Valle de la Luna/Valle de la Muerte. Day 2. Morning.

(I am splitting day 2 into separate posts.  It was a long day with a lot of activity and too many pictures for one post.  The first part of the day we had the girls with us - the second was just us.  A natural break point...)

We got to sleep in a bit after our adventures of the day before.  Thank goodness our Valle de la Luna tour did not start until 9:30 am.  We had another full day ahead of us and I wanted to make sure that everyone was rested and in the mood for adventure.  But since my girls are pretty early risers no matter where they are, we had some time to kill before our scheduled departure time.  So we went out front and sat on the large egg shaped swings.  We spent some time swinging.  Then spent some time climbing and we even spent a little time in melt down mode with a cranky almost 3 year old.  Hence the wet eyes and the pouty lips in the picture down below...

We headed back in to the hotel (that is one huge front door) and found that we were ready to head out.  So we loaded the car seats and the snacks and headed out to our first stop - Valle de la Luna.

It isn't a far drive.  About 8 miles from the hotel to the base of the Valley. But the landscape changed so drastically in those couple of minute that you might as well have gone to the moon (get it?  Valle de la Luna...Valley of the Moon...I crack me up sometimes).

Valle de la Luna gets its name honestly - it truly does look like the surface of the moon.  Although, never having been to the moon, I will have to take the experts word for it.  It must be a pretty striking resemblance to at least one other of the planets though - a prototype for the Mars rover was tested here because of the similarity to the terrain and conditions that exist on Mars.

All I can say is WOW.  It was very impressive and there is no picture I could take that could adequately show you what we saw in person.  The craters and hills that have been created over thousands of years by the winds and, only rarely, the rains, are deep and very steep.  It is so dry that some parts of the area have not received a single drop of rain in hundreds of years.  In fact, Valle de la Luna is part of the driest desert in the world (the world!)

Similar to the moon, there is no life in this area.  There is no rain, no humidity, only the ash falling from the volcanoes and the salt peeking through the dry lakes and rocks. It is known as one of the most inhospitable places on the planet (though it was very friendly to us).

Standing on the overlook at Valle de la Luna.  It is a very sharp and steep drop down from about 3 feet in front of my camera.  Let's just say, I didn't want to get any closer to the edge...

A better view of where I was standing in the picture above.  You don't want any missteps up here.

The white you see is salt.  It simply grows up and on top of the rock and ash.

I wanted to take a picture on that ledge.  No one would let me get near it.  Something about liability if it broke...

So I settled for some pictures on the original ledge.

MadHatter loved the Cairns (and even erected her own in Valle de la Muerte)

We headed back to the car.  After about a 5 minute drive we entered Valle de la Muerte.  Located within the same Cordillera de la Sal (The Salt Range) as Valle de la Luna, it got its name due to a misunderstanding.  A visitor to the area exclaimed, in his bad Spanish, that the landscape resembled Marte - Mars in Spanish.  It was understood that he said Muerte - Death in Spanish and so it became Death Valle instead of Mars Valley.  

This is millions of years of volcanic ash that has been compressed over time into this imposing rock formation.

MadHatter trying to break a small piece off (our guide said it was ok).  It is surprisingly easy as it is a very soft rock.

The entrance to Valle de la Muerte.

MadHatter's Cairn.  I dismantled it after this photo.  The people who live here do not like that visitors make these for no purpose at all other than to say "I was here".  They  see it as a blight on their beautiful landscape that was created by nature - not by man.

Heading back to the car.  Stinkerbell was getting tired...

And then it was back to Moon Valley.  This time we were heading in to see the Anfiteatro, Duna Mayor and do some more ogling of the beauty that is the Cordillera.

Salt coming out of the rock.

Our guide having MadHatter lick her finger, touch the salt...

And then taste it.  I had to tell her to stop licking rocks
for the rest of the trip!

Stinkerbell lost her battle with exhaustion.  B had to carry her up the whole way - and it was not a short hike.

MadHatter hiked it all by herself!!  

We did stop half way up for a rest and some pictures.

WOW!

You can really see the amount of salt in the "lakes" here.

The Anfiteatro.  The wind and water have carved this formation out of the rocks

MadHatter found some crystals, played in the largest sandbox she had ever seen (filled with volcanic ash, so it would be a volcanic ash box), got ash in her shoes (as did we all).  Stinkerbell woke up by then so we though we would get a picture.  Stinkerbell thought this was not a good idea...

Stinkerbell taking in the sights...

And then she informed me there were people, over there, on the hill...And we knew where we were heading next.

MadHatter again hiked the whole way.  Holding our guide's hand.  Because she was too cool to hold one of her parent's.  And B had his hands full as Stinkerbell was not about hiking today, at all.  Hand holding was a necessity - have you seen the drop off's on that one side there???

Taking in the view after her hike.

She wanted a picture of her accomplishment.

And then they were done.  Spent.  Both had to be carried
down the hill.  But I was so proud of MadHatter for making
it up on her own!

And one last shot from the top - Duna Mayor (The Major Sand Dune).  If we hadn't brought the girls with  us we could have taken our shoes off and skied down the face of this slope.  It is huge. It would have been fun - maybe next trip!