Day 121 : I Survived Death Valley!

I had read up about possibilities of doing Sand boarding in Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley), and have also read about a tour called Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) which also includes visit to Valle de la Muerte and the salt caves. 

Not wanting to make 2 trips to Death Valley for different purpose, I wanted to have a tour which combines both Moon Valley tour and Sand boarding at one time, however it seemed that not many tour agencies seem to be able to organise that.

So when I walked around the town in the morning, and chanced upon an advertisement offering exactly what I wanted, I was thrilled!  I quickly enquired and signed up for the tour that departed at 4pm in the afternoon.

 

Valle de la Muerte is located about 15 mins away from San Pedro de Atacama, and soon enough we arrived at a huge sand dune, that was perfect for our cause!

The guide-cum-instructor Sebastian, took the boards off the van, and geared each of us with 1 board suitable for our size.  The group was split into two : the ones which had previously done snow boarding before were immediately off on their own to sand board after some brief instructions, while I fell into the other group which had no prior or minimal prior experience in snow boarding.

We were asked to pick our boards up and climb the steep slope up to the top of the sand dune.  Gosh, it was tiring, as we tried to pour through steps of sand, which at times we sunk into the sand that went past our ankles.  The view at the top was AMAZING though, and stopped to appreciate the beauty at the top as well as to catch my breath.

We continued walking along the top of the sand dunes and lined up in a row where Sebastian gave us instructions on how to put the sand board on, our posture and how to sand board down. 

On the first attempt, I hesitated for a long time at the top mainly because I was frightened that I might immediately fall flat on my face the moment I went down.  After about 10 minutes, I thought “ What the heck, I am already up here, might as well start moving!”  So I braved up enough courage and manoeuvred into position and push myself off. 

I sand board down and of course within a few moments I fell on my butt!  I quickly attempted to stood back up and continue sliding down the slope and  fell a couple more times before reaching the bottom.  It was fun!!! 

I took off the sand board and got back to climbing up the slope again.  I wish there were much easier ways of climbing to the top! 

By the third attempt, I started getting the hang of it and managed to handle the board better and managed to turn a little.  By the 5th and last attempt, I felt like a pro as I managed to pick up more speed and cover more distance before falling over.  AWESOME!!!

We quickly packed our boards back on the van, shook off all the sand from our shoes, and headed to Moon Valley to catch the sunset.

It is named Moon Valley, because the appearance of the landscape seemed similar to the crater of the moon, and offers stunning clinal and anticlinal formations in perfectly barren landscape.

Sebastian led us up to the highest cliff in the area, next to a formation called the Amphitheatre to catch the sunset.  It was an awfully steep and tough climb, but when we reached the top, it was just worth it! 

On one side of the valley we could see the sun about to set, and on the other side, the full moon was shining brightly and was already high up in the sky just atop some mountains in the distance.  The view was unbelievably mesmerising, and I think what made it better was that the moon was full rather than just a crescent.

Sebastian prepared each of us a glass of pisco sour and as we sat down to enjoy the view of the sunset, Sebastian gave us some history and explanation of the landscape around us. 

When the sun had fully set, we headed back down the steep cliff before heading off to our next stop… The Salt Caves.

The van brought us to another area within the Moon Valley National Park and by then, it was already dark all around us.  Thankfully I had brought out my headlamp (thinking that it would be quite dark walking around the town back to the hostel), and came in extremely good use as we walked through the narrow spaces within the caves.

Sebastian showed us the various salt areas within the caves, and broke off some salt for us to taste.

Within the 20 mins while we were there, we must have climbed through many narrow areas, where at one point, Solly (one of the members of the tour) had his shorts ripped against one of the sharp edges, resulting in a big hole and exposing his arse!  Hahha…

Sebastian next led us to an open area, and asked us to listen quietly.  We heard many loud cracking sounds and Sebastian explained that it was the sound of salt contracting in the night (after it had expanded in the day).  Never realised that there could be such sounds created by salt!

We got back on the van and reached back in San Pedro de Atacama at about 10pm, where Sebastian mentioned that we will each get a CD of our sand boarding experience, which we can pick up tomorrow.  Wooo-hooo! 

It is definitely one of the best tours I have done to date, and if one was to ever come to San Pedro de Atacama, I definitely would recommend visiting Atacama Inca Tour for a sand board cum Valle de la Luna tour!