Arriving at my hostel in San Pedro de Atacama I was surprised to see familiar faces once more. The English lads (Fergus, Connor and Paddy) that I’ve met before on the Dientes de Navarino and afterwards in El Chaltén had also found their way north to San Pedro, although they would be leaving tomorrow. We discussed our journey so far and they too seemed to have had a great trip. Having talked for a while I went to see Viki once more. She stayed at a different hostel and would leave the next day too and it would be nice to see her again. We had ‘dinner’ (more like a hotdog with guacamole) and said our ‘see-you-laters’ as we would be seeing each other in a months time for the Huayhuash circuit in Northern Peru.
Having talked to the lads I was recommended to bike through the Valle de la Luna as it is an easy day trip from San Pedro and the views are nice. It was a nice bike trip indeed but my bike itself sucked and ended up with a blue bottom the next two days. The day after though I was asked to join a group of Germans and rent a car with them to the Geysers of Tatio to see the sunrise there. I joined and during that morning I experienced the coldest morning during my trip (including Antarctica). Due to the altitude the temperature at the geysers was -13 degrees Celcius. So we saw the sunrise and walked around a bit, but the temperature was too cold to stay there long and we left quite soon to visit another site close to San Pedro being the salt baths of Baltinache. The baths itself were quite cold, but since it was afternoon before we got there the sun was scorching hot so it was a relief to be in the cold water for a minute or two. Similarly to the Dead Sea one floats here to such an extent that you could read a book whilst being in the water. Additionally one guy had a drone and made some nice photographs of us in the water.
Valle de la Luna 
More beauty at Valle de la Luna 
The Geysers of Tatio 
Ice crystals formed where steam meets freezing ground 
Salt lakes close to Atacama 
Me covered in Salt 
Me floating in the lake 
The car and crew for a day
After having had all these activities it was time to have a resting day, one that I had not really had since San Martin de los Andes and decided to use the day to book my Salar de Uyuni trip. In addition to booking the trip I met a nice Bolivian girl here that showed me around and with whom I could practice Spanish. She herself could not speak a word of English, but I somehow seemed to manage as we talked Spanish for a solid 2 hours and I felt really proud of myself. Next up was the Uyuni trip, a must see for every backpacker in South America. Aside from being a trip to the salt flats of Uyuni it also served as a means of transport as it would take me to my next country on the list, Bolivia.
The first day of the tour consisted of visiting some nice lakes and a thermal pool and last but not least flamingoes. It was an exciting day, but the sheer amount of driving and the cold temperatures made me enjoy the tour less than I expected.
Our 4×4 for the duration of the tour 
Laguna blanca frozen over due to the impressively cold nights here 
Laguna Colorada 
Many flamingos at Laguna Colorada
I had a feeling the trip would get better though, but was even more disappointed by the second day, which mainly served as a means of getting close to the salt flats that we would visit the last day of our trip. Though we did visit some more nice lakes and the views of the mountains were quite stunning I somehow did not feel it was worth the price I paid for all this.
The Stone Tree 
Railroad that was used when Bolivia transported more minerals 
Lunch at Laguna Hedionda
Luckily though the last day was very nice. The sunrise over the salt flats was stunning with remarkable shades of red, orange and yellow. And we stayed there quite a while before heading to the island of Incahuasi (the salt flats used to be a sea and this rock formation sticks out and is therefore called an island), known as the center of the salt flats that cover a surface of approximately 2000 squared kilometres. Having our breakfast at Incahuasi we quickly left the island and headed into the wild white where we made the iconic photo that everyone seems to make. After that though we left the flats to see a train graveyard, which concluded our tour. I must honestly say that the flats themselves are quite impressive and worth a tour, but especially the second day was quite a disappointment. Then again I have been spoiled with visits to Antarctica, Patagonia and even Easter island, which might have skewed my opinion on natural beauty slightly.
Sunset at the flats 
Isla Incahuasi, the ‘center’ of the flats 
Scenic view of the flats 
The flag monument on the flats 
Art at the train graveyard