Going to Mars

The night bus was the best one we've taken yet, so we woke up relatively refreshed in Calama. Just as well, as we had a busy day ahead!
Calama is a fairly big city, close to a gigantic mine which extracts lithium and other metals. We'd been warned the city is unsafe, so we rented a car, did a quick food shop and set off to San Pedro de Atacama.
San Pedro is one of the most famous destinations in Chile, with a population of just 11,000, but a quarter of a million tourists annually!
It's situated at 2,400 meters, so San Pedro is our first stop in acclimatising, as once we get to Bolivia, where we'll often be above 3,500m.
The drive from Calama was through a completely barren desert, flat and vast, and we already felt like we were on another planet.
Once closer to San Pedro, the landscape started transforming, with huge volcanos on the horizon, all above 5,000m, and smaller but sharper ridges nearby. The colours and shapes are hard to describe, from red, to green and white.
We checked into our hostel and then headed out immediately, excited to explore the landscape around us. We tried to go to Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon), but took a wrong turn finding ourselves on a dirt road, blocked off by massive boulders.
After finally finding the right way in, we were told to come back tomorrow! It was already 4pm, and we were told we would need much longer to visit it properly. We scouted online for alternatives and found a place called Valle de Marte or Valle de la Muerte (Death valley or Mars Valley). Once we arrived, we realised both names are pretty apt!
We really loved it, the landscape completely blew us away. The road meandered between giant red rocks, ending at a giant sand dune. There was a group of sandboarders struggling to get downhill, but otherwise the place was completely deserted.
We walked up the dune and admired the red rocks from above. They looked like giant waves, rippling towards the flat desert plain where San Pedro lies. A strong wind blew down the valley, blowing sand in our faces as we hiked up to the highest viewpoint. The wind calmed down and we got to admire the most incredible sunset we had ever seen.
The clouds turned yellow then red, with all the rocks around us shining in the crimson light. Some of the sunlight was blocked by the clouds, forming a very long, thin shaft of light, cutting through the horizon and illuminating the volcanoes and the desert plain. It looked incredible and we just stared in silence, feeling like we had truly arrived in another world.Read more