DAY 13: DEC 23 Thursday

We had not many options for the day's activity.

We had read about the option of Cycling through the steep-sided Quebrada de Diablo with Expansive views of Catarpe crops.

28 km round trip done on bikes. The following is the description on your group sites:

We depart San Pedro on our bikes, following the course of the river of the same name. The landscape is a mixture of the surrounding oasis and the Cordillera de la Sal. After crossing the river, we reach the Quebrada del Diablo, an ancient river with steep clay walls - a unique and beautiful place. We will cycle along a sandy path in a soft but steady rise, until we reach the exit of the labyrinth of the Quebrada. We are then greeted by a stunning view of contrasts - the oasis of a massive expanse of Catarpe crops. We follow the natural path of the river back to San Pedro.

We did not know if we could drive on the road. We went to the Tourism Info office and asked them. There had been a freak rain the previous day, but they confirmed the river had not blocked the road. [In the Atacama region, the weather follows a typical desert pattern of hot days and cold nights. The Atacama Desert is considered to be the driest place on earth and rain is rare at any time of year, although it should be noted that between December and March, Bolivia's wet winter weather can sometimes cause unexpected rainfall in the Atacama. Spring-Summer (October to March): Daytime temperatures usually range between 20°C - 24°C (68-77 F). Night time temperatures will most likely range from 5°C - 0°C (41 - 32 F)

Autumn-Winter (April to September): Daytime temperatures range from 15°C -20°C (59-68 F). Night time temperatures will most likely be -10°C - 0°C (14 - 32F)]

We started on the drive. The road was pretty bad. We were following the road with the river to our left. The road got quite bad. We saw a fork, a steep incline with a bridge over the river and a van going in that direction. We thought it may be a tour van and we decided to follow that. Now we were on the road with the river to our right. The road started deteriorating, then it was a dead end, we could ford the river and cross over.

We got down, inspected the river, it was very shallow at that point, we could see the stony bed clearly. Instead of turning back we decided to slowly cross, and we did.

We reached the entrance, paid the entry fee. The guy said we can drive up to a point and walk to the mirador. He talked a lot in Spanish, anyway this was what we understood. We drove in.

We could not see any sign for parking . We parked the car when it became apparent the canyon was too narrow to drive through. We then walked through the canyon... the walls were towering over us and it was a stunning sight

A narrow steep portion to scramble through...

We did not take pics on pour way in but walked on. It was some 3.4 km one way. We did not even know where we were going. Saw the Mirador board pointing up a steep hill. It was a difficult scrambling for me but made it with son's help.

We reached this flat terrain. There was another steep hill on the left, I absolutely refused to climb that.

Son thought there'll be views at the skyline. We walked and walked, the ground kept stretching, no end in sight.

I decided we should turn back. I had a few panicky moments when the way back did not seem evident. Son was calm and he led the way and we came back to the hill.

We can see the path we had walked ... can't see the depth though

We took plenty of pics on our way back. The pics don't convey the beauty though.

A face on the hillside

This is the place I had needed help to scramble up

We came out of the canyon, got into our car and drove to the Church where there is another mirador. YES, again a bumpy bad road. But the gate was padlocked. Some cyclists were dropping their cycles over the gate and clambering in. We did not want to climb over a locked gate and we turned back