San Pedro De Atacama, Chile – 13.-16. January 2018
I know that I still owe you some articles. Well, I am not surprised for not having completed this… work. Probably that is the real problem. Updating this blog started to feel like a work, and well, working is not the kind of thing that you want to do while you are in a holiday.
But now it is a good moment to tell you some other stories. So let’s start from my days in the Atacama desert.
Initially I did not planned to visit the desert, but when I realized that this is one of the best place in the world to watch the starred sky at night, I decided that staying some night would have been definitely a good deal.
This time I booked a tent. I don’t really love to sleep in a tent, but this one was kind of a luxury tent: a real bed, some furniture, and fresh breakfast served every day at the sunrise. Thinking to it now, when in the mornings I have to prepare my skimpy espresso while the cold Berlin wait for me outside, it hurts a lot!
Of the different excursions you can do in Atacama, the one that I loved the most was the one to the Salar de Tara. To get there you have to travel on the Andes highland, reaching an altitude of about 4.500 meters. It looks like the classic desert we have in our imagination: a dead flat of red sand with some dunes and very, very sparse vegetation. But thanks to its altitude it is also a pretty cold area: I had to wear the same clothes I was wearing in Patagonia to stay there! The Salar de Tara offers some more colors and some more life: the reflection of the sun on the salted water, the low vegetation and the beautiful flamingos offers an unusual, but lovely view of this desert.
I also visited the Moon Valley. This valley is not far away from San Pedro de Atacama, the town where I was staying. Honestly, I didn’t enjoy this visit that much. And the fault is all mine! I visited this area with a big group of people, most of them unprepared and very, very casual tourists. I had to be a bit more aware of the guided tour I was booking or, even better, sticking to the initial plan and going by myself.
In Atacama I started to feel a bit tired of travelling. The pace was a bit too high and visiting the places “just because I am here” wasn’t the best attitude. Luckily I was able to recognize that, and trying to get a better attitude in the following steps. But that was also the confirmation that, at least for me, 3-4 weeks are the ideal duration of a trip: enough time to get a break, enough energies to enjoy that time off. Well, in the end it is something more that I learn about myself, so I can’t really complain.
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Song of the post: Talking Heads – This must be the place (Naive melody)
Home is where I want to be.
Pick me up and turn me around.
I feel numb, born with a weak heart;
I guess I must be having fun.