Mark had made all the arrangements for our nana to watch the kids and all the rides they would need for the 3 days we were gone. Mark arrived back from the States on Saturday morning, spent some time with the boys, and then that afternoon we headed to the airport for a short 1 hour 50 minute ride north. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas, after 45 minutes and 2 attempts to land (not to mention a lot of nausea for the whole plane…you know it's bad when the flight attendants had to go down the aisle to offer extra barf bags and dressed in gloves for clean up), we landed in Antofagasta. From there we took a 2 and 1/2 hour bus ride to Calama (where we were supposed to land), stayed over night in Calama since the road to San Pedro was closed, and then waiting for the road to open. At 11:30 the road opened and we headed to our destination. It was beautiful. The snow and sun on the red rock and sand was perfect.
The desert and the formations of sand and salt are breathtaking and I am so glad I got to see it all with Mark. So here are tons of photos of our trip. Short, but definitely sweet.
All along the rode from Calama to San Pedro we saw hundreds of cars stopped with adults and children alike playing in the snow. Those who grew up there have never seen snow up close and personal, a dusting on the mountains is about all. We also saw tons of cars with these on the roof or front of the car. We asked about it and the locals all said, "That is the Chilean way!"
Our first afternoon we visited Valley of the Moon. And you know it is good when your tour guide is taking photos. He had never seen snow in Valley of the Moon before.
I am looking at the salt embedded in the ground. Because it is lighter than dirt, the salt rises to the surface with the help of moisture.
The three Mary's.
Salt formations
The tour guide called this the Roadrunner and Coyote cliff. It did make me a bit nervous.
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