We took a minivan from the border of Bolivia to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. We knew exactly when we crossed over to Chile – the roads suddenly became paved! We spent 3 days hanging around San Pedro – it was a really cute little town although very touristy.
On the first evening, we did a “star tour” out in the desert. It was absolutely beautiful and it was crazy how many stars we could see. Our guide for the evening worked for the ALMA project, which is one of the biggest astronomical projects in the world. Some of the biggest observatories in the world are centered in the Atacama Desert, since the area is one of the driest in the world (not many clouds) and it has decent elevation.
We also spent a morning biking out to the Valley of the Moon. It was a really nice ride with weird rock formations and huge sand dunes to see on the way. We didn’t see many other people on the road and it was cool being all alone in such a striking landscape.
