Today, with a delay of about seven weeks, I finally arrived in San Pedro de Atacama. San Pedro is a tiny village in the middle of the world's driest desert. A sign announces just under 2000 inhabitants. I suspect that there is room for about as many tourists again, and the main street is lined with tour agencies and restaurants. Another place whose entire workforce is employed in tourism...
There is nothing really to see in the village, just brown adobe houses and lots of dust. The paved road leads right up to the village, but within and beyond, there are only dirt roads.
The desert landscape around San Pedro, however, is spectacular. In the afternoon I visited the Valle de la Luna - I wonder how many valleys of the moon I've seen now, the name seems to be quite popular ;-)
The valley is located in the Cordillera de la Sal, a several million year old mountain range that consists to a good part of salt. This explains the white color on this rock formation, called the amphitheater:
While most of the valley consists of stone, there are also some sand dunes. This one is the biggest in the valley, called Duna Mayor:
Due to the wind in the valley, the dune moves with the wind to one side. How fast, the guide couldn't tell me. But it's beautiful anyway :-) I especially liked the contrast to the rocks all around:
After the dune, we went to a viewpoint to watch the sunset. Even before that, the red rocks looked fantastic:
The sunset-watching spot was well chosen: the clouds lit up very nicely, and the views in combination with the landscape were wonderful.
There is nothing really to see in the village, just brown adobe houses and lots of dust. The paved road leads right up to the village, but within and beyond, there are only dirt roads.
The desert landscape around San Pedro, however, is spectacular. In the afternoon I visited the Valle de la Luna - I wonder how many valleys of the moon I've seen now, the name seems to be quite popular ;-)
The valley is located in the Cordillera de la Sal, a several million year old mountain range that consists to a good part of salt. This explains the white color on this rock formation, called the amphitheater:
While most of the valley consists of stone, there are also some sand dunes. This one is the biggest in the valley, called Duna Mayor:
Due to the wind in the valley, the dune moves with the wind to one side. How fast, the guide couldn't tell me. But it's beautiful anyway :-) I especially liked the contrast to the rocks all around:
After the dune, we went to a viewpoint to watch the sunset. Even before that, the red rocks looked fantastic:
The sunset-watching spot was well chosen: the clouds lit up very nicely, and the views in combination with the landscape were wonderful.
