Amazing days around the desert and otherworldly landscapes.

Hi lads! We are back to civilitzation, we are in Iquique, a main hub north of Chile. We have been 6 days in San Pedro de Atacama, a small village or oasis in the middle of the Atacama desert, thought to be the driest place on earth.
We have been shocked and impressed with the otherworldly landscape in the area, really guys, we never had such a different surroundings around us!
San Pedro is located on the edge of the desert, at 2,500m above sea level and on the foothills of the high plateau and the Andes. Behind the lifeless desert there is a whole different world. There are countless salt flats like the Salar de Atacama, home of many birds species like flamingoes. The high plateau between 3,000 and 4,500m is home to a very diverse wildlife like llamas, vicuñas, guanacos or foxes. And it boasts traditional whitewashed indigean villages inhabitated by Aymara people.
On top of that we find the omnipresent mighty Andes with massive peaks and scopes of volcanoes rising more than 6,000m.
You can imagine that with such offer we almost went mad, we had to see everything!A really memorable experience was hanging around the moon valley, a place that really lives up to its name! Bizarre lunar landscape, wind-eroded hills, giant dunes and odd salt formations. The sunset there was truly unforgettable and when a huge full moon came up from behind the volcanoes was pure magic! We loved this valley, so much, that we came back by ourselves cicling a few days later. As it was morning time we enjoyed it alone without the hordes of people.
Another jaw-dropping landscape was the altiplano or high plateau, where we visited El Tatio, the highest geothermal field in the world with active geysers and blowholes at 4,300m. There we had to cope with freezing temperatures, hey, no jokes, -20ºC! We were shivering all day long, still we are... Anyway, was a magnificent spectacle! Another highlight of the high plateau are the lagoons and its indigean villages.
There was time also to visit the big Atacama salt flat, some pre-hispanic ruins, and to do some walks around town. Oh, and we did not suffer any high altitude sickness, good for us! we where able to walk and cycle around! Yeah, somehow the pyrenees blood has to help here...
The main drawback of these days was the prices up there. It is almost impossible to visit the surrounding independently unless you have a very wealthy budget. The only option is to join a tour and get crammed in a minibus and receive orders and time limits...We were planning to do some volcano climbing but 200E put us off. We were really considering paying for it but at the end we opted for saving the money to rent a car in Iquique and drive up to the high plateau again and visit another national park next to the Bolivean border.
So that is it friends, another marvel of the world and a must-see place!
All the best!