After a wonderful stay in Chile's capital of Santiago, we flew to the far north of Chile. Our aim was to get to the Atacama Desert, the oldest and driest non-polar desert on earth. But to do that, we first had to get to Calama, the town with the airport closest to the Desert. Then we had to get from there to San Pedro de Atacama, the gateway to the Desert.
 |
| Atacama Desert, Chile |
The Atacama Desert is an arid area of rocky expanses, volcanoes, and salt lakes (lagunas), running north to south for around 1,600 km, between the Pacific Ocean and the central Andes Mountains in northern Chile.
The town of San Pedro de Atacama (San Pedro), sits on a high plateau in the same part of the Andes Mountains, making it the perfect starting point for a trip into the Desert.
So, after getting off our flight, we grabbed a shuttle bus for the hour-long drive from Calama Airport to San Pedro, our destination for the next four days.
 |
| San Pedro de Atacama |
San Pedro is a quaint and touristy town of less than 4,000 people. The streets are clay, narrow, and lined with shops and
homes made of adobe (aka mudbrick).
Human settlement around San Pedro can be traced to beyond 6,000 years, and its history and historic artefacts can be seen in and around this charming town.
It is small and very walkable, and over the next few days we enjoyed wandering around, checking out its history and trying a few restaurants.
 |
| Hotel Dundas, our hotel in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile |
Our accommodation was at Hotel Dundas, a lovely adobe structure built in
traditional style. It's very close to the centre of town, so it was ideal.
When we leave San Pedro, we aim to cross the nearby border into Bolivia, which sits at the very high altitude of almost 5,000 meters above-sea-level (asl). That's about the same as the Mt. Everest base camp – very high! Ideally, we would slowly adjust to the high altitude before getting there.
San Pedro and the Atacama Desert seemed like a good place to help us do this. San Pedro sits at about 2,400 meters asl, with the Atacama being much higher in places.
 |
| The altiplano (high plateau) over 4,000 metres above sea level, Atacama Desert, Chile |
So, in San Pedro, we looked for a tour that would take us high onto the 4,000 metre asl Atacama altiplano (high plateau). The idea being that when we returned to San Pedro to sleep in the slightly lower altitude, it would help us acclimatise (or so we'd read!).
After looking around town, we chose Coloque Tours, on the main street of San Pedro. They had a great trip visiting key features of the Desert, that would also take us to the high altitudes.
The next morning, we dressed in our warm clothes to be prepared for the desert weather of -1 degree C and windy.
 |
| Atacama Desert road |
We headed out of San Pedro at about 8.00 am,
and very soon after, passed a sign marking the Tropic of Capricorn. This is the dividing line between the temperate climate of the southern parts of the world and the tropics of the north. But it sure did not feel tropical!
Nearby, we stopped to walk a part of the original Inca
Trail (Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System). It traverses around 40,000 kilometres of South America, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There was just the hint of a trail here, but it was very interesting to learn about it as we are planning to walk the Inca Trail near Machu Picchu in a month or so.
 |
| Socaire church |
Our next stop was for a traditional breakfast in the wee village of Socaire, which was included in the trip. This village of around 800 people, sported a few homes, some small
shops selling llama-wool knitwear, and a small recently restored church built
from volcanic rock. There were also traces of historic Inca plantations.
Then we headed up to the altiplano - the high plateau of central South America - the second largest area of high plateau on
Earth (after Tibet).
It was stunning.
 |
| Laguna Miscanti on the Altiplano at 4,120 m above sea level with Miñiques volcano behind |
Once there, we stopped at Laguna Miscanti, a lake
sitting at 4,120 meters above sea level.
The colours were amazing, with the aquamarine lake, fringed by the crisp white salty ice and golden grasses, backed by the orange mountains and deep blue sky. It was really beautiful, as well as incredibly cold.
Behind the laguna we could see Volcano Miñiques, which contains a large number of craters, lava domes and flows. This whole area is full of volcanoes and several are still active.
 |
| Laguna Miñiques on the Altiplano at 4,115 m above sea level |
Next, we visited Laguna Miñiques. This laguna
is a deep blue and reflects the volcanoes and hills surrounding it. Another stunning vista of colour.
We'd seen many vicuñas on this trip. These are the ‘grandparents’ of alpacas and llamas – both of which were bred from vicuña. Vicuña wool is the finest and most expensive in the world apparently.
We also spotted foxes, viscachas (a rodent that looks like a rabbit), and rhea (like an ostrich).
Our next stop was at Piedras Rojas – Red
Rocks. The rocks had been formed through volcanic activity.
 |
| Piedras Rojas, Salar de Tara Lagunas, Atacama Desert, Chile |
The red against the powder-blue lake, the whitish salt crust, and stunning blue sky formed a really special palette.
After that, we stopped for lunch in a small village, and enjoyed a traditional and tasty meal prepared and served by local women. Then we headed out to the Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flats in Chile.
This enormous salt flat is around 3,000 sq km in size. It provides more than 15% of the world's known lithium reserves. The lithium is found and mined from under the thick salt crust.
Then we stopped at Laguna Chaxa, in the Reserva Nacional de los Flamencos.
 |
| Chilean and Andean flamingos, Chaxa salt flats, Atacama Desert, Chile |
The birds are a beautiful colour and we spotted at least two varieties - Chilean flamingos with a hooked black beak, and Andean flamingos with black tail-feathers. They live by
eating, among other things, red laguna algae which gives them their pink colour.
On the way back to San Pedro, we visited the
agricultural village of Toconao.
 |
| Marg outside one of the ancient buildings near Tocana, Atacama Desert, Chile |
There is an 18th-century church and bell tower
there built of volcanic stone; and lots of huge and ancient cacti.
We loved this trip. We were the only 'gringos'
in a van load of Chileans and Brazilians. All our fellow travellers were very
interesting, and everyone was friendly. We didn't speak each other's language but it didn't stop us all from having a great time.
Our Coloque guide was wonderful –
knowledgeable but not too technical - and described the history and geography
of the areas we visited in Spanish and English.
 |
| Flamingo flying over the Atacama Desert, Chile |
The lagunas, scenery, and flamingos were fabulous; the local food was delicious; the local women preparing and serving the food were gracious and very friendly.
Also, it was a great test as to how we would go at a high altitude.......and we were fine.
Our next adventure will be a 3-day tour across the world’s largest salt-flat (Salar de Uyuni) into Bolivia. Could be an interesting experience!
This
is part of a blog series about our travels through the north-eastern countries
of South America. The first blog in this series is called “In and around Santiago”.