Upon arriving to Chile, we took 24 hours off, about 20 of them spent sleeping in our new home in San Pedro de Atacama. Temperatures were warm, lodging wonderful, and we had time to relax. Life was good.
Our first activity was star-gazing. San Pedro de Atacama is right next to the Atacama Desert, an absolute desert holding the status as the driest non-polar place in the world. This desolate climate makes for great star-gazing except when the moon is full, and with a full moon approaching, space was tight for the star gazing tours. Nevertheless we managed to snag a midnight tour before the full moon, and we headed to the ten telescopes of the French-owned Atacama Lodge. We were able to see nebulae, Jupiter, star clusters, galaxies, and learned a lot about space.
The next day we headed to the Valle de la Luna, Moon Valley. It was named as such in the early 60s before moon landings were made, and now it is described as looking more Mars-like than moon-like.
The Japanese trio in our tour were contagiously enthusiastic, two of them wearing Chilean soccer jerseys, and all of them shouting the ChiChiChi, lelele, Viva Chile! chant.
Click here for a lil video stroll on Mars.
Our tour group consisting of Japanese, Swedish, Germans, English, French, Chilean, and United State-ian.
A preview of Julien and me in a few decades when we travel to Mars.
A double halo rainbow, a curious phenomenon that our guide hadn’t seen in his ten years of giving tours.
Leader of the pack
We headed to the Duna Mayor to watch sunset over the Cordillera de Sal. The thin white line you can see in the horizon is Chile’s Atacama Salt Flats, and the Andes are to the left.
Brilliant sunset colors
This Framerican Life 
Quels beaux paysages lunaires ou martiens comme on veut ! On pourra dire que vous avez vu des paysages très variés !
Bisous.
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Cette partie du globe offre une diversité de paysages impressionnante. Ca nous laissera des souvenirs impérissables.
Bisous
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What a strange landscape… yes… it would seem a different planet. Gorgeous views of the night sky. Really loved seeing your picture embracing one another on the left. Very artistic, if I may say even though my art knowledge is limited. Lucky you were in that French Lodge Atacama and were able to take advantage of the telescopes. Anne I don’t know if you remember going to Bangor, Wisconsin, when you were still small, atop a hill where there were 2 giant telescopes… Anyway… Enjoyed seeing all of you having a great time… How nice it is to be young – healthy – happy!!
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That wasn’t us! We were taking a long exposure shot to capture the stars, and another couple took a photo with flash, so they showed up quite clearly in the photo. I don’t remember the Bangor experience precisely, but I do remember looking at the stars through a telescope!
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paysages magnifiques, comme d’habitude. les photos sont supers!
on a l’impression parfois de voir des paysages des canyons de l’ouest américain.
et il faisait quelle température dans le désert? anne avait l’air d’avoir chaud avec son chale sur la tête! biz à vous.
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Il devait faire un bon 35C, avec un soleil cuissant au dessus de nos têtes. Anne sait toujours être au top niveau style vestimentaire 🙂
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