A couple of weeks ago a group of us went to San Pedro de Atacama together for the weekend. Like most places we've visited, it was nothing short of incredible. During our time there we stayed at a great little hostel (Backapackers) that was packed with other travelers from the United States, Aulstralia, Brazil, Panama, Germany, and even Canada. Apart from meeting new people, you get to cook for youself in hostels and sometimes they'll have hostel-wide events/activities that are super fun. For example, Backpakers had "family dinners" every night that you could pay 3.000 chilean pesos and the cook there prepared a nice meal for everyone to eat by the fire. We also learned how to do some kind of Brizilian dance called Forro. Not to mention everynight they took the guests to the desert for a bonfire that seemed to happen every weekend. It was incredible.
In terms of activites that you can do in one of the driest places in the world? Truly endless. My friend and I biked to Valle de la Luna, home of salt caverns and and dunes that are known for their crazy beautiful sunsets. The next day we went on a tour of the lagunas. To be quite frank, I had no clue what that would consist of, but basically it was as if we stepped foot into another world filled with unbelivably pastel backgrounds and unearthly mountian formations (the pictures will show this more than I ever could). We also went on an increidlbe astronomy tour and workshop. The stars were seriously some of the most incredible things I had ever seen. We learned about how to spot galaxies and their different formations.
The weekend that we were there was a bit of a doosey just because there had been an accident at the gysiers so they were closed, but if you take a trip to San Padro, the gysiers are one of the most popular tourist attractions. Additionally some people went sandboarding, horseback riding, and the hot springs.
Some suggestions:
- Drink loads of water (they don't call it the driest desert in the world for nothing)
- If you have conditioner, bring it.
- Bring lots of cash becuase the ATMs have been known to run out
- Bring a camera because you are really going to want to capture these sceneries
Great trip, great people, great times.
<3
Marley
Marley Crank
<div>Hi there! I'm Marley, 19 years old from Maryland :) I am a cheese appreciator, lover of the earth, and hopeful human. I <span style="font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;">am extremely grateful to be in Santiago and hope that this blog helps to capture my experiences so that others may </span><span style="font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 1.538em;">share in them.</span></div>
