Go ahead and Jump...Just Jump

We used Van Halen´s wonderful idea and used San Pedro as the jumping-off point for several days of excursions around the Atacama. (By excursions I mean that we bought a packet of several guided tours...really roughing it.) We decided that me renting a car a probably getting lost in the desert just wasn´t worth all the the small amount of money we might have saved. San Pedro de Atacama is Chile´s most expensive town...a huge tourist attraction that often houses 7,000 tourists in high season next to the 3,500 residents. Somehow it´s a huge hippy spot as well. Like males in Calama, hippies come out of the woodwork in San Pedro. Although the last 10 years has drastically changed the city (there was 1 restaurant in the early 90´s), the literal appearance is quite similar to any other area because of an ordinance that requires all buildings to be in the adobe style known to the region. So slums to 5-star hotels look pretty much the same, although I sure they offer slightly different amenities. From here Katie and I saw El Valle de la Luna, El Valle de la Muerte, El Salar de Atacama, El Altiplano, Los Geysers de Tatio, and a variety of other things.