Pepe is finally on his way to Santiago, the "promised land" for T3's, but we do not want to head south ourselves without stopping by San Pedro, gateway to the Atacama desert and home of one of our rescuers, Luca.
Even after having spent weeks in the Bolivian desert, the otherwordly desolate desert landscapes do not cease to amaze. Valle de La Luna and Valle de la Muerte, and even more so the "secret" valley we get to explore with "local" in-the-know Luca, are - as their names suggest - simply out of this world. Without exaggeration, this is as close to the moon as it gets.
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
Though after having conquered the Bolivian Wild West (where roads are pretty much non-existing), Chile's very well defined - tourist - tracks at times feel a little too civilised (with guided trails that remain far away from the glacial lake borders, specifically designed photo platforms, etc.).
Fortunately, our bright red rental pick-up allows for some more adventurous exploration off the beaten track. At Piedras Rojas, a recommendation from fellow travel-addict Sabrina that is not to be found on the (extensive) tourist map, we retrieve that sense of pioneer feeling while cruising around the breathtaking white salt plains adorned with red rocks in utter peace and solitude.
The endlessly scenic dirt roads even take us so far off track that we ultimately find ourselves racing against-the-clock (at least those neatly paved roads come in handy now!), passed the Tropic of Capricorn and the occasional vicuña, back to Calama, where our bus to Santiago is (not!) waiting...
