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The day starts with an early morning flight from Santiago to Calama, about 1500 chilometers to the north. Soon, the Lanexpress' Airbus A320 flies over the Atacama desert, one of the planet's driest place where, in some areas, the are no registered rainfalls since the meteorological institutes started to record the weather data, dozens of years ago (National Geographic, August 2003). We will then continue to San Pedro de Atacama by bus, a desert town conveniently located near the bolivian border. |
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| San Pedro de Atacama is a small, dusty town with no asphalted roads. The first thing that I note, is the presence of many nice dogs, living free in the town. |
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When there isn't anybody walking in a street, in Italy we say "there isn't a dog"... well here there are dogs, but no people... at least in this moment! |
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| Today is a very special day because the moon will rise exactly in the same moment when the sun will set. Thence, we take an evening excursion to the nearby Valley of the Moon and, after climbing a huge dune of sand, we wait for the show. |
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| Meanwhile, I take some pictures of the Licancabur volcano, some 40 kilometers away. It is almost 6000 meters tall and it is on the Bolivia / Chile state line. |
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| A few minutes later... while the sun is still illuminating the peaks of the tallest mountains, the moon rises... bigger and more magical than ever. |
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| Finally, the sun sets totally and the moon continues to rise, in a rainbow of colors better than I would have never imagined. |
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| A nice WidevieW of Moon Valley, Atacama desert. |
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| The tour continues in in the night, to an abandoned mine of salt. Holes for dynamite are still present on the walls. | |
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| Finally, using some flashlights, we walk in a cave made of very narrow passages, observing several different minerals. | |
PICTURES OF PERU - BOLIVIA - CILE: IMAGES FROM THE TRIP DAY BY DAY |
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09.08.2003 - Santiago day tour Guided day tour of Santiago, visiting Plaza de Armas, the downtown with its tall skyscrapers, and the outskirts. |
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10.08.2003 - Winery tour from Santiago Chile is getting every year more competitive in the wine market, thanks to the quality and to the increasing quantity. A winery tour in a farm near Santiago lets to discover the wine production process and to taste excellent wines. |
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11.08.2003 - San Pedro De Atacama <YOU ARE HERE> The Atacama desert in Chile is considered one of the world's driest place where, in several areas, there are no registered rainfalls for many consecutive years. But this doesn't mean that there is no life or nothing to see... |
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12.08.2003 - San Pedro de Atacama and Salar De Atacama Day tour from San Pedro de Atacama to Salar de Atacama, a huge salt flat surrounded by majestic volcanoes, where flamingoes have made their home. |
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13.08.2003 - from Laguna Verde to Laguna Colorada Today the groups gets into Bolivia where an adventure by 4x4 begins. The today itinerary goes from Laguna Verde (green lake) to Laguna Colorada (red lake) driving off road or onto dirty roads, between spectacular lunar landscape of extreme high mountain. |
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14.08.2003 - Crossing Bolivian plateau by 4x4 The Bolivian desert expedition by 4x4 continues at altitudes between 3.500 and 5000 meters above sea level, in an incredible landscape of rocks sculptured by winds and other extreme elements. |
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15.08.2003 - Salar De Uyuni tour With an average altitude higher than 4000 meters, the Bolivian plateau offers spectacular scenery, like the immense Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. We make a stop at Isla Pescado (fish island) a small hill in the middle of the salt, where there are giant cactus. |
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16.08.2003 - Travel from Uyuni to Potosi Travel by public bus service from Uyuni to Potosi, over partly paved roads at extreme altitudes, in the middle of the Andes. |
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17.08.2003 - Potosi city tour and silver miner excursion Excursion to the interesting "museum of the coins" in Potosi, then tour into a silver miner where people work in terrible conditions, inside a mountain above 4.000 meters of altitude. |
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Travel by public bus service from Potosi to Uyuni, Bolivia, then short Sucre city tour and excursion to the "dinosaurs footprints" park, a vertical wall of rock where dinosaurs tracks were left impressed after a sudden catastrophic event. |
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Flight from Sucre to El Alto, one of the world's most elevated airports, near the city of La Paz, Bolivia. A short city tour of La Paz follows. |
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Excursion to Tiahuanaco ruins by bus, departing from La Paz. This archeological site is very interesting and belongs to pre-Inca time. |
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21.08.2003 - Travel La Paz - Puno via Copacabana Travel by public bus from La Paz to Puno (Peru) via Copacabana. Today, we cross the border line between Bolivia and Peru, traveling along the Titicaca lake shores. |
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22.08.2003 - Titicaca lake cruise Like the ancient Uros people, about 2000 Peruvians still populate the floating islands built of Totora reeds, over lake Titicaca in Peru. Everything, from homes to the floating islands itself, is built using Totora reeds, a plant growing along the shores of lake Titicaca. |
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23.08.2003 - Travel Puno - Cusco by train Travel from Puno to Cusco by train, over one of the world highest railway. The entire journey takes almost 12 hours, but worth because of the beautiful scenery. |
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24.08.2003 - Excursions from Cusco Cusco, in the middle of the Andes in Peru, is a city full of history and fascinating museum. The first day spent in Cusco is dedicated to an excursion to Sacsayhuaman fortress and to the temple of the sun. |
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25.08.2003 - Pisaq and Ollantaytambo tour Drive from Cusco thru the Sacred Valley to Pisaq with its ancient ruins and the local handicraft market. Continue to Ollantaytambo where we spend the night. |
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26.08.2003 - Travel to Machu Picchu by train Travel to Machu Picchu by train from Ollantaytambo. The narrow gauge railway finishes in Aguas Calientes where we have some rest and overnight. |
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27.08.2003 - Machu Picchu tour Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca town, has been discovered only in 1911, although was always known by several local farmers. A tour of Machu Picchu gives the possibility to better understand the everyday life of who has lived here. |
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28.08.2003 - Cusco city tour and museums Only one day in Cusco is never enough, so, in this second day, I visit several interesting museums and do more hikes in the city, where many modern buildings are built over ancient Inca walls. |
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29.08.2003 - Flight Cusco - Lima Short flight from Cusco to Lima by a Lan Peru Airbus A320. This journey thru the Andes of South America is now about to finish. |
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Excursion to a pre-Inca cemetery, before visiting Plaza de Armas and the interesting San Francisco monastery. |
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Collection of the best pictures The most beautiful pictures from Peru, Bolivia and Chile are collected in this page. Click the highlighted links for additional travel information, for useful links and for a description of the photography equipment. |
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