Bolivia tomorrow

I'm still in San Pedro, enjoying a relaxing day in preparation for my next big adventure. Tomorrow we leave for a three day tour of the salt flats in Bolivia, ending in Uyini. It should be awesome, we are going to see all kinds of things like geysers, salt lakes, red and green lakes that house flamingos. Hopefully my body will be able to acclimate to the extreme altitude, but I haven't had any troubles with altitude sickness thus far. So for Christmas I will be way up in the mountains of Bolivia, unable to communicate with the outside world. If you are a loved one reading this, I wish you a very Merry Christmas, I would love to be with you for the holidays.

After Uyini we plan to stay in Bolivia heading to Polosí, the highest city in the world, then Sucre, the former capital of Bolivia, then to La Paz where we plan to spend New Years. I am definitely looking forward to how cheap Bolivia is going to be, and I'm sure it's going to be beautiful and unique.

Yesterday we went on a tour that took us to the Moon Valley, the Death Valley, the Three Marias and some salt flats. To see the Moon Valley you have to climb up to the top of this big sand dune. They said that normally the sand is very white giving it a moon like appearance, but right now it was a bit more grey due to the wind. It was still pretty cool. Plus I learned why the Death Valley is called what it is. Apparently the Bishop who gave it the name intended to call is Mars Valley (Valle del Marte) but because he was Belgium, when he pronounced the spanish with his french accent, the locals thought he said Valle del Muerte (Death Valley) so the name stuck. It definitely looks more like a Mars Valley to me though, with a reddish tone. The last stop of the tour was at this ridge that overlooked a beautiful landscape plus there was a nice view of the distant volcanoes. We rested there while watching the sunset and drinking tea, truly gorgeous.

San Pedro de Atacama is a lovely little town, I have really enjoyed my time here. But it's time to head off to a new country. I will miss Chile though, it feels comfortable and familiar even being in a part of the country I had never visited.

Feliz Navidad! Con amor y paz... hasta luego.