After some intensely cold nights in the Bolivian mountain range, we were happy to be warm again in the lower elevation of the Atacama Desert in San Pedro de Atacama. Our salt flat tour ended with a drop off in the Chilean border town and two of our tour friends from England bunked with us for the next few days.
We had only planned to stay long enough to catch an overnight bus to the Chilean/Peruvian border town of Arica, but after a 3 day tour jammed packed with lots of fun, we were a bit exhausted to do the tourist thing again in the tourist-filled city. If it hadn’t been for the energy of our youthful 20-something friends and sold out buses, we’d have missed out on some very stunning sights!
Nearing the end of our trip, we were beginning to feel the draining bank account more and more. So, when we went in search of a tour featuring the main attraction – the stunning night sky – we were bummed to find out how expensive it was to look at the stars. We’ve always enjoyed the beauty of the night sky but as minor-league constellation buffs, we were feeling unwilling to part with the money needed to book this tour. As luck would have it, we learned of a California native who was running FREE constellation tours.
5 from our hostel joined him at his home-made, outdoor planetarium made out of recycled tires. As an amateur guide, he apologized for his disorganization but his enthusiasm more than made up for his jumbled thoughts. We were excited to learn about the different southern sky and why we were seeing the Big Dipper upside down. He even set alarm notifications that sounded off when a satellite or spy space station was scheduled to pass overhead.
Our downtime we spent reading books and sunning in the hostel hammocks, eating local goods, blogging, and getting to know our fellow travelers. Thanks to our new hostel mates, our last day ended with a bike ride into the desert together. I overcame a bit of claustrophobia with a salt cave hike and we all toured the beautiful landscape at our own leisure. In time to catch the sunset, we hiked to the top of a sand dune for some rest and relaxation and out-of-this-world views.
We couldn’t believe that we almost missed this!
The Traveling Blues 
Enjoyed another look at your South American odyssey.. Didn’t know there would be more. Great pictures. You really saw some of everything, didn’t you? Don’t know if I would have gone in the salt cave either, Kristy. Thanks for continuing the saga!
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