Sunday, May 27, 2007

Riding to the moon! or Riding into ...death?

The first day we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama we didn't have enough time to arrange a tour to the Valle de la Luna, the Valle de la Muerte and to Bolivia. I really wanted to go to Bolivia, so we spent some time arranging our trip to Bolivia. While we were getting the details about the Bolivia tour the last tour to the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) left. We had been told that you could bike to both the Valley de la Muerte (Valley of Death) and Valle de la Luna. So we rented some bikes and set out.

It had been a while since I had been on a bike but it felt really good to be back on one. So I immediately moved into riding with one hand while turning my body around and taking pictures. That's how I eneded up with the following two pictures of Sita.


On the way out of town you pass over a bridge, under which a stream runs. This creates a really green area which, given the surroundings, is compelling. It also happened to be cloudy that day (it didn't rain, though) which gives the impression that this view could possibly have been created naturally... That is, until you see the pictures after the following two.

This picture was only a few hundred feet from the last two. I'm trying to interepret the directions to the Valle de la Muerte.

Riding to the Valle de la Muerte.
Sita is actually in this photo can you see her?
The entrance to the Valle from the main highway, you can see Sita on the bike and other's touring on horses.
A picture of the highway we would face after visiting the Valle de la Muerte.
The road into the Valle, looked prett cool.

It was dry and we got so thristy so often that I had to pull the larger bottle out of my backpack and use it to fill up the smaller one that I kept in my more accessible pocket.
Almost at the Valle...