James’ and Sara’s Excellent Atacama Adventure

Day 4: Atacama colours

The hotel runs two excursions each day ( a bit like what Scenic Eclipse did in Antarctica). When you first arrive, the guides sit down with you, describe the excursions and then map out what you will do.

Today, I did a walk through Devil’s Gorge, while James did a bike ride to a lagoon akin to the Dead Sea. I was the only one to do the gorge walk so I had the guide to myself (and he was a helpful photographer)

In the afternoon, we went to a set of mountains called Rainbow Valley. Again, we were the only two in the group so had the guide entirely to ourselves.
The colours of the valley were magnificent ….you needed to be a geologist to appreciate it all.

While we were in Rainbow Valley, there was a storm developing and we saw magnificent lighting and heard very loud thunder. Then the rain came…..hailstones!! The llama weren’t very happy and moved into a trench to try and avoid the rain.

The weather cleared up on our way home ( apparently Feb and March are the rainy months and not a drop falls the rest of the year….and in some parts of the desert, it hasn’t rained for hundreds of years!)

Rewarded with a rainbow at dinnertime