Sunday, January 20th

San Pedro de Atacama Desert

Stayed at Rural- La Florida Hostal- night 2/5

Dear Obiwan,

Wow, it is hot in the desert Obi! I didn’t sleep too well due to our room being as hot as…well a desert?

But it’s all good, I’m switching to the 6 person dorm today, which I assume will be less hot due to less people!

I met a different hostel worker this morning, Jonathan, who I was advised is the best for booking tours. And man, good advice (thanks Jimmy!), after talking with him I booked 3 tours! One starting TODAY! In a few hours I will be heading to the famous Moon Valley!

ALSO, both Jimmy and I were dying to find an amazing place for the lunar eclipse tonight, so we asked Jonathan and he said he could see what he could do…

After this Jimmy and I walked to the ‘cheap’ area for food, which is a bunch of stands of local food! It was cheaper! I had scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee, all for only 2000 CLP or about 3 bucks! Jimmy’s goal was GUACAMOLE, and he found a sandwich that had it and was so happy. We chatted and I shared about my picky eating past and now adventurous eating future and he shared about his journey to healthy eating and now being a personal trainer! Very inspiring.

I then explored on my own and first went to find the bus station. My phone successfully took me to THIS bus station….

I asked around and finally found the correct and real station and bought my bus ticket to Bolivia (for in a few days)! I also searched for a moon ring replacement, but did not find anything as special and simple as the moon ring I lost in Santiago. Oh well.

Here are some photos of the actual bus station, it was actually quite cute:

Once back at the hostel I didn’t have much time till my tour! Jonathan introduced me to Francis who is a French-Canadian guy who was also going on the moon valley tour! I had already met him briefly when I moved my stuff to the new dorm room earlier today, he is also my roommate.

We were both excited for this tour, but when we got to the tour agency they divided us into different vans…and we never saw each other again :(.

But my van was great, I met these two really nice guys, Pan from New Zealand and Ray from Michigan!

Our began by hiking to the top of this beautiful vista of Moon Valley. There were two guides, a Spanish guide and an English speaking translator/guide. Our English speaking guide was both Irish and Chilean. He had this amazing Irish accent with a twinge of Chilean accent too. He had beautiful dreads that matched his beautiful blue eyes. Oops, sorry, got distracted.

Anyways, after this we went to the ‘3 Mary’s’ which are called that due to some explorer thinking it was 3 Mary’s praying, but now it’s a little broken, look:

Also, the land looks this way due to a ton of earthquakes and water going through it over a looooong time.

Next we were in the caves! Very cool, and Adrian our guide also loves thee caves. The caves reminded me of one of my favorite sci-fi movies- Pitch Black!

And, the reason it is called Moon Valley is because it looks incredibly similar to the moon.

The last thing we did was watch the sunset! It was annoyingly crowded but it was still beautiful.

Finally here I saw Frances! We both were bummed they divided us, but he said he enjoyed his tour but was so hungry that it made the tour a little painful.

Then we headed back to the hostel. When we returned I immediately asked about the plans for tonight to see the lunar eclipse, Jimmy had been making sure it was going to happen, AND IT WAS. Juan Pablo, a different hostel worker told me there was a group of us and that we were going to bike ‘somewhere’ to get a good spot.

Frances and I were SO HUNGRY, we were about to leave for dinner, but right before we left for dinner, Jonathan told me and Frances, HURRY GO GET YOUR BIKES FOR THE LUNAR ECLIPSE THE STORE CLOSES IN 10 MINUTES! So we ran to the bike store and luckily there were still bikes.

BUT moments before I bought my bike Jimmy comes RUNNING in and tells me that he already rented a bike for me! He was worried I wouldn’t be back in time, THAT IS SO THOUGHTFUL! PEOPLE CAN BE SO NICE Obi! Yay!

Once back at the hostel Frances and I were in HANGRY ZONE, we hadn’t eaten in maybe 8 hours and we NEEDED FOOD! We were off to dinner but very quickly there was a group of us! It was me, Jimmy, Frances, and Marcela who we just met and she is from Brazil! We went to Garden Burger for dinner, and I had a blue cheese burger and it was SO DELICIOUS.

Then we returned to the hostel and were so excited for THE LUNAR ECLIPSE.

Now Obi, I am going to save the next incredible adventure for an entire blog dedicated to the lunar eclipse.

Until moments later Obi,

Love,

Tú Madre,

Carly