Tuesday, February 22, 2011

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Third desert I'm facing during this journey: after Gobi desert and Nevada desert, it's time for Atacama desert in Chile - the driest desert in the world. Two days I'm here and I must admit I had stunning times. Unbelievable has been the first day while crossing the border and passing from the snowy freezing cold of the Bolivian mountains down to the hot desertic sun of Atacama in just 1 hour's bus ride - 45 kilometres only! The feeling I had was the same one I felt passing from China to South Korea: two countries geographically closed but distant many years in reality. Back to civilization, I thought! Even Chilean people is truly different from Bolivians. All the persons from Chile I've met on this journey are really nice and friendly - truly good people - while the Bolivians (but it's better saying the indigenous poupulation of the Andes) are friendly and nice like an early morning kick in the balls... San Pedro de Atacama is a small "tourist resort" in the middle of the Atacama desert, settled at the altitude of 2800m. It's like an oasis for tourists, a Chilean version of Las Vegas without all those stupid casinos and entertainments for adults that the City of Sin has. I like it, even if prices are overcharged and you can see only tourists walking the road. But the nature is really stunning, many interesting sites to visit that I reached renting a bike for both two days: the Moon Valley, the Death Valley, the Pukara, the "Salar de Atacama" which is the third largest salt flat in the world... I loved to cycle into the loud silence of the desert with the warm sun taking care of my skin. One bicycle and one desert, that's all I need to be happy like a kid.

2 comments:

  1. saludos desde santiago de chile! soy paulina. fue muy bueno haberte conocido, encuentro genial que viajes por todo el mundo. voy a leer tu blog. suerte con tus fotos, espero que logres una exposicion de vuelta a milano. muchos abrazos!!

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  2. Mucho gusto para mi tanbien y muchos gracias!
    Hasta la vista!

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