Over the course of 4 days, I traveled almost the entire length of Chile by bus. In case your geography is a little rusty, look at a map, it’s a long ways! A 24 hour bus ride (Yes, you read that correctly) from Santiago left me in San Pedro de Atacama, a small town situated in the world’s driest desert.
Adventures abound in San Pedro, and having my time cut short, I set out to accomplish everything I could in 48 hours. I’d like to think I succeeded:
Sandboarding, sunset overlooking the Valley of the Moon (which looked more like Mars), geysers at sunrise, effortlessly floating in salt lagoons, salt flats, and midnight stargazing to top it all off. I woke up both mornings with quite a headache, which I couldn’t figure out if it was due to the altitude, the dry air, the lack of sleep, or the tumble onto my head I took while attempting to bomb down the sand dune.
My second day I spent 20 of 24 hours on one tour/adventure or another. Thankfully I was able to get a solid 4 hours of sleep before getting picked up for my next adventure, into Bolivia for the Salar de Uyuni!