La Salar and the Never ending Atacama.

And here is post two.

So I believe I left off in Iquique.

I left there on Sunday night (25th of October) and made it to San Pedro de Atacama on Monday morning. Found a half decent hostel.

San Pedro is an odd little town. You can tell that it's a desert nowhere village that was surprised not too many years ago by a tourism boom its only recently learned how to handle. There are only two ATMs (only one worked on Monday...) and NOWHERE to cash traveler's cheques. Frustrating!  There are shops selling alpaca everything and restaurants that are rather expensive even by Chilean standards (Chile being one of the most expensive countries on the continent.)

Outside of San Pedro, La Valle de la Luna at sunset

It´s cute, though, for a couple of days. I only spent one there, as I managed to get a spot on a tour to La Valle de La Luna and do some sand boarding the day I got there. The floor of the valley is covered in rocks that are 70 per cent salt, and so it looks white. Moonish, even.

Sandboarding is HARD. Especially on your first day in a relatively high altitude. I'm glad I did it, though. But I´ll do some squat practice before I try again.... yikes.

I secured a spot to leave Tuesday the 27th on a three-day tour through the northern Atacama and the Salt Flats in southern Bolivia. Very cool. We saw lakes that are every colour under the sun, flamingos all over the place and some of most visually fantastic landscapes I have ever seen. We stayed in a salt hotel (outside of the actual salt flat, so it's legal... the one inside the salt flat pollutes too much and thus is illegal.) and I made friends with a young French woman, Eleanor, traveling with her family. It really makes all the difference in the world some days when you have someone to talk with.

Playing with perspective on the salt flats

As of this afternoon, Thursday Oct 29, I am in Uyuni, Bolivia. I have a ticket to La Paz for tonight, so I'll be there by morning. As much as the desert has been a very unique and rewarding experience, I am ready to head back to the mountains.... I don't think I´m a desert girl.

I don´t have many comments about Bolivia yet, except that they speak more slowly than in Chile here. YAY.

Thank you everyone for your comments. Hope you´re all doing well!

S.

Adrenaline rush

Well, now this little redhead has a sunburn... thank you, beach town. Ouch. And only on the back half of my body... thank goodness I brought aloe vera!

Surfing went fantastically. Well. It went better than it ever did in Biarritz on the France trip, and the instructor said I did really well for a beginner. I stood up almost every time and managed to ride a bunch of waves... amaaaazing feeling. It made up for the salt and sunscreen in my eyes, the exhaustion from hitting the club the night before and totally made up for the times I just couldn't manage to stand on that board... you get so annoyed, and feel so dumb, and then you get up, you finally find that balance and OH MY GOD it worked! Exhilaration.

But it gets better.

Yesterday, Saturday, I went paragliding for the first time. It will not be the last time, let me tell you that. Iquique has one of the best sites for paragliding in the world, stemming from the warm ocean breezes and the fact that it NEVER rains here. No exaggeration. Literally never. Here, you can paraglide every day, no matter what.

It's hard to really describe the feeling of riding on the wind, weightless, adrenaline pumping, strapped to a funny little Chilean guy. Exhilaration might be the word for the second time today... so wild. It was so gentle and slow, feet dangling around, you feel so vulnerable. We flew along the hills that push Iquique against the ocean, over the sand dunes, over part of town and then landed on the beach. I didn't get motion sickness at all, which was great, and I got some fantastic pictures.  And yes, Mom, I wore a helmet. I also got to wear a jumpsuit, which is an awesome thing in itself.

Tonight I am catching a night bus to San Pedro de Atacama, a desert town near the Bolivian border. I´ll be there for maybe one night, and then I´m going to find a three day tour through the salt flats into Bolivia.

I am once more amending the trip plan... tragically, the pampas tour into the jungle of northern Bolivia is not going to happen. If I could be sure I could get in and out in three or four days, it would be perfect... however, while it might take a few days, it might take a week and a half, being Bolivia, so it won´t work. I will just have to come back to south america to see the rain forest.

It´s so hard for me to believe that it´s already been almost two weeks, and that three weeks from tomorrow I fly home.

Hope everyone is well, I miss you all.

S.