tourists are already gathered. We climb to the top, and from there you can continue to a viewpoint. It turns out — in hindsight — that we didn’t climb the right hill, so perhaps we missed the best view, but we had a great time nonetheless. The final stop of the excursion is the “Maria Rock,” a group of three pointed rock formations said to resemble the Virgin Mary. Even in the fading light, it takes quite a bit of imagination to see it. Back in San Pedro de Atacama, we have dinner in the center. In a restaurant courtyard beside a fire pit, we order pizza. The crust is made from bread dough — unusual, but very tasty.