We picked up where our itinerary got canceled by the flat tire yesterday. After a big breakfast, we drove (slowly and carefully) over to the trailhead for Pakara de Quitor. More ruins. The man at the ticket desk explained that the ruins trail was closed but the viewpoint trail was open. We were there for the ruins but didn’t want to turn around again, and decided to climb to see the viewpoint. Luckily it took us right past the ruins so we got to see everything. This is a settlement where the Pre-Inca people of the area defended themselves against European settlers.

The trail took us higher and past some viewpoints. I was fascinated to look down at the town and see a green oasis. Everything feels so dry when you’re down in it, but compared to the lifeless environment that surrounds it, everything is thriving.

Millie managed to make one roll of fruit leather last all the way to the top. This quelled most of her complaining.

It was very sunny but not too crazy hot, despite how everything looks.

We made it all the way to the top and were rewarded with big views.

It was much easier going down than it was going up, and before we knew it we were in the car heading to our second spot: the valley of the moon. This is named this because it feels like walking on the moon. I was skeptical until we got to the end of the road within it and it really was like the moon.

Not a living thing in sight. The white in the rocks are salt deposits. If you’re wondering if Nick licked it to confirm, the answer is yes.

The rest of the valley was filled with sand dunes and sweeping sand stone. While these parts didn’t feel like the moon, they definitely didn’t feel like earth either.

We did one more uphill-in-direct-sun hike here, and then back to the car. The drive out of the park gave us this incredible view of the volcano.

Our entrance ticket here also included a ticket to see a nearby viewpoint. Never ones to pass up a deal, we decided to make the 10 minute drive to check it out. Millie and Nick ran around, and even though she complained plenty about the hikes and thinking the desert is boring, she said to him, “I think right now will my favorite part of the day”.

We were spent yet again, and went to the grocery store to get some protein for dinner. I made traditional Chilean blood sausage (the selection was limited) with leftover rice and salad from last night. We ate outside again with this incredible view.

After dinner was Millie’s time to shine. She has gotten very into “treating” us. This morning while I was in the shower she made both our beds and cleaned up the entire house as a surprise. Then she spends two hours grilling us on what our favorite parts are and if we’re impressed, which is a fair trade off.

Since the afternoon she had been saying that she wanted to make a surprise dessert for us. She made a whole plan in her head and chose ingredients at the grocery store. I worked as her assistant (she kept calling me her “servant girl” which was slightly off-putting) and she made us these yogurt bowls with arranged fruit on top. She even found a dairy free yogurt for Nick.

Sweet, sweet girl.

After dinner, she and Nick practiced some improv. He is literally teaching her improv comedy rules, which is 95% adorable and hilarious and 5% cringe. I sat on the bed with a cup of tea, listening to them laugh and watching the sun set through the window. Heaven on earth.

After she went to bed I heard Nick say a dramatic “oh no”. He received a fraud warning text for our credit card because someone got access to it and made a bunch of charges. It will all be fine and we have backups, but he spent some time on the phone working it out. And of course the logistics of needing to switch all recurring things over to a new card is a pain in the butt. We talked about how lucky we have been on this trip with stuff like this, but now that we’re past the year mark it feels like we’re living on borrowed time. We agreed to drop a couple of extra stops we had planned and head home about a week or two earlier. We’ll probably book everything tomorrow.