San Pedro de Atacama - now with Pictures

There were two reasons for coming to San Pedro, to start the salt desert tour in Chile and to see something of the region, which has been the subject of very positive reports from other travellers.

Wednesday morning was spent orienting myself and hunting down an ATM so that I should not become destitute of Chilean pesos. Most prices are quoted in thousands - the peso is a small unit.

The afternoon was a tour to Moon Valley and it was very disappointing. We saw some amazing rock formations but received little useful information about them. The guide was working from notes and clearly didn't understand what he was trying to tell us. He talked about volcanic activity when we were admiring the pictured formation of sedimentary rock. The light grey seams may well have been volcanic ash, but they were laid down in water because the layers above and below were all horizontal. And why were the rocks only 50 metres away tilted and folded? It was no use asking this guide. I learned later that he was only in his second day with the tour company, but that did not improve the tour.

In Moon Valley itself we saw none of the features depicted in the admission brochure and the sunset the tour was timed to enjoy was pretty darn ordinary. The previous day's sunset on the road from the Bolivian border had been more spectacular. However, I met a lively Irish couple who have visas to work in NZ, so I gave them my email address so that we can meet up when they arrive.

Thursday was altogether more interesting. The lagoons tour started at one of the lakes in the Atacama salt flat. Not only was the salt flat an intriguingly weird spectacle, but the flamingoes were flying around and feeding head down in the approved manner. It was a shame that so many of them were choosing to feed so far away from the spectator area, but the chilean and andean species were positively identified. TICK.

We also got close up to andean avocets and puna plovers with jaunty golden caps. AND we got a lot of accurate scientific information. Did you know that Chile produces two thirds of the world's lithium in the Atacama? No, nor did I.

The drive to the mountain lagoons took a while. We started off on tarmacadam, turned off on to good, graded gravel road and then the route got steadily worse as we got higher and the scenery got wilder. The lakes were worth the effort though, and the biting cold when we got there.

The big lake had a backdrop of snow dusted mountains and was partly iced over. Really scenic. The surrounding tussock was home to a family of vicunas. These are not (yet) rounded up and shorn of their valuable shoulder wool.

The smaller lake (sorry I've completely forgotten their names) was not to be approached as it is a nesting site of the threatened horned coot. Several of the football sized coots were busy wading and swimming in the near part of the tarn. I confess I am a lost cause. I did get excited about big black birds with strange growths (that don't look anything like a horn) on their beaks. *TICK*.

In the afternoon we had a good lunch and admired a couple of villages. One of them had a thatched church.

There were two NZ brothers on the tour, who are staying at the same hostel as I am. They are in Chile to take part in an ultra endurance event. This involves 150 miles (240km) over six stages self supported, ie you carry your food for the race days. Water is provided along the way. David is modestly walking and aiming merely to finish. Robert is running (with a 15kg pack) and has pretentions to a good place. They are, of course, quite mad but wish them luck anyway.

For the evening I secured the last place on a tour of the stars. The Atacama probably has the clearest skies on Earth. A huge radio telescope is being built in the area, but this was on a more modest scale. A French astronomer and his (Chilean?) wife take groups out to their property and in 2 hours pretty much cover Astronomy 101.

The apparent movement of the stars, and why they are visible for only part of the night or part of the year, and why some are visible only in the northern or southern hemisphere, was all explained very clearly. How to start learning the constellations and stars was taught, rather than trying to make us memorise lots of facts. The Southern Cross was clearly visible and we were shown how to use it to find the southern point of rotation. All this was done with fabulous laser pointers that zapped streaks of light into the sky.

Having given us a start on how to appreciate the visible sky, we were invited to gaze at some of the detail only revealed by telescopes. We were shown nebulae of various types, a double star, galaxies, what the milky way looks like (lots of individual stars), gas clouds, etc. We had been invited to bring cameras, and I have this lovely shot of Jupiter. Unfortunately the batteries died while Alain was trying to get me a better one.

The evening had the perfect finish with a mug of hot chocolate.

Today has been a lazy day, with gentle walks around the town to ease my back into its proper position. The farmacy has also helped the process by supplying anti inflammatory tablets.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I set off back into Bolivia and will arrive in Uyuni once again, at a civilised time I trust, on Monday afternoon. So there will be a bit of a break before the next post. Don't let that stop you leaving comments.