December in the Desert!

Everyone we have met along the way that has been to San Pedro de Atacama has been overflowing with good things to say about it - and we have now joined them. We arrived at our hostel (Hostal Rural) to find it covered in little nicknacks, awesome artwork everywhere, 6 hammocks strung from wall to wall, and a very cool, laid back owner who was happy to greet us. We also met here our friend Raphael, who we had met in Santiago, and were happy to be reunited with him. We had a look around the tiny touristy town, and decided to book on to some tours. We booked to go on two with Raphael, the Laguna Cejas tour that day, the Valle de la Luna tour the next day, and the Geiser Del Tatio tour the following day. We were absolutely gutted to find the SpaceObs star tour closed for the entire time we´re here, due to it being cloudy and then a full moon, but grateful to have seen the incredible night sky in Pan de Azucar, and hope to see many more as we travel. 

Just as we were preparing to leave for the Laguna cejas tour, a terrible thing happened. Obviously fed up we were in the desert, the camera decided to have a moment and completely refused to work. The lens was stuck between on and off, and try as we may nothing could be done. So unfortunately right now I have no pictures to go alongside here, though Raphael did take some for us so there is evidence! We were picked up in a minivan to go to the three Lagoons. The first one was a long and deep pool in the middle of the mountains where the salt concentration is so high that you can float. We were warned not to get our heads under the water as it would burn. But obviously there is always one - I lent back to get my hair wet (apparently salt water is good for dreads) and in doing so got water in my eyes. It really did burn! It was beautiful to be bobbing around floating in the water surrounded by mountains, and the view of a volacno. After an hour here, we were hosed down (when we dried we were white with salt) and went to the next lagoon.

The second were two naturally formed plunge pools, which you had to take a running jump and leap in to the cool sweet water below. My brothers Callum and Ollie would have been backflipping off it - but I just about psyched myself up enough to do it! There was also a second pool which had a beautiful reflection of the sky and mountains in it. Then we headed to our third and final destination, a salt lake stretching as far as the eye could see towards phenomenal mountains and beautiful desert. The lake was so shallow (about 5 centimeters) we were able to walk across it. It looked like ice, but Raphael reassured us it was definitely salt after giving it a crafty lick. Here we watched the sunset over the incredible landscape and warmed ourselves by drinking Pisco Sour. 

The next morning, with a bit of fairydust and some extensive googling, we fixed the camera! So with an additional spring in our step, we set off on the Valle de lad Luna tour the following day, a tour around the Moon Valley and the Valley of the Dead. They are one of the driest places on earth, not having had any rain for hundreds of years, and the rock has been sculpted by wind (and water thousands of years ago) to make some magical rock formations and colours. It makes you feel like you're on an altogether different planet - Mars, or something out of Star Wars. We were led through naturally formed caverns in the dark on our hands and knees, and rock climbed up a mountain. 

We were then lead to the Valley of the Dead, which is actually just mistranslated and has nothing to do with any form of death - where there are massive sand dunes and rocks. The wind was ferociously whipping us, but the view was incredible, unlike anything I have ever seen before.

The final destination on this tour was high up to overlook the Moon Valley while the sunset over the mountains. This was perhaps the most surreal, beautiful, inspiring, romantic (and all other wonderful descriptive words) time I have spent here yet. We sat alone on a rock, away from the congregating tourists, and watched the fading sun change the colour of the landscape, totally in awe of everything. 

At 4am one morning we were up and ready for our tour to the Geiser Del Tatio. We embarked on a rocky road in a minibus, wrapped in our thermals and coats, and promptly fell asleep until we arrived at 4,200m above sea level. Here we were taken to the geysers; volcanic streams of steam and water which jet in to the air. We watched them bubble and spurt, and watched the sunrise while eating breakfast. Then we drove a little further, to a natural hot spring which we were able to bathe in - so surreal. On our journey back to San Pedro we finally fulfilled our mission of seeing llamas - in great abundance! We stopped several times to see them grazing, even seeing a sneaky one run across the road infront of us, and to see the volcano smoking from a distance. We also stopped at a small deserted town, Vado Machuca, which only had 7 people living there. Both Dave and I were somewhat unimpressed with that stop off, as it felt invasive to be sticking cameras in the locals faces while they were going about their llama farming. I did however like a charming rock sculpture with a smiling face, so took a picture of that.

That afternoon we went for lunch with Raphael, who persuaded us to try a traditional Chilean dish, Cazuela. It was a heartybroth filled with potatoes, pasta, corn on the cob, beef and a mystery vegetable (which we think was a pumpkin, but the skin was green). It was delicious and filled us up for the entire day!

And then it was Christmas! We spoke with our hostel friends (predominently Brazilians - Raphael, Hugo, Vanessa...!) who told us how in South America Christmas is celebrated by a meal at midnight on the 24th, and presents to follow. We decided to join Raphael at mass in the church in town - a great experience to witness such a different celebration - though Herk the Herald! and Silent Night were sung in Spanish (Glooooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-ria translates the same), the beginning of the service was started by banging drums and tambourines, and children in brightly coloured costumes dancing their way between the pews. After that we went to a local restaurant where we filled a central table with 10 residents of Hostal Rural. We raised glasses of wine, and had Steak and Chips for our Christmas dinner (and the steak came with fried eggs on it!). That evening we read 'T'was the night before Christmas' (a gift from Dave's lovely Mum) to get us in the Christmassy feel, and went to bed.

On Christmas day we awoke and swapped the gifts we had bought each other (we had a $7000 peso budget each, about a tenner, and a strict rule of tourist tat only). Surprisingly we both got each other bookmarks and bracelets, but I also recieved a sweet little frog, and a chunky wooden necklace. We got together a group of people to go on a bike ride to see some ancient inka ruins; three Brazillians and three Brits. We cycled to the ruins, climbed them and surveyed the view from above, impressed by the scale of the  ancient fort. On the way back down we, accompanied by (maybe more led by..) Amy, the other English traveller with us, sang our hearts out to all the carols we remembered - a particularly rousing version of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' echoed round the desert. 

That evening the Hostal organised a giant BBQ for all the guests, and everyone provided a dish. Dave and I provided 2 litres of Mulled wine (Thank you Padre for that excellent present!) and shared it round. The Europeans seemed to enjoy it, but the South Americans appeared appalled by the idea of hot spiced wine! The party continued late in to the night. When the Hostal began to close down the party, five of us went out to find a further fiesta. Sure enough, on the corner of our road we came across a collection of Chileans. One with an acoustic guitar, two each with bongos, one with maracas, singing and playing their music in the street. They immediately handed me a bongo set and the party continued while Dave and Brenner (another Brazilian from the Hostal) went off in search of more beer. We went to a quieter area and continued to drink and listen to their amazing Spanish guitar and harmonies, our favourite song they sang turned out to be this. Then we explored the universal language of music, with We will rock you, By the way, Come as you are and various Beatles songs. At one point the percussion was going and one guy was beatboxing expecting Dave and I to do a freestyle rap over the top - so of course we did not disappoint, and rapped the whole of the most gangsta song we know..'So....this is a story, all about how, my life got twist turned upside-down...' which they were amazed by! 

So we had a totally unique and different Christmas to any we've ever had. We skyped our families, which released the homesick feelings we have been pretending aren't there, and then raised a large glass to them in the evening. I hope all of you, friends and family, old and new, had a very Merry Christmas (and Happy Hannuka my little Seedling). We are off to Bolivia tomorrow, and will probably be without internet until the New Year - but know we are thinking of you all, having an amazing time, and will be in contact soon!