Landing on the moon, the last thing you'd expect would be precipitation. Arriving in the Atacama Desert, the last thing you'd expect would be rain... and yet, here we are! The driest place on earth, outside of the North and South Poles, and the water is flowing from the dark clouds above. Our luggage is out in the open, in the tray of our rental firetruck. Still having another 50 or so kilometres to travel from Calama to San Pedro de Atacama (SPdA), we really didn’t have much choice but to continue. According to my 'comprehensive' research, 1mm of rainfall is all the Atacama receives each year; tonight must have been the night it all decided to drop. Thankfully, our bag's weather sealing seemed to have held up. *No photos from this evening as I was driving.
We'd venture into SPdA not too long after arriving, as the rain had lessened. It’s a small tourist-centred town, formed from mining roots. Small cars, let alone giant red utes, don’t work well here. It’s too narrow and there are too many people wandering about. To my relief, not too long into driving around town, a bus-sized spot soon opened up. It's way better to be on foot here. Main Street, a pedestrian-only dirt laneway, is filled with tour vendors, hotels, and many restaurants in courtyards. We eventually chose one, enjoyed a nice meal, sank a few pisco sours (getting rather familiar with these now), and chilled listening to a local Chilean fusion rock band. A nice evening to begin our desert adventures.
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," announced Buzz’s mate some 54 years ago as he took his first steps on the moon. We’d do the same, but only in one of Earth’s replications of the lunar surface. Valle de la Luna (not to be confused with the identically named Valle de la Luna near La Paz, Bolivia), 10 km from the centre of SPdA, was simply out of this world. We’d crawl along at the posted 40 km limit, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted to drive any quicker. So much to see and so fascinating. Salt-encrusted landscapes (apparently this only occurs after rain, so lucky us!), rocky cliffs, and sand structures which mimic conditions from above. Not sure what side of the moon, but I’m going to have a guess and say it was the light side as it sure was warm.
We’d stop for a hike up to some breathtaking viewpoints. Up close, I was fascinated by the textures in the rocks and the wispy sand dunes. Looking off into the distance, we’d see other intriguing valleys and volcanoes sitting, waiting, and watching. These scenes sure did take up a few megabytes! Unless space tourism takes off and becomes notably cheaper, I think this might be the closest we’ll come to reaching the moon. So I made the most of it; sunrise, midday, and sunset were all spent admiring such harsh beauty.
