The Second Longest Day

It has to be the second because I already wrote about the longest in my previous travels. On this second longest day (actually more than one), we spent 36 hours going by bus from Puerto Varas to San Pedro de Atacama. Both the length of time on the bus and the change of scenery were extreme. We went from the lake district in the south to the Atacama Desert in the north.

Only 3 hours after getting off the bus in San Pedro de Atacama, we were on another bus, a tourist bus, going to the Chilean Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley). This was definitely more impressive than the Bolivian version we visited near La Paz. The most impressive time to see the valley is sunset. We were there, but so were the clouds, so the effect was muted.

I have to explain about the buses because anyone who has ridden buses in the U.S. probably thinks we're crazy. There are different levels of service here depending on the length of the trip and how much you want to pay. The classic level, which we took to Valparaíso, is the basic level--clean, comfortable buses with a bathroom in the back. We used the executive level on the way to Puerto Varas. You get more leg room and the seats recline farther. For our long trip, we took the highest level of service, cama premium, a two-story bus. It includes meal service and larger and softer seats that recline to almost horizontal. It's quite comfortable, though 36 hours is pushing it. At all levels of service you have screens that invariably show Hollywood action/adventure movies dubbed in Spanish. I have now seen every movie of that genre from the last two years.