One of most important must-sees of Chile is the world's driest desert near town San Pedro de Atacama, over 1600km north of Santiago.
There are only about 5000 inhabitants in this cute little village, but it seems to be more active than Santiago, a city of over 6.5 million inhabitants.
The main street Caracoles (meaning snails) is pedestrian area only. As you may guess, the village lives from tourism. That makes it safe and hospitable for guests.
San Pedro attracts all kinds of folks from backpackers to star gazers. But one thing is sure: business suits you won't see!
It's lunch hour, also for the stray dogs.
The white-coated colonial church at the central square,
Plaza de Armas.
A little fair of artisanal and self-made products of alpaca wool and other sorts of souvenirs.
Our hostel, Backpackers.
The hostel was a cat haven. Miu here is only a few weeks old and was rescued by the girl behind the counter.
The best thing at the hostel were the cosy hammocks!
During the day the thermometer climbed up to 25 degrees but at night it cooled down dramatically.
Nearly every building in this village is made of adobe bricks, which are unburnt bricks dried in the sun, like the neighbourhood of our hostel. The houses are small and usually have a patio behind the walls. Being at the desert, the water consumption is limited, which is why it is cut off for every night.
The first organised tour we did on Good Friday to the desert. Funnily enough, the first stops at the desert were three different watered areas. We visited the
Laguna Cejar. The lagoons have 40% concentration of salt, and that in turn produces an effect of floating like the Dead Sea. You just float!
Laguna Cejar is a tiny sink hole lake in the
Salar de Atacama, 18km from San Pedro.
Ojos del Salar, or the "watery" eyes of the salt flat, are two sweet water holes in the desert surrounded by the Andean mountain range. There are several theories regarding their birth but the real reason why they exist remains unknown.
Laguna Tebinguiche.
The salt flat inspires photography with optical illusions.
Next morning's tour started already 4am. Knowing that we were going to drive up to 4500 m above the sea level to see the
Geysers of Tatio it was going to get cold so we wore everything we had with us. I counted six layers, and was still freezing.
We weren't the only ones freezing! The steam of the hot, burning water was heating us up.
Geysers of Tatio means the grandpa who cries. There are over 60 active, steaming geysers that bubble like boiling kettles.
On the way back we saw some herds of lamas and vicunas, as above.
The car's brake pieces breaking brought added excitement on the way to San Pedro. Luckily we got a ride with one of the other descending minibuses.
After the geyser tour we had some time to get changed and grab lunch before hitting another tour to
Valle de la Luna, the Moon Valley.
Valle de la Luna. 
The salt crystals were making an interesting, hollow sound when the temperature was changing, like a tin roof popping.
Nature sure is amazing. Wind, sand and time have shaped these three rock formations called the Three Virgins.
Sun setting on the Moon Valley.
The last tour on that Saturday of our hard-core active holidays was star gazing. The sky is incredibly fascinating and looks somehow different here in the southern hemisphere. The sky in San Pedro de Atacama is supposed to be one of the clearest, having 320 clear nights a year.
In addition to Southern Cross, Milkyway, Orion's Belt and others, we also got to see Saturn.
Next morning, after a well slept night, we had lovely breakfast at Todo Natural consisting of pancakes, fresh fruit with yogurt and honey, eggs and freshly made orange juice. Yummy. I was happy!
Lamas at a café.
All tanked up, we wanted to do a little excursion by bicycles on our own.
The view to the Catarpe valley near the top.
Happy having reached our goal - on the other side of the tunnel!
The way back down might have been even harder than cycling uphill due to the uneven ground. I went grandpa-pace.
Crossing those tiny rivers was cooling!
We found a little adobe church in the middle of nowhere, on a top of a stony hill in the valley.
What stunned me the most during this holiday was how much variety the nature can have - even in the desert. The extreme temperature changes, the many different works of art done by nature, the different colours... Just breathtakingly beautiful!!
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Footprints in the sands of time
are never made by sitting down.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
