San Pedro is a dusty town, VERY DUSTY. After half a day, I was the same color as everyone else in town- brown. The town center was a cloud of dust and destruction (construction). I arrived at noon as everything closed, so I answered a plea for lunch (the restaurant owner's plea, not my stomach's). For about $4 I had two rolls with a beatiful whipped salsa, a wonderful soup (chicken?) and then a plate of lovely pasta and a glass of wine. Unfortunately, the soup and half a roll filled me up. One piece at a time over an hour or two I made a noble effort to get my money's worth of pasta without gettting sick. Over lunch, a playful kitten kept hopping into my lap and playing with my backpack. I sat at a table next to some Israeli backpackers sitting in towels (cold showers) trading cds with the owner of the hostel/restaurant. The atmosphere was perfect for lazing away the time.

The Museo Archeoligico Padre Le Paige is a very cool place. It's the result of many years work of a Belgian priest and archeologist. It has many artifacts including the famous mummies that trace the atacamena culture thru the Inca invasion and Spanish conquest.

There are two or three places in town that offer tours to Valle de Muerto and Valle de Luna. Valle de Muerto is just desert with a lot of canyons. It's called Valle de Muerto (valley of death) because animals can get in, but they can't get out and they die. Valle de Luna is a mystical place. It's a very popular sunset destination. To get to the sunset vantage point, you have to hike up the world's largest sand dune (OK, maybe not- but it's FELT like the world's largest!). The view was fantastic of course, but the best part was walking barefoot down the dune. I rolled up my cords and stripped my feet. Every step my feet dove into the sand up to my shins. Que increible!