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Today I didn't really have much of a plan; just to go for a walk around the town, get some money, buy some food and suss out some tours. Midmorning I went and met the guys and we walked around trying to get an idea of what we wanted to do in San Pedro. We decided the rental car was too expensive and most of the full day tours were up over a $100 but we agreed we should go on the afternoon tour to Luna Valley and Death Valley. As Luis runs his own tour agency I decided to ask him of he could get us a good price for the tour and in the end he managed to get us 30% off. For lunch Luis and I headed into the market and brought a heap of vegetables and some roast chicken. We made a kind of ceasar salad with roast vegetables and went and got Pablo - a Couchsurfer that has been working for Luis for the last two months. It didn't take long before Luis offered me a job to work for him which would mean sitting in the hostel at the tour desk selling various tours, benefits: accommodation provided, all food provided, $450 a month, 5% commission on all tours sold, free tours and the chance to work in Argentina at Luis's other hostels. It all sounded very good but I would need to start in four days time and unfortunately I have a trip to Easter Island planned - ohwell I will keep thinking about it and maybe there is an opportunity after my trip. At around 4pm when the tour was to start Luis had filled all places on the bus so I ended up getting to go for free - just having to pay park entrance. The bus went around to the various hostels picking everyone up and finally picking up the lads and our guide. Our guide could speak about five languages incredibly fluently and was a very charismatic and interesting guy that made the tour really interesting. First stop was the ticket office to pay our park entrance and I had a bit of a win being able to use my old college student ID from when I was 18. Driving into Luna Valley was quite bizzare - incredible moon like landscapes with jutting ridges, deep valleys and numerous canyons. After a brief explanation of the area and how the salt deposits and layering had come about we were able to trek a little bit down into a valley to get some photos. The next stop we walked up a huge sand dune and onto a gigantic ridge - the wind started to howl towards us and with it loose sand sprayed us like millions of small pin p****. People were literally getting blown over and as we were on a ridge it did get a bit scary at times. We were given 30 minutes to explore so myself and the lads decided to run out onto the ridge to the very tip about a 2km fast walk - on the walk out we were belted by wind, sand and salt and the rest of our group gave up and headed back. Arriving at the end the scenery and views were incredible and the blood was pumping from the adrenaline of standing on the edge of this huge ridge. Making our way back to the bus included being bombarded again by wind and sand and we were all thankful to get back on the bus. Driving a little further we came to this incredible sand dune that descended into a deep canyon with the walls made of glass-like salt formations - it was early and surreal and something I have never seen before. Our guide walked us through the area describing how the formations came about and teaching us various facts about the area. At this point we all agreed the tour was absolutely worth the money and time and unlike we had been told completely different to Bolivias desert. The bus then drove us out of the moon valley and up the hill into Death Valley which had a completely different terrain. Death Valley was this huge canyon that we were able to stand on top off with another hundred odd tourists and get a glimpse at something truly mind boggling. In the last week I really have seen some of the most incredible scenery on the planet and it makes me want to explore and see more of it as opposed to city's and architecture. Our final stop was called Point of the Sun - the famous cliffs were literally hundreds of tourists come everyday to watch the sun set. Unfortunately the wind was incredibly strong and freezing cold which made for an uncomfortable wait, but the view and atmosphere was unreal; 200 odd tourists all clambered in these huge cliffs, looking out onto the horizon awaiting the sun to disappear. After some nice photos we raced back to the bus and headed back to San Pedro Atacama where we were all dropped off in the centre. The lads wanted to go out for dinner but I decided to head back to Luis's for some food and a shower. When I arrived there were two more Couchsurfers sleeping in the room I had been occupying, it was no problem just a pain trying to get all my stuff out without waking them. After some food and a shower Luis came back and said he had just got 6 people booked for a whole day tour of the region tomorrow and that I could go on tour only having to pay entrance and breakfast/lunch (over $100 saving). After getting my things packed and messing around on Internet I headed to bed ready for tomorrows big excursion.
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