Feels like the moon...watch out for the earthquake weakened rocks!!

(IT IS NOW EARLY FRIDAY MORNING AND WE ARE OUT OF THE DESERT) the blog that is below I actually sent on MONDAY morning but the cell service was not working very well)
So remember the below was written on Monday morning:
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Hi, tried to write this last night but fell asleep...we were exhausted after traveling to the moon...or at least the closest thing to it here on Earth. Yesterday (Sunday) we rented bikes again but this time headed to the valley of the moon in a section of the Atacama desert near the town of San Pedro. This was the strangest place we've been to thusfar. Red boulders, black sand, brown dust, white salt, blue skies, golden sun, all made up the landscape in this place that was a good hour mountain bike ride up steep inclines of a dirt road that took people out to the beginning of the desert.
Some of us were able to climb the dune which unbeknownst to us was prohibited but we followed people that were already crossing the dune. Afterwards we were told that only five month ago an earthquake hit the region and that the other side of the dune (rock cliff) was weak and was at risk. Luckily we were all safe but were reprimanded on the way back. Just to point out, there was no sign in plain view and we assumed since other folks were crossing...it was okay! (Justin if you comment on this blog entry please keep the elimination of the Chilean national bird a secret!)
Night quickly approached but since there were a few other cyclist that had made this long journey here we felt okay traveling back as a group to the town. Feeling safe in numbers we stayed to watch the amazingly large white full moon come up over the horizon opposite the setting sun. Stars were not as bright as we expected but that was likely due to the sun lit moon that dominated the sky. The bike ride back was easier than we expected and that is probably due to the fact that we frightened ourselves silly with how we all were not going to make it back now that it was dark...it all comes down to expectations, if you blow them out of proportion and you will likely be within a safe range!!!
Well, we are on a small bus heading to the Bolivian border to then get into 4x4's to continue our multi-day trek into the Bolivian salt flats heading to Uyni. Do check out Uyni salt flats on Google.com and see how extreme a place in the world this is. The fact is that we will not have cell coverage (thus no Blackberry service to communicate a blog or email) until Thursday evening. So Cheerio to all and to any folks that know Justin B (a.k.a Don Jan) he says hi!

NOTE:
Alvaro M. Was the most amazing host on this trip, he gave us his huge bed, down comforter, breakfast, anything and everything you could want for the three days we spent in San Pedro de Atacama. Mil gracias Alvaro! We saved three days of hotel and breakfast, which was great cause Chile is by far the most expensive place.

Sent by Jeffrey via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

El desierto mas seco del mundo

Despues de salir de Bariloche y llegar a Mendoza la ciudad mas bonita y limpia de Argentina llegamos a Salta, una ciudad al norte de Argentina, donde nos divertimos mucho haciendo rafting.
Despues de salir de Salta Argentina, llegamos a San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. El paisaje en la carretera fue espectacular, el mejor q he visto en el viaje, una gama de rojos, naranjas, amarillos en montanas y crepusculos impresionantes. Se llegan a encontrar montanas de 7 colores.
San Pedro de Atacama es el primer pueblo q encontramos a la entrada del desierto en la frontera de Chile. San Predro es muy bonito muchas de sus calles son en arena sin pavimentar, las casas estan pintadas en tonalidades de cafes, rosados, amarillos que hacen mucho juego con el paisaje. Hay mucha variedad de restaurantes la mayoria con fogatas en el centro donde la gente se sienta a tomas un trago o simplemente a entrar en calor ya q en las noches baja mucho la temperatura.
Estamos quedandonos en la casa de Alvaro una amigo q conocimos hace dos meses en Brasil, Alvaro trabaja en uno de los hoteles mas bonitos de la zona, un 5 estrellas en la mitad de un valle del desierto. El hotel es espectacular, aqui viene la mayoria de personas adineradas de Chile o mucho extranjero, la noche no mas cuesta $400.00 dolares. Alvaro ha sido muy atento y generoso, nos ofrecio su casa, estamos de perla, la casa es fantastica, una construccion hecha en piedra con decoraciones en maderas. Estamos muy agusto aqui, nos hemos sentido como en casa, que digo mejor q en casa.
Hoy vamos a ir en bicicleta al Valle de la Luna y el lunes ya salimos en una excursion de 3 dias en 4X4 hacia Bolivia por el desierto de Atacama, el destino final sera los salares de Uyuni.
Sent by Paula via BlackBerry from T-Mobile