Since we ended up returning early from Bolivia, we had to completely re-arrange our schedule, including a flight. Everything was out of whack. We decided to keep San Pedro as our base for 3 more nights. There are so many things to do in the Atacama that we decided we could easily fill 2 more days. We were also happy to be in a safe home with Maria. In the morning we spent some time with Greg-- he was heading off to Valpariso via an overnight bus later that day. We were sad to see our friend leave, but hopefully, he will make his way out to San Francisco in August. The joke is we will have a root beer gift basket waiting for him. We met up with Jose for lunch and then the 3 of us went on a tour of the Valley of the Moon and Death Valley, with the hopes of a spectacular sunset. On the bus we met two American girls, each traveling alone, and preparing for the same Salar de Uyuni crossing. Caroline was from Santa Cruz and Courtney was from New York. Courtney was worried about the crossing since she gets majorly car-sick and Caroline was worried because she had no warm clothing. We spent the afternoon sharing stories and climbing down the steep sand dunes. The valley looked like a lunar landscape. We walked quietly with our guide through the Valley de Luna, including long runs down very steep sand dunes, as our guide said, “bare feet in sand—it feels very nice.”
Sunset was nice and the Volcanoes put on a good show as they turned various shades of pink and purple. Back on the bus home to San Pedro, I started to notice many red bumps forming on my hands (the only area exposed to the sand). The spots kept increasing, so that by the time we got to the Hostel, my hands looked like I had leprosy. Between my hands, cracked/chapped lips, sun burned face and dry skin, I felt really pretty. Courtney walked back to the Hostel with us. I was feeling extremely sympathetic to her due to our shared propensity of getting car sick. I gave her two of my motion-sickness patches. It was like I had given her gold. With all that we went through on that trip, I could not even imaging being car sick on top of everything. For me, I would have been so sick if I had not worn a patch each day. I was happy to help Courtney.
That night we met up with Jose, Caroline, Courtney and two other backpackers for dinner. It was a nice dinner with a firepit blazing in the background. We shared travel stories and Jose generously treated us all to dinner. Seven people, full meals and wine was less then $100USD.
After dinner, we said goodbye to our friends and gave a big hug to Jose. Hopefully we will see Jose in June when he will be in Sunnyvale for work.
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