San Pedro de Atacama

I arrived in San Pedro, a small desert town in northern Chile happy to see my friend Sebastiaan who was here to explore the area with me. San Pedro is a charming little town in a huge valley of dessert, cliffs and volcanoes. It has great food and tons of places to explore.

The first day we got up at 3am to see the geysers! I kid you not!! I have never heard of another tour that starts at 3am that people actually go on! The morning is cold in the desert so we bundled up and took a two hour drive to the field of geysers (called El Tatio). This field has over 80 active geysers and is at 4200 meters above sea level. The geysers sputter boiling water that smells of rotten eggs (sulfur) and are really fun to watch. The field is really gorgeous as the sun comes up (hence the 3am start time!). We also stopped at a thermal bath that is heated by the geysers for a swim. It must have been the most beautiful outdoor hot tub Ive seen!

The afternoon consisted of yet another tour to the famous Valley de la Luna. Its this stunning valley with volcanoes in the background and desert everywhere. The colors are unreal in the sunset. We hiked up a cliff and had the most amazing view while sitting there sipping tea. We also had fun with some jumping pictures with our new friends Christiaan (the photographer) from South Africa and Gaal from Israel. I still don't know how Gaal got that high!!

Originally I was planning on spending five days in San Pedro and heading back to Salta to catch a flight to Buenos Aires. I heard about this amazing jeep trip to Bolivia before getting here but wrote it off as I had to get back. Sebastiaan and Gaal worked their magic and convinced me to cut time in Buenos Aires and come to Bolivia instead. I had not even considered going to Bolivia before this and within one day I was booked on the tour. As they said: a city is a city but Ill never again have a chance to see the largest salt flats in the world in Bolivia! That is the beauty of travelling, changing your plans last minute to do something fun and exciting. Bolivian jeep trip here I come!!