San Pedro de Atacama desert

Hi everyone! Ahhh i've been so bad at keeping up with this but here is a post on one of my latest adventures to San Pedro de Atacama desert in the north of Chile!

Day 1

We started our trip by leaving for the airport on Thursday night and then spent the night in the Santiago airport because our flight was at 5am Friday morning. Spending the night in the airport was a little rough mainly because they blasted intense Spanish music and also Justin Bieber throughout the airport all night. Finally we boarded our flight at 5am and arrived into Calama at 7am and then someone from our hostel picked us up and we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama passed out for a few hours at our hostel and then went on our first tour! On this tour we went to see some valleys that were really cool and then the old salt mines. After that we hiked up a mountain (more like a huge sand dune) and sat and watched the sunset and then the moonrise. It was so beautiful and the colors on the mountains were amazing to watch. That night we went out for a really cheap dinner and went to bed really early because we were so exhausted given that the night before we slept for around 2 hours in the airport.

watching the moon rise with my friends molly, laine, and ali.

Day 2

The next day we woke up early and headed out on a tour with our guide “Eric” who didn’t speak too much English but loved to speak it anyways. We started our tour with our bus breaking down about 20 min. in, but luckily another tour had space so we jumped on board. On this tour we got to see FLAMINGOS! Real live flamingos, little did I know they lived in chile of all places! They were so cool and the scenery was so beautiful too. The water was so still and we were surrounded by only the mountains and the desert. After the flamingos we went on a long bus ride and our guide wouldn’t tell us where we were going. After a few hours of driving up hill we came across an amazing lake that was situated in the mountains. It was so amazing and the scenery was unbelievable. After the lake we had a small lunch in a small desert town and then made our way back to the hostel. That night we decided to cook a simple pasta dinner at the hostel, which probably wasn’t a good idea because we all got a little sick. Whoops. After dinner we headed to bed early and set our alarms for 3:30am because our next tour was at 4am!

FLAMINGOS!

Amazing lake in the middle of the mountains.

Day 3

At 3:30am the next day we all woke up half asleep and put on about 8 pounds of warm layers and headed out on our next tour. After a 2 hour bus ride up hill in the complete dark we finally arrived at the top of a mountain where there were hundreds of geysers. Some were super tiny and some were huge, and although it was super early and below freezing out, the scene was really cool. After watching the geysers we went to the hot springs where my friend, ali, and I jumped in. Some parts of the spring were lukewarm to freezing but then other parts were burning hot. It was really cool to be swimming in the middle of mountains and it was very hard to get out. After the hot springs we drove through the mountains and came across so many wild llamas and other animals. Then we stopped in a tiny, tiny town, like 20 houses, and ate llama shishkabobs and empanadas! At first I was very hesitant to try it, but I have to admit they were so good! I love llama! After the town we headed back to the hotel and napped for a few hours until we embarked on our final tour of our trip. On this tour we went to a salt lake, which is very similar to the Dead Sea because when you went in you floated! It was so cool, without moving at all we just laid in the water and floated. It was pretty cold but the air outside was so hot and dry that it felt really good. After the salt lake we went to another swimming hole that was so cold so none of us went in. It was really pretty though, but it had gotten so windy outside that I was scared of freezing to death if I went in. After this we went to another lake that was situated in between mountains to watch the sunset. Our tour guide brought cookies, chips and pisco sour for everyone and we all sat and watched the colors change over the mountains and water. It was so beautiful and I could’ve sat there forever. After this tour we got back to our hotel around 8:30 and were so tired so even though it was our last night in Atacama we went passed out very early.

4am tour of the geysers and the sunrise!

LLAMAS!

The trip was so amazing and it was crazy how much we did in so little time. From seeing flamingos, to eating llama, to floating in a salt lake, I definitely recommend going here if you ever have the opportunity! Right now I’m sitting at the airport ready to head back to Vina del mar and I’m so excited because my parents, my real live American parents, are coming to Chile today! We’re going to spend a few days in Vina del mar, then a day in Santiago, and then my mom and I are going to Isla de Pascua/Easter Island/Rapa Nui which is this amazing tropical island 5 hours off the coast of Chile. Everyone in Chile talks about Easter Island all the time and I’m learning about it in each of my classes and its supposed to be incredible. I’m so excited!

xoxo, Abby