We completed the last section in Antofagasta, Northern Chile, and enjoyed a rest day on a day when the city was celebrating a cultural festival, with the main square filled with entertainers, musicians and artists. Rest days continue to be filled with shopping for necessities (warm clothes, chocolates, wine, etc), enjoying meals in restaurants, catching up with friends on email and here we were afforded some diversity with purchases of English books and a festival to enjoy!
It was time to leave the coast and back into the desert. Not surprising then that we had some decent climbs from the coast, a good stretch along Highway 5 (so glad to leave this highway!) and a couple of days of climbing in desert heat and gaining in altitude. We enjoyed two nights of desert camping, exposed to the wind but flanked by Andes mountain range, so rewarded with spectactular scenery, sunsets and awesome starlit skies – just beautiful!

Our day into San Pedro de Atacama was just like an additional rest day, due to some logistical issues in the previous night´s camping, the decision was made to truck us all along the horrendous 100km dirt road and drop us and bicycles at Vallee de Lunar (Valley of the Moon). Fabulous decision, we spent several hours cruising the valley, with Ricardo as our guide providing insight into geological phenomenon. The area is a highlight of the San Pedro area with magnificent rock formations, sand dunes, crystal filled river beds and spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and valley.

Descending into San Pedro is like arriving at an oasis, a traditional village set in a fertile valley, that is a fantastic tourist trap with amazing places to stay, to eat, to shop and plenty of tour operators taking willing tourists to the many sights in the area. The choices are endless, star gazing, mountain biking (I think not, need to rest), volcano trekking (again, need to rest), sand boarding, thermal springs and Tatio geysers. Despite the need to rest, I opted for
a) the Star tour, a 2 and half hour tour, with a local French astronomer at his house in the desert with an entertaining account of astronomy, the night sky and phenomenal views of the sky through rather large telescopes, AND
b) the Tatio Geysers, a 4am pick up and 2 hour drive to the geysers at 4300m altitude, in order to witness them at their smoking best, i.e. at sunrise when the air is cold – it was freezing at -8deg celsius! A fantastic trip with stops on the way back at thermal pools (yes I swam, it was awesome, and soothing for tired legs), altiplano village (viewed and then tasted llama), cactus filled valleys, and vicuna photo opportunities!

And just to keep going, enjoyed delicious evening meal at one of the many fine restaurants with some of the morning tour group, and being one of the last nights in Chile, accompanied with a few pisco sours!

A magical place and definitely one to return to one day!!