Day 63 - 06 Feb.2012 - San Pedro de Atacama

Today we had a late start and we only went into town at around noon in search for a place to have lunch.
In the afternoon we got into the car and went to see Vale de la Luna, a dramatic lunar landscape with wind-eroded hills surrounding a crust-like valley floor. It took us a couple of hours to explore the Vale. There were some abandoned salt mines and other bizarre-looking rock formations. Probably the highlight was to see a cave that has a narrow passage created over the years by eroding sandy winds. Part of the passage is a 60m long stretch in complete darkness. Unfortunately, we left our camping torch in the tent and so we had no other choice than turning back and leaving the dark section unexplored. We were lucky to have started the trip earlier on in the afternoon as towards the end of our visit bus-loads of tourists were pouring in to see the Vale during dusk. They say that at dusk the Vale looks the most spectacular. However, it did not make any difference today, as it was cloudy anyway.
But yes, we were lucky to have the most of the time we spent there entirely for ourselves. And we must admit it is quite an extraordinary or even extraterrestrial experience. Michael Palin, in one of his travel documentaries about Sahara, said that deserts make you look inside yourself and contemplate. And that it is easy to understand why some religions took their beginning there.
There is so little that can distract you and it can be so peaceful that for a moment you might believe you are the only human being on the planet….that is of course up until you see another tourist bus coming in.
The Atacama Desert is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world. Some sources say that there has not been any rain recorded ever. We are not sure what is classified as being ‘rain’ but we definitely saw a rain shower some kilometres ahead of us and during the trip through the Vale it was spitting. Later in the evening while we were having dinner in a restaurant in San Pedro we heard rain falling onto the roof and immediately went outside to experience it first hand. And we have it recorded. We have asked the locals about this what appeared to us to be an extraordinary appearance and they confirmed that it is rare but not unusual. Others mentioned that the rainfall has increased over the recent years.