Valleys, Geysers, Bike Rides and Cemeteries

That is a quick summary of what Laura and I have been up to in San Pedro de Atacama for the past two days! Yesterday we went to Valle de la Luna, Valle de la Muerte, and watched the sun set over the desert cordillera - it was breathtaking. We got back last night and met up with Steph and David who also decided to come here and we all went out to dinner together at a cute little fogón, or rather, restaurant with bonfire right in the middle. Don't worry, it was not an indoor restaurant and I must say this is a bit strange to me, seeing as the nights are bitter cold here in San Pedro. But everybody just bundles up and enjoys the quaint little touristy part of town.

We hit the hay early last night so we could get up this morning at a wopping 3:30 to meet our 4 am shuttle for the Geysers del Tatio! They are pretty outstanding and we got there just before sunrise so we could see how they are when the temperature is still below freezing (when we got there it was -13ºC!). There are three types of geysers there: steam, water and mud. The fumaroles (hole in or near a volcano from which vapor rises, thank you dictionary.com) were shooting up all over the place and the geysers of water were warm enough to put in our breakfast (eggs and milk) and after about a 10 minute wait we had hard-boiled eggs and warm chocolate milk! I never imagined warm chocolate milk could be so good, but it hit the spot! ...And after being up for 4 hours aready we were gettin' pretty hungry. It was (almost) like winter in Wisconsin so Laura and I passed on the opportunity to get down to our skivvies and take a dip in the thermal baths but there were some hardcore French and German comrades who decided to brave the cold. We walked around, checked out some more geysers, and then headed back to our van to try to stay warm.

Before coming back to San Pedro this tour always stops in a chiquitito little pueblo
called Machuca (population 15). The people are known for domesticating llamas and when we got there we were able to actually try llama meat! Although I must say the thought of eating a llama makes me pretty sad it actually was pretty delicious. It was interesting to see how the three
natives that I encountered were much more shy than any other Chilean I have ever met. I have a feeling this stems from the fact that some of the only outside interactions they have are with hungry tourists who stop by to eat their meat and buy their overpriced empanadas and bottled water.

We then headed back into San Pedro, had a great lunch of pastel de choclo (and salad, and mote con huesillos) all for under $8! It was pleasing both to our stomachs and wallets...now that's what I'm talking about. With full bellies and big smiles we walked down the street where we had earlier seen a sign for "Bicycles and Internet". Umm, yes please? Laura bargained the guy down to $4 for 3 hours of biking and we hit
the open road... the very open road. The sunshine made for an absolute perfect day to ride bikes and we ended up making a big loop and coming in the backside of San Pedro. Just like Santiago, as well as many other big cities worldwide, the desigualdad, inequality, is even present in this small, less than 2000 people village. The people, houses, streets and little shops were all just a little different with less tourism infusion. I have never seen anything quite like this but am interested to see what's in store in Bolivia!

At the end of our self-guided bike tour we went to the cemetery and just sort of wowed ourselves seeing such a small dot on the map with such an important place dedicated to those that have already passed. It was quite the change from the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires which is known for all of the famous corpses that lie there. It consisted of simple, wooden crosses adorned with paper flowers (because it rains one day a year here) and plastic water bottles as vases.

Tomorrow morning we head to Bolivia and continue our travels from there! San Pedro, it's been fun!