Well at least compared to everyone else...this journey was only 90 mins but cost almost as much as our Bolivian night of purgatory! It sums up Chile though, with much higher prices but at least you get what you pay for. As soon as we crossed the border we jumped into a flash minibus and sped down a pristine paved road to St. Pedro, a dusty little town nestled in the Atacama desert, at the foothills of 6000m volcanoes and surrounded by extraordinary valleys reminiscent of the moon's surface. OK, so it is a bit of a tourist trap but deservedly so, with a really pleasant feel to it and a handful of really cool bar/restaurants. We only stayed a couple of days but it is the sort of place you could get stuck in and while away many a day. Trying to choose from the endless list of activities and trips could get exhausting (pony treks through moon valley, sandboarding giant dunes, star-gazing trips in the pitch black desert skies, scaling enormous peaks, visiting geysers, volcanic hot springs, flamigo spotting etc etc...it's tiring just listing a few!) so we opted for simply pedalling out to Death Valley and on to Moon Valley for the sunset. Both were spectacular and well worth the effort (no little effort slogging up hills on sandy trails in the burning sun, with a 15km return in the dark and chilly desert!) So with a little sadness we boarded our posh bus to head north, but still smiling expecting more of the same for a few days before venturing back into Bolivia.
No comments:
Post a Comment