High and Dry in the Atacama Desert. But in a good way!

No, not Lawrence of Arabia, it's Anton!

December 8th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and a national holiday here in Chile.  Since it fell on a Tuesday this year, Monday the 7th was given as a sandwich holiday.  Since I turned 33 on the 6th, Anton and I took advantage and headed to the highly boasted about San Pedro de Atacama. Honestly I hadn't heard about it before being in Chile.  Everyone here has told me it´s a must visit, and it didn't disappoint.  I´m surprised it isn´t more well known in the States, as it has magnificent natural wonders and tourists from around the world.   It´s also record breaker as it's 2000 meters above sea level and the world's driest desert.

Caracoles, the main drag. Named after the Caracoles mine since workers would walk down this street to work.

It´s about a two hour flight to Calama and then an hour bus ride to San Pedro.  There is nothing to see but desert for the entire ride.  It´s not desert like what I would imagine African deserts to be nor like the desert I´ve seen in the Southwest of the US.  It was something all it´s own, crazy different and beautiful.  The small town of San Pedro is the oasis of this immense desert and the tourist hub,  with only about 2,000 non-tourist inhabitants.  The dusty streets consist of hostels, tour agencies, restaurants and artisan gift shops.  The north of Chile used to be part of Peru before the War of the Pacific.  Atacama and Peru have some descendants and handicrafts in common.

We arrived and realized the hostel we booked was on the outskirts of the town, next to the highway but with a great view of the towering Licancabur Volcano and it was just a short walk to the center.  Just the right amount of time for digestive walks after meals.  There are three mountain ranges in the area, the Andes, the Salt Mountains and the Doymeko which can be seen from different parts of town.

For dinner on the first night, we had great food and delicious drinks.  There are pisco sours all over Chile but in San Pedro they can be made with desert herbs like rika-rika, yum! To allow ourselves to adjust to the altitude, we spend our first morning strolling around town shopping for tours and relaxing in the town plaza.  It reminded me a lot of the piazzas in small town Italy minus the toursts.  It was a lovely public space for strolling, people watching, events and ice cream. That evening we went to Lagunas Cejar, Ojos de Salar, and another lagoon to watch the sunset.  The first stop was a lagoon with 30% salt content.  It was like swimming in the Dead Sea, or so we were told.  We walked past the rocky salt shore to the lagoon's center which is MUCH deeper.  It was somewhat eerie since it was like jumping off a cliff except one that was filled with salty water.  It was effortless to float and easy to be vertical in the water.

There is an abundance of tourist agencies that offer the same tour options for different sights in the area and it can be daunting to choose which one to go with. We lucked out with Roberto, a passionate, energetic and patient tour guide for two of our tours.  On day 2, we went on a tour of lakes in the high plains, about 4000 meters up.  First we stopped at a lagoon that is a flamingo reserve and learned lots of neat facts about the different breeds.  They eat a kilo of brine shrimp a day, and the men age more severely than the lady flamingos, they turn white when past breeding age. I didn´t even know they could fly, but we saw some in flight and learned engineers use biomimicry in airplanes to recreate their flight abilities.

That evening we went to space camp.  Not really, but we did go on amazing visit to an observatory and hear an astronomer talk about the stars as well as get to look through ten different telescopes.  Even without the talk, the stars were incredible.  You didn´t even have to look up since there were no tall buidlings.  The starts were all around us.  Not a bad way to spend a birthday.  Because there is very little humidity and light pollution, there is actually quite a bit of astronomical research that happens in the Atacama, including ALMA.

On day 3, we headed out again with Roberto, and 27 other tourists, to the Geysers del Tatio.  The third largest and highest geothermal field in the world.  It was spectacular.

Another highlight of the weekend was sleeping.  Sounds silly but it was so relaxing to sleep on the tour buses vibrating with the bumpy roads with the sum beaming in the windows as they drove from sight to sight.  Napping was a necessity after the early wake ups to visit the sights and with the fatigue brought on by the heat and high altitude. A lowlight, and a conflict of visiting any popular sight, is dealing with the throngs of tourists and the invention of the selfie stick.  I, myself love to commemorate occasions and try to capture the beautiful views to treasure and share.  However I don't go to the extreme that some do, pretending they are supermodels at a photo shoot.  Por ejemplo, Anton and I were trying to enjoy one particular geyser and were asked to move over because we were in someone´s photo.  We obliged and slid over. Not two minutes later we were approached yet again by another lady asking us to move back in the direction we were just in because we were in her photo.  Good grief!

My favorite, and our last visit, was to the Valle de la Luna, a place unlike one I had even been before.  It was if the Badlands National Park, the Sahara, the Moon, and a salt flat procreated together. There was different and awe striking landscape every where you look.  I was most impressed with the massive sand dunes.  I love when nature takes my breath away, helps you understand the order of things.

It is great to return "home" to Santiago, if only for just  few more weeks.