My longest bus ride yet – 28 hours from Valparaiso to San Pedro de Atacama. An incredible desert village which feels like it hasn’t progressed for hundreds of years. With a population of just 4800, it is riddled with dirt roads and clay houses (I have not travelled to Mexico yet but I imagine this is what it would have looked like 100 years ago). I’m thoroughly enjoying travelling in this 3rd world environment, it has made me aware of how many of our daily luxuries are completely unnecessary.
Upon arrival I booked a tour to Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). What a phenomenal place. The tour made several stops, we walked for about 45min across the desert before travelling further by bus to see ‘The Three Maria’s’ they are rock formations that are over a million years old and look like three women praying. Our final stop was Valle de la Luna which was so interesting. The ground, it looked to be a mixture of sand, rock and salt, some of the salt was so solid it looked like frosted glass in the ground. We hiked up a dune/mountain to watch the sunset of the valley. The landscape resembles the surface of the moon. This natural phenomenon, is due to the encounter of the Atacama desert with the Andes mountain range and is absolutely stunning. Sunset it very popular and most famous for its colours, shapes and different light that falls across the crators.