We
did break down to take a tour of the Valle de la Muerte (Valley of
Death), and Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). We drive less than
30 minutes outside the pueblo of San Pedro to find the most eerie
landscape. Around us, wind eroded rocks thrust like pinnacles toward
the sky, dried up lakes, riverbeds, and windswept san dunes ripple in
between, In the Valley of the Dead, there are remnants of sacrificial
altars "pukara" atop hills where the ancient indigenous peoples from a
civilization long lost, were beheaded by the Spanish conquistadors and
dumped off the steep cliffside. Our guide shares with us stories from
the miners that also inhabited this area years ago, and the harsh
conditions they lived and toiled under.
After
an hour of trekking through the piping hot rock formations, we make our
way to the "Moon Valley." It's clear why this place is named after the
moon, the landscape resembles the surface of the moon. We trekked out
on a steep, narrow slice of moon, past a sea of sand dunes to our
right, and jagged rocks to our left for the most amazing views as the
sun sets, across the Cordillera and Andean mountain ranges, along with
a chain of volcanoes peaking just over 6,000m. The winds are howling,
and we crouch low as we walk to keep our balance on the trail that's
big enough only for one foot in front of the other. We sit in awe of
the sight before us, as the sun drips down behind the volcanoes turning
the sky and snow covered cones and lunar rocks hues of deep orange,
then to red, purple and indigo. Sharing a single bottle of wine that
two of our tour group guests brought along, it makes the walk back feel
all so much more relaxing, as we teeter on the thin ridge walking back
in the dark toward the ocean of sand dunes in the distance. The moon
rises above the mountains as the sun completely retires for the
night... all in all, an experience and vistas difficult to find the
words to describe.
