The small desert town of San Pedro de Atacama lies in the north of Chile near the Bolivia and Argentina border. We camped in town for 4 days and went on several excursions.

San Pedro's 17th century church.

The first day we hiked north of the town to the the Inca ruins of Catarpe which lie atop a ridge in a beautiful red rock valley.

 

Our shadows made for an interesting photo on the rocky landscape.

A beautiful sunset. It came too soon though as we were a bit lost in the dark on the way back.

Another day we rented bikes and rode to Valle de la Luna which gets its name from its lunaresque landscape. NASA came here in 1997 to test Mars rover equipment.

 

A 200 foot high sand dune.

The moon rising over San Pedro Volcano.

The ruins of Tulor are just outside San Pedro. At nearly 3000 years old they are some of the oldest ruins in South America.

Read more on San Pedro and northern Chile in National Geographic's recent article.