Burner Billy Adventures: San Pedro de Atacama to Arequipa, Peru

San Pedro de Atacama...ahhh, the desert. For some reason since visiting the desert last August for Burning Man, there's something special about it. I don't know if it's the landscape or that it's literally left out to dry, but I really enjoy it. San Pedro, Chile is located close to the border of Bolivia and Argentina and it is usually a final stop before most travelers jump over to Bolivia. Unfortunately, I could not go to Bolivia, especially the Salt Flat/Desert tour in Uyuni, but I made the most of my time in San Pedro.

I stayed with Charlotte and Marjanneke at the Hostel de Atacama. It was sort of dump in the case that a young lad from London woke up and pissed on the door in the middle of the night. Let's just say Tony Galbo would be proud :). But overall, it worked out well because our hostel host gave us salsa lessons. Yeah, I was dancing with his mom, who spoke little english, so it was quite a feat that I didn't kill her when we danced.

San Pedro is a small town and really exists for many of the tours that people check out each and everyday. I did two, laguna cejar and sandboarding. I will say swimming in water that makes you float was quite possibly the most amazing thing I have done on the trip so far. It was freezing but well worth the experience. I didn't think salt flats would be such a satisfying feeling. Now, the sandboarding and the sunset of the vast desert afterwards was also a fantastic thing to see and do. I am not much of snowboarder, but I was able to pick up sandboarding and would later learn in Huacachina that it can be quite dangerous if you can't control yourself. Ha. After that fun adventure, we hiked through some caves then up to a some rocks to watch the sunset drinking pisco sours. I have seen a ton of beach sunsets in my life, but desert sunsets bring amazing lighting to the surrounding rocks and mountains. It's a completely different experience.

After doing those two tours, Kris, Marjanneke, Charlotte, and I decided to explore the desert by mountain bike. We went out on a late evening adventure, and experienced a couple of neat things. The valle de la Muerte was incredible. I felt like I was in 127 hours cruising through the terrain that was at times only a couple of feet wide to pass through. You went in and around caves, weaving around the corner to the next adventure. It wasn't until the day after with Gunstein did I experience the entire route. The other thing I learned on the bike trip....I am terrible at replacing a flat. Marjanneke got one just before we were about to enter the valle de la muerte, and with time permitting, Kris and I rushed to replace the new innertube. After about 30 mins of messing with the tire, we tried to pump it up and it immediately popped. Thank God for this amazing chilean who came by and put the 2ND innertube on in about 5 minutes. We were really lucky that the shop gave us 2 innertubes because that would have NOT been a fun ride back. However, we were able to see all the beautiful stars, helped a lost soul find her way back into town, and had an awesome dinner later that night in San Pedro. The crew of Jonas, Gunstein, Camille, Kris, Marjanneke, Charlotte, and I even experienced a night out in town to which we walked from town to a desert party. I met a half dozen great people out there, and I sort of felt back in San Francisco, surrounded by great people and culture. It was very comforting. To see the least, it was sad to leave San Pedro.