Volcano Licancabur at 5,916m is one of the highest active volcanos in the world. The mountains here are not snow-capped as their is no moisture and it never rains. Licancabur means 'town in the sky' as there are remains of dwellings of past cultures at 4,900 and 5,200 meters.
San Pedro de Atacama 80 kms. Rest Day.
Total Distance So Far: 10,370 kms (8,600 kms by Land, 1,770 kms by Sea)
With a delicate head today we did a bit of exploring. All the roads though were dirt and many had been ‘eaten’ by the sand. We hit quite a few dead-ends caused by moving sands. On one track trying to get to some salt flats the dirt road turned into impassable sand after about 20kms. We got pretty stuck and it took some effort to get out. The scenery of desert, mountains, rock formatioms, sand dunes and volcanos though was pretty impressive.
The church of San Pedro de Atacama on one side of the pretty town square.
Whilst chilling in the town square I found a new place to strap the spare fuel on the engine bars. Not a bright idea as the next day a stone off the front wheel punctured it. We needed the fuel so made an emergency stop and managed to get two thirds of the fuel into the tank. The hole was in the bottom so once it was upside down and pouring it stopped leaking.
The dunes and rock formations in the Valley of Death were spectacular. One dune 150 meters high is used for sand boarding.
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