I took the same bus from Salta to San Pedro de Atacama as a few other people I met
in the hostel, but I didn't end up hanging out with them when I got there. The hostels in San Pedro were generally expensive and offered very little, so I walked around town for a few hours without finding anything that appealed. Eventually my mind asked the 'why the hell not?' question, and I walked about 3 miles out of town amongst the dunes and set up camp for the night. The sunset bathed the oasis and surrounding mountains in a rich assortment of colors and left the desert pitch black only a short time after it began to settle on the horizon.Only short bursts of intense wind accelerating over the dunes disturbed the silent calm of the Atacama. I took time to just lay back and stare at the stars, the only visible light anywhere. We humans tend to think of shelter as a way of securing ourselves from the harshness of the natural world, but just as often we close ourselves off from the inspiring beauty that only nature can accomplish. Although not staying in the over-priced hostels that the
others from the Salta crew settled for severed a few ties, I managed to take an incredibly new and refreshing experience from my decision. I woke up and hiked back into town early in the morning before anyone might happen upon a tent nestled amongst the dunes.Cycling Around San Pedro
The Valley of the Moon:
After arriving in town I rented a bike for the day and set out on an ambitious journey. I brought food and water to last the day and left San Pedro with a map that looked like (and functioned like) a piece of 'art' drawn by a 5-year-old using
Microsoft Paint. The road on the "map" persisted where the actual road jogged, a left curve drawn as a right bend. The mountains were valleys, the forks were spoons, and I ended up navigating the sights blindly. At least the terrible 
cartography encouraged side-excursions into unmarked, but interesting looking canyons and trails.After finding a few cool, tucked-away places, I arrived at the aptly named Valley of the Moon. It appeared in a vastly different place than was marked on the "map"... about 5km and a full 90 degree curve before the marked location. It was, however, quite a sight. The salt that surfaced as a result of the recent rain made the small mountain range appear like a lunar landscape.
The Valley of the Nothing:
Leaving the Valley of the Moon was incredibly disappointing. I decided to continue on the circle as it was marked on the terrible abstraction that the rental company called a "map." I was supposed to see 'The Three Marias," a cave in the mountains, and meet up with the main road shortly after. What I actually saw were 3 rocks that didn't prompt a second look, a hole in the wall that didn't even provide shade at it's furthest end, and a whole hell of a lot of nothing. So I ended up biking in a desert valley for 2 hours and back over the mountain range with the most interesting sight being my hands perceptibly turning more red. The area was about as dry and visually stimulating as this part of this post. Either way, 39 kilometers later I had completed the loop having seen a few unmarked canyons, the Valley of the Moon, and a lot of rocks in varying sizes and degrees of fineness.
La Quebrada del Diablo:
Having completed the days recommended amount of riding, I of course decided to keep going. The road continued to the Devil's Ravine. A long road nestled between rock walls that sometimes towered beyond sight. The road was narrower than an average American at its narrowest, shorter than an average Bolivian at its shortest, and as awesome as the average me at its most awesome. It was an interesting thing to take a bike through, being bikable for about 90% of it's 5km (estimated) length. The only sounds that echoed through the tight rock formations were those of my rickety bike, and an occasional falling stone.Devil's Cave, and the River from the Oasis:
An unremarkable archaeological site lay further up the road along the
river that flowed out of the oasis. Pictures were not taken. Pictures were not deserved. The surroundings and river were far more impressive. Take that, mankind. Your overly-glorified achievements once again pale in comparison to the natural beauty you destroy in order to "create."Backtracking from there was the only way to get back to town, and I barely managed to fit in the last stop on the map before sunset. La Cueva del Diablo(another inspiring and unique name...). Nestled way up on the mountainside, the cave was an interesting
thing to bike through, turning pitch black for the majority of the ride through. The hillside on the other end provided a pretty remarkable view of several drastically different environments. From that height it was easy to see the river bed; the dry desert mountains; and the snow covered dormant volcanoes of the Andean Altiplano.
The Daily Totals:
Returning to town was a quick, mostly downhill journey. I had some nice, cheap Chilean food as recommended by a local man (it pays to speak Spanish), and checked into the cheapest hostel I could find. I managed to do virtually everything on the map, covering about double the distance that the rental agency recommended. I paid the difference in sunburns, since deserts really don't offer much shade.
Kilometers Biked: 96
Hours With Bike: 13
Bananas Eaten: 4
Liters of Water Drunk: 4
Percentage of Body Sunburned: 50
Total Expenses (bike, housing, food): US $22
Sand boarding on the Dunes:
After taking it easy the next day, I went out to the dunes to try out sand boarding.
I didn't stay out long on account of tiring trips back to the top of the dunes, uncomfortable heat, and a general disappointment in the amount of excitement sliding down a wall of sand provides. You have to re-wax the board every time you go down the hill. When it runs out you slow down, and sometimes catch a patch of compact sand that throws you forcefully off the board and onto the dune, which is not as forgiving as it sounds. Not all the rocks in the desert have been worn down to fine sand particles, some are still just rocks.
Either way, it rounded out the Atacama trip in reasonably fun, and inexpensive manner. The next day began a 3-day jeep trip through the Andean Altiplano to Uyuni, Bolivia.
P.S.
Blogging next to obnoxious German youths playing Mario Kart definitely isn't something I thought I'd be doing in Bolivia.
I miss your witty banter!
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