San Pedro de Atacama is a small city in the North of the Atacama Desert. Located 40km from the Bolivian border (where I come from) and a bit more from the Argentinian border (where I will be going next). I arrived in Chile winning. I crossed the Salar of Uyuni and the Sud Lipez, 4 days of salt, dirt, sand and rocks. 3 nights with negative temperatures. I was quite stressed about it and that was definitely the hardest part of my motorbike trip. I also fell 3 times and I am covered with bruises. But I made it!

The first thing I did was to fix the frame holding the suitcases. Vibrations, shocks and extra weight broke it in 3 locations and it needed to be re-welded. Fortunately, it held all the way to Chile.It’s Saturday afternoon and the mechanics were sharing beers while we worked on the bike. In less than 3 hours it was fixed and it cost me only 20usd.Because it was a long week-end in Chile, I struggled a bit to find a hostel. I finally had to camp again. People and weather are great, definitely a holiday place.All together, I stayed 2 days 3 nights in San Pedro. 1 morning, I went watching the sunrise with Valeria, Italian/Chinese/Mongolian. A great spot!Later this day, I went exploring the desert. Vallee de la Muerte, Vallee de la Luna… I was surprised how dry and wild this place is.Going to places I shouldn’t go, I eventually got bogged. I should stop taking shortcuts.Apparently, the desert of Atacama is one of the driest places in the World.Elevated at 2,500m, San Pedro de Atacama is known for being one of the best places to watch the stars. Here, no more than 20 cloudy nights per year. This is why research centers from all around the World installed their observatory in the region.  And I went visiting the French one, it was absolutely fascinating! There were a dozen of telescopes and we could observe different parts of our sky. Being at night, I don’t have pictures.

This last picture is what is waiting for me. Tomorrow, I will be on the road, I need to cross the Andes again. And because I never choose the easiest way, I will go through the Paso Sico.