The plans started off long before for the trip, with the debate of who should go, how big the group should be, and so on an so forth. When it came down to it, Alex Odermatt from Switzerland, Peik Rastenberg from Finland, and Johannas Urbez from Germany and I jumped on a bus at 10 in the morning to start the 27 hour trek to San Pedro. Saying that I regret not paying for a plane ticket is a huge understatement. 27 hours in anything is too long, but 27 hours in a bus with the only complementary food being a juice box and two wafers really puts a damper on the beautiful ocean views that were rolling past my window. When we finally stepped of the bus the next afternoon in San Pedro the most important things on the list were food, shower, and sleep. Coincidentally, Ellie Thomas, another exchange student, and one from Oregon no less, was in San Pedro with her mom showing here around Chile. I was able to snag a few hours with them over a completo before they boarded the bus back to Santiago. After the basic needs of hunger, cleanliness, and exhaustion were met, the crew of Switzerland, Germany, Finland, and the USA ventured back out in the sweltering heat of San Pedro.
Now, San Pedro, the town is built for tourism. Every other shop is a trinket store, a tourism agency or a restaurant trying to pull you in to eat their special. As a collective, we were roped into over 10 tour agencies until finally settling of on one owned by a guy from Brooklyn, New York and Ecuador. He gave us a stellar deal after I played the poor Exchange student card for our four days four tours schedule. The four tours we decided on were Laguna Cejar, Piedras Rojas, Valle de la Luna, and Geysers del Tatio. After shelling out the cash that definitely put a dent in all of our wallets, we wandered over to a restaurant to grab some grub and then fell dead asleep ready for the adventure the next day.
By 1 o clock in the afternoon, I had managed to pester the boys out of bed at our hostel and corralled them into doing some shopping with me. We all picked up a few touristy items before heading to lunch then back to our hostel to grab a swim suit and a towel for our Laguna Cejar tour. We met in font of the agency at 4 and then waited another half an hour for the guide to show up, because you know, this is Chile. The tour had roughly 14 people in it and we were the only gringos surprisingly seeing that most of the population we had seen in San Pedro had been white tourists. The guide first tried speaking in his broken english, but once he realized that we were all fluent, that went by the way side and only spanish was spoken. The bus ride out was around 30 minutes, and when we arrived at the lakes, I couldn't have been happier because the bus had no air-conditioning. We pushed out the bus and made out way over to one of the two lakes that made up Laguna Cejar Park. The first lake that we headed to was the salt lake. This was one of the those super cool and really rare places where the salt to water ratio was so high that it was only possible to float on your back or stomach, and hopefully not get it in your eyes, which of course I did. It burned for a solid 15 minutes. When we finally left the water with salt incrusted skin and lazed around in sun was one one of the most relaxing experiences I have ever had. We walked over to the other lakes to snap some photos. We all hopped back in the van and then headed over to a sink hole where the boys did impressive swan dives while I took a video. From there, we progressed on to a salt flat named Salar de Carmen. By this time the sun was setting and I got to witness a beautiful sun set over the salt flat. Our tour then returned back to San Pedro at roughly 10 o clock. We all grabbed some food then hopped into bed for the night.
