Valley of the Moon

We felt better this morning so thought we would venture out of San Pedro 10 km to visit the valley of the moon , one of San Pedro's chief tourist attractions. The valley was reputedly open at 8:30 but when we arrived the visitor centre said 900. We met an American woman earlier in the trip who complained to us about the constantly changing times of Chilean museums. Waiting for the centre to open we were a little underwhelmed by our surroundings. Flat desert. We had prebought our tickets for yesterday but then hadn't used them because we weren't feeling that great. Fortunately they accepted the tickets and we were off. Once again there was conflicting advice on the internet on whether one could drive into the valley in one's own vehicle because of the condition of the roads or whether one should just take a tour. I had worried about this especially after I realized that we had a car with low clearance. The road was hard packed gravel. By rural Saskatchewan standards it would have been considered good. There was a 17 km drive into the valley with the opportunity for 3 hikes two of which were about 50 minutes and one was 20 minutes. It was spectacularly beautiful. Interesting sedimentary rock formations twisted into wave like patterns and thrown up into peaks cornices and cliffs. Interesting erosion patterns. Mixed into these rock formations were these huge sand dunes. Black volcanic sand. It took us about 3.5 hours and was really worth the trip. It was getting hot though about 29 degrees and we had the midday sun on us. We headed back to the hotel for a leisurely afternoon and I had a nap. In the evening we walked around town and even found a French bakery. Things are so much more pleasant here when it cools off.

I feel that I am getting old. The majority of people here are in their 20s and they seem to have much more energy and staying power than we do. Their typical itinerary would be up at 4 am for a trip to the geysers. Back by 2 to leave on an outing to the Luna valley at 4 and then to cap the evening off with stargazing from 8 to 11:30. We met a British couple who had biked out to the valley 12 km had done at least one of the hikes and were biking back at noon to catch a tour at 2 to Lagoona Chaxa which is at 4000 metres of elevation. I noticed they had run out of water so I gave them some of the extra water we have been carrying in the car. They seemed pretty happy.

Tomorrow we are off to see the flamingos.Read more