San Pedro De Atacama... Chile

San Pedro De Atacama.. the driest place on earth... Chile.. :)

So over Easter.. which seems like a lifetime ago.. man does the end of a school year fly right on by.. and FAST... we went to San Pedro De Atacama..  It was a great trip! I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed the trip overall.. if you ever go my one word of advice however is 'chapstick'.. they are not lying.. this place is DRY..

We are ending the school year strong with Nola and Cora doing GREAT.. Hard to imagine in just a few short weeks I will have a 7th and 6th grader.. crazy!!  We are planning our trip to the USA.. and looking forward to more time to explore South America!!!  

Chile made me jealous with all their alternative choices to milk.. In Argentina there are so few choices of products overall...

Upon driving to Atacama we stopped and took in just the beauty that is this area... 

The view was a little hazy, but a beautiful view nonetheless..

Laguna Cejar.. the view while you float.. is amazing

45 minutes floating.. we were coated with salt and a little bit burned.. :)

Laguna Cejar (a salt pond that rivals the Dead Sea).. what a crazy feeling to float without help and for it be actually be difficult to stand up and float.. was amazing

Driving thru the Valley of the Moon..  

Very moonlike.. :)

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an actual picture of the moon.. LOL.. we didn't take this during our drive .. but later that night during our star gazing experience.. our guide was so awesome and was able to capture this photo with us thru a high powered telescope.. :)

just to prove how dry this place is.. the cracked skin of the earth.. 

Nola was very into this!!  :)

the main 'attraction' of the valley of the moon.. your guess is as good as mine as to why.. 

The view from the house we stayed at.. it was just amazing.. the views during the day.. watching the sun rise and the moon rise.. :)  the best!!

So after a 'moon light' hike in the 'Valley of Death' going up the sand dune, over the valley and then down the sand dunes.. the kids still wanted to go sandboarding the day after!!!.. This was the group they went with and the climb up to the top.. the boards weigh about 20 lbs.. !!

Nola took the slopes like a pro!!  

Cora was a bit more tentative..

and spent a bit of time going 'dear god.. why ME'

but she made it up and down THREE times.. which was HUGE.. the 3rd time up she was DONE but kept on going with support from her instructor and of course cheers from mom, dad and sister on the ground..

its a long walk up... 

No. 1 child decided two runs was good enough for her.. she worked SUPER hard 

Just a picture to give a bit of scale.. this is me on a rock.. at the bottom.. that is Cora and Nola on the right.. ALL THE WAY UP..   I would have done it with them.. but on our night hike we had to HIKE DOWN TWO of these..  at 11:30 PM.. the second dune I was a bit teary.. go figure as I get older I hate heights more and more..

a random photo together.. harder and harder to capture these days

so on our way to the Geysers we saw this beautiful patch of water and greenery.. so odd to see in the middle of a two hour drive in the desert!!  

The Geysers were fairly impressive.. 

Shows the power and coolness of the Geysers:)

The town is so cute.. sadly I didn't take more picture of it.. we enjoyed walking the dirt roads and popping into great little shops.. excellent ice cream of unusual flavors, great local food, hearing all sorts of different languages.. and of course.. just the pace and life.. it was wonderful