we arrived in Calama at 7:50ish and took a cab to the bus station where we had tickets for a 10:15 departure to San Pedro de Atacama (SPdA). there were 12 of us in our group, so we took 3 cabs, but only one cab (mine) went to the correct bus station...fortunately the same bus stopped at the other bus station where the other 8 people were right after we left our bus station. we arrived in SPdA at 12ish and the owner of the hostal picked us up. i didn't really know what to expect, but there is a lot of dust in the desert which kinda caught me off guard lol. we got settled and then headed into town for lunch and our first tour at 2:30pm to Death Valley and Valle de la Luna.
Our first stop and first feel for the desert was at a 'mirador' or look out point where we could see down into a valley and see a volcano and take pictures. IMPRESIONANTE! then to death valley where there was a face of a monkey in the side of the cliff (see pics). we then descended a HUGE sand dune with no shoes...so fun!!! i would describe the sand as dry brown sugar. it acted like water when you moved it the granuals were so fine.
then to valle de la luna where we walked around and then climbed up a huge hill to see the sunset. so beautiful. by this point we were so exhausted that we could hardly make it up the hill because we had to trek up the sand....it is very hard to walk uphill in sand. we then returned, had dinner, bought water (we couldn't drink tap water because they have had problems with arsenic in the water...) and walked back to the hostal (about 15mins from downtown). in bed by 10:30 because our next tour was at 7am!
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