Valle de la Luna: Valley of the Moon

Valle de la Luna. This is where to go to see the most amazing sunset in the world. And its called the Valle de la Luna because the terrain looks otherworldly, perhaps like the moon. Or perhaps what like Mars might look like. In fact it replicates as close as possible what Mars might be like terrain-wise that NASA used this area to test their Mars rover.

The sun hits the red rocks and makes them glow, the salt in the valleys shine like snow and every detail of every grain of sand shows. It's amazingly beautiful. I took photos but I feel like even they don't do enough justice...but they're the best I could do. The light here was perfect in every way.

 We climbed to the top of a dusty peak filled with a million other tourists and hippies and watched the sun hit the landscape and disappear behind the mountains over in Peru. It felt magical (I've used that word a lot in relation to this area) and breathtaking and I walked back down feeling so privileged to be able to have seen such an event in all its beauty and being again in awe at the majesty of God's handiwork. No wonder the hippies were there meditating, it was a very spiritual place. Although judging from all the tourists it wouldn't have been a very calm place for meditation!

I passed this lady being helped up the hill by a younger woman. I'm not sure if she ever made it to the top in her choice of footwear...

There were no other kids up there and I was really struck by how lucky our kids were to have seen this at their age. Behind us on the way down the mountain were some young backpacking girls from the UK, all talking about their mum's home cooking and what meals they missed. I reckoned they were travelling on the baked beans variety cheap and had spent their summers probably saving for this trip...and here were my kids tripping around these amazing places and taking it all in their stride. I know that sounds horribly like I'm boasting but I'm not because this trip was a real miracle for us to have gone and we owe this opportunity to some very special people. I just really really hope the kids will remember this forever and be grateful for the experiences they've had on this adventure. I know I am. 

We nearly missed out on going as the proprietor of our hotel told us it closed at 6pm, and it was already 6.10pm when we left our hotel for the 10 minute drive there. So we raced to the gate to find the Valle closed at 7pm for the sunset. 

Thank you Monic for ignoring her!! xx