The next day was our longest tour called Peidras Rojas. We were picked up from our hostel at 7 am and headed out for a 2 hour drive into the desert to reach out first destination. It was suprising cold with the temperature bing in the mid 40's and on the way there we passed Volcán Lascar and saw many vicuñas, lama like animals. Our first stop was at Salar de Tara for breakfast and pictures. The boys and I hiked up a small hill to get the best view. It was really rather amazing with dry mountains and green grasses boarding the salt flat. Next was another salt flat, there seemed to be a lot of those in San Pedro. From there we moved on to the Atiplano Lakes and saw Lake Miscanti, Lake Tuyaito, Lake Chaxa and Lake Miñiques. The lakes were stunning with a rich blue hue in contrast to the brown and reds of the desert. from there we moved on to the famous Peidras Rojas, the namesake of the tour. The bright red rocks surrounded the plane lake that reflected the rocks and mountains on its surface. On the drive back into town, the guide pulled off to the side an took us on a quick hike that turned up to be longer than any of us expected due to getting lost and stuck in multiple bramble bushes. That is when the all out war broke loose when Alex threw a dead bramble flower head at me that was full of spines that stuck on my clothes, hair, and shoes. Piek, Johannas, Alex and I all got into the war, much to the humor of our companions. The final stop on the tour was at the Salar de Tara where we saw flamingos catching shrimp in their natural habitat. We arrived back in San Pedro around 7 o clock dead tired. We ate, played cards and fell into bed.
The third day we went to Valle de la Luna in the afternoon. Valle de la Luna is one of the most famous sights in the Atacama. The dramatic sand dunes and craggy rocks gives off the illusion of another planet. We left with our tour and arrived at the first sight, the Great Dune and a looming rock structure called the Amphitheater because of it shape at around 4 in the afternoon. While walking on the ridge line of the Great Dune, the most amazing thing happened in the driest desert in the world, it started to rain, and then pour. Our tour guide, equally amazed as all of us, called it the Bolivian Winter and said it is an extremely rare phenomenon that only happens with the right conditions and air depression. After the dune, we moved on to Los Tres Marias or The Three Mary's. Los Tres Marias were rock formation that maybe when first discovered looked like the Virgin Mary with Jesus in various poses, but now the use of imagination is necessary. The next stop we made vast to an underground cave system in the valle. This was super cool. Partially crawling on hands and knees and hunched over though the cave, I was thankful my height topped out at 5 feet 2 inches while my poor European friends, minus one, were well over 6 foot. For the final shebang we headed over to the ridgeline of the entire valley and watch the sunset over the red rocks and dry desert. The tour ended and we headed back into town with some of the best photos from the trip so far and straight to bed for an early night because the next day would be an early one.
Our final tour in San Pedro would be one of our most memorable. We all roused with sleep filled eyes at 4 am in the morning to head out to see the Geysers of Tatio that were best viewed at dawn. The boys and I stumbled onto the bus and promptly fell asleep. As we climbed in altitude, the guide warned us of altitude sickness because at the height at which we were at, our bodies would not be used to the surroundings. The geysers sat at roughly 4,500 meters above sea level. After a 2 hour drive, we hopped out the van and froze. It was extremely cold at the geysers and in this moment Peik and I noticed that the Alex and Johannes didn't have pants or a coat on. They had worn their swimsuits in the van for the hot springs and had not brought a change of clothes. It was currently below freezing and they were in shorts. But being the boys that they are they refused to admit they felt the chill. We ran over the first geyser right as it exploded. From then on, we were moved around like atoms, bouncing back and forth between the other geysers. When we completed the small walk between the geysers, the tour guide was waiting for us with a breakfast of avocado, bread, jam, and tea. The first hot spring pool was along side of the parked tour vans and so the boys and I hopped in. Sadly, it was not as hot as I would wish it had been and quickly got out before I froze to death. We then piled back into the van and that when the guide let us in on the secret hot spring he was taking us to. There was a natural running creek that had the hottest water while being surrounded by the most beautiful green foliage. After the final dip in the spring we headed back down to town and that concluded the final outing in San Pedro. We all collapsed back into bed and fell asleep till dinner.
San Pedro will always hold a special place in my heart. I spent a week with some of my best friends and found a new sense of independence. We were by far the youngest travelers in San Pedro without parents and were often of the receiving side of the crazy side glances screaming "what are these kids doing here by themselves?". From the early mornings and late nights and every second in-between, I loved it and my love and appreciation for my friends and new country, Chile, grew and grew. I hope someday I will return to San Pedro de Atacama and experience its beauty once more.
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