San Pedro de Atacama

We left Bolivia on a chilly morning and drove across the 2 kilometers of "no mans land" before having our paperwork and suitcases scrutinised by yet another Customs border.  

As we dropped 1500 or so metres our breathing became a little easier, and the road was sealed with lots of road signs and a few road cones and 13 emergency stops for vehicles as soon as you crossed the border.

The country side was viewed through fairly tired eyes but appeared a bit ordinary compared to what we had seen - brown, rocky, remnants of a volcanic era gone by.  

The hotel in San Pedro de Atacama is a nice place and offered us a place to sit outside in the sun and catch up with friends and family through a fairly fast internet.  

We went for a walk and exchanged our left over Bolivianos for Pesos - and then tried to fathom out the money machine which appeared to talk at you in Spanish with no other translations.  We gave up, and pressed the cancel button and said a short prayer in the hope of having our cards returned.  After waiting an agonising few seconds out they spat.  Later on we were told to press the bottom left hand button called "foreign" and we could chose the language from there - thankfully us baby boomers were not the only ones to get a tad confused. 

On our second attempt we were given 200,000 pesos - "why don't they just knock off a few zeroes?" we asked ourselves as we attempted to find space in our wallet.

Dinner was at a restaurant with an open fire - and at first glance it looks as though Chile will be a lot more expensive than Bolivia.

In the morning, some of the group went sandboarding, others nursed hangovers and we had a morning with no "wake up" alarm.  It was bliss lying in bed at 7.30 knowing we did not have to get up until we felt like it.  Later that morning we found ourselves sitting outside in the sun, enjoying a real cappuccino (two each actually) and the most enormous sandwich (half a french bread roll stuffed with vegetables and cheese).  

The main road is pedestrianised - and during the early morning is obviously watered down to prevent it becoming too dusty.  It was nice and relaxing wandering around the shops (spot how many products are made in China - you will give up counting after a while) and thinking about little gifts for grandkids. 

Half way back we settled on an icecream and ended back at the hotel to sit once again outside in the sun.

After a bit of emailing and sending more photos to make our friends have "wish we were there moments" we hopped on the bus for a visit to the Moon Valley.  

We travelled along a sealed road for the first few kilometres and stopped at one site which overlooked the start of the valley.  The valley stretches about 100km long, but it is not very wide.  It was a WOW moment for many on the bus - "Can this get any better?" said one of our tour group.  

We turned off the sealed road, into bone shaker territory - no chance of taking photos!  This is where a number of movies have been filmed eg James Bond -  Quantum of Solace (where Bolivia was paid a lot of money to keep tourists away from the area during the filming) and the Wild One (which I haven't seen), and where NASA does testing for their missions to Mars.  According to our guide, the soil is a mixture of gypsum, minerals (including sulphur and lithium - uh oh) and salt. There isn't anything green to be seen - no vegetation at all and no animal or bird life - I have never seen a place so barren of life (except of course the recently visited salt plains!)

We climbed to the top of a hill and looked over.  The local guide, took photos of us (obviously he has done it before) and told us a bit about the history.  One side hasn't seen rain for 40,000 years (according to geologists and archaelogists) while the other side sees snow on a regular basis (so much that a month ago the road was inaccessible).  

There was an old bus (similar to the one used for the "The Wild One" film) parked in the middle of nowhere.  An interesting story - but from a purist perspective rather a blot on the landscape.  

There were rules about partying in San Pedro - ie not allowed, so the partying types in the village decided to make a party place outside the town jurisdiction - hence the old bus. Apparently, Euan McGregor visited here and everyone looks for his signature - it is probably hidden under one of the many stickers placed by tourists from all over the world.  Harry took the chassis number of the bus to try and find out what type it was - which amused most people! Google didn't help with the chassis number, but a search on "derelict buses in Chile Moon Valley" identified it as a Neilson Diplomata 350 inter city coach.  Harry had guessed a Ford and me a Humber, we were both way out. Harry is now thinking Google hasn't got it right (as other photos of a Neilson show a flat nosed bus).  The jury is out - oh no it's not - an hour later Harry has the answer it is a Ford Franklin Futura bus. The things that amuse some people!!

While we looked at the bus our driver and guide left us and parked around the corner (thankfully we could see the nose of the bus as it was a long way to walk back to San Pedro).  The guide and driver had prepared a lovely afternoon snack (all made by the guide). Crackers, cheese, quince jam, popcorn, tomatoes, olives, tuna and cream cheese spread and of course the local alcoholic drink pisco sour, ginger ale or white wine.  What a treat - and a nice surprise.

The bone shaker (or free chiropractor treatment) trip began, and back we went to our first stop - this time to watch the sun set below the hills and shed a gentle pink haze across the hills.

A couple of interesting facts about San Pedro -

• Dancing is forbidden.  Diners can listen to music while eating, but they aren't allowed to dance - this is policed and restauranteurs and bar owners can be heavily fined.  Apparently, dancing is kept strictly for religious celebrations - of which there is one this weekend.
• Alcohol can only be served with food.  So, during happy hour (offered by many restaurants and bars) if patrons only want a drink, free popcorn is provided.