San Pedro de Atacama

Last week we traveled to the Atacama desert in Northern Chile. We spent three and a half days there not including the 50 hours round trip on the bus.

Who would have thought the desert could be such a beautiful place? The Atacama desert is the highest and driest in the world. The Altiplano (Alpine Desert) is littered with volcanic peaks, many of them active, of up to 5000 - 6000 meters (X3 plus some change = feet). It was hard to believe that we stood at altitudes almost as high as Mount Rainier without much snow or water, but our lungs believed otherwise. The Altiplano has a rare beauty that is unique to the North of Chile. Among the many volcanoes were turquoise lakes, massive volcanic rock formations, geyser fields, and deep canyons.

We stayed in the tiny town of San Pedro de Atacama, though very touristy and expensive on the central streets, it maintains the distinct culture of Northern Chile's desert inhabitants. The smaller villages (pueblos) of the Altiplano provided an even more authentic glimpse into this culture. It was amazing to see how they use what little water is available (run-off from the Andean peaks) to survive and cultivate the land.

On our first day we rented bikes and rode through Valle de la Luna. We explored caves and rock formations, and watched the sunset over the desert. The next day we toured the Altiplano lakes, canyons, and nearby volcanoes. Our last day we left town at 4:00am to watch the sunrise over El Tatio Geysers near the Bolivian border at an altitude of 4300 meters. We nearly froze waiting for the sun to rise at a temperature of 10F, but it didn't stop us from stripping down for a dip in the thermal pools. After a relaxing afternoon in town we hopped a 24 hour bus back to Santiago.

We now have 5 days to pack up and say goodbye to Chile before we head North on our trip home. We'll try to keep the blog posted as we travel through Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, but no guarantees.