San Pedro de Atacama

I just got back from a super epic trip to the Atacama desert in the north of Chile.  I went with 3 friends: Marissa, Kate, and Liz.  After a 24-hour bus ride, we were advised to spend as little time as possible in San Pedro because it's super expensive, so we packed as much as we could in our 2 days and 2 nights there!  Some pictures from the trip:

Our hostel:

Geyser/hot springs tour that meant getting up at 4 am:

Our tour guide also took us on a "special hike" that lead us through the desert to a waterfall:

...and to a town of 40 people with wild llamas!

That same day, we did a tour of Lagunas Cejas, which have so much salt in them that you literally just float as soon as you jump in.  They were FREEZING but so cool!

The next day, we borrowed bikes from our hostel and rode around in the morning, and then in the afternoon we went sandboarding!  Besides from my camera getting severely messed up, it was soo fun!

Bike riding in San Pedro:

Valle de la muerte:

...and sandboarding!

And finally, the sunset at Valle de la Luna:

It was a trip full of no sleeping and lots of activity, and we were in the driest desert in the world!  So cool.  We made our way up to Iquique after our packed trip at the desert... pictures soon!