El Desierto de Atacama

El Desierto de Atacama (the Atacama Desert) is located in the north / east of Chile, close to both the borders of Bolivia and Argentina. 

From Santiago, I flew to a small city called Calama, from where I got a transfer to the town of San Pedro de Atacama, where I was to be based for the final leg of my trip to Chile. 

The dusty streets of San Pedro de Atacama (SPdA) are lined with, what I soon discovered were called, 'adobe' houses (which, to the best of my knowledge is just a type of building material / brick). I arrived not long before the sun was setting so it was really pretty. 

The town of SPdA itself has a high altitude at 2,406m, I has just come from Santiago with an altitude of 570m, the difference in altitude can take some adjusting and can sometimes make people quite ill as they struggle to acclimatise. Fortunately, I drank a ridiculous amount of water and went to bed super early and I seemed to adjust reasonably well. 

Tourism is the man industry in SPdA and the main street is packed with different tour operators, who, by opening their wooden doors, display their tours and prices. 

I had spent a bit of time on Google before I arrived, so I knew the kinds of things that I wanted to see in this area. I am really glad I did a little research too, as the amount of different tours on offer would have been completely overwhelming otherwise. 

As soon as I arrived, I went for a stroll down the main street and attempted to utilise my Spanish to ask for prices of tours and the possibility of discounts if I bought multiple tours with one company. After getting quotes from several companies, I ended up going with the one with the best reviews (plus they threw in a free tour) and lined myself up with four days of activities in the desert. 

This last photo is just of my hostel :-)

Day 1: Lagunas Altiplanicas

I was picked up by the tour guide at 7am. After landing at high altitude and not sleeping especially well.. it hurt. I spent the first hour or so just trying to keep my eyes open!

We started the day with a visit to the town of Toconao - a small village outside of SPdA. 

Toconao is a community of indigenous peoples whose main source of income is from working in the nearby lithium mines (Chile is second biggest producer of Lithium in the world behind Australia). Our tour guide explained that the indigenous people in this community do not have to pay taxes and are given jobs in the mines as well as cars. 

He also talked about how, when the Spaniards came to this region, they started to build Catholic churches, like the one pictured above (left). 

Whilst we were driving from one stop to the next, our tour guide stopped the car and told us that this was the place for "the best pictures in Atacama" - this was the result!

Yes, I am wearing a coat in the desert - it was surprisingly cold in the morning and at night!

The photos are pretty nice - especially with the volcanoes and mountains in the background.

Normally this tour would go to the Salar (Salt Flats) de Atacama but unfortunately this whole region was closed for maintenance (in high season, good one!). The tour guide explained that the park rangers can be a little temperamental and will often close sections of the national park at short notice (the tour company only found out the day before).

Instead the tour guide had to take us on a different route and, unfortunately, that means that I have no idea whatsoever what this next place was actually called!

We essentially did a one hour hike around the enormous rock formations. The tour guide explained that these huge red rocks were actually created by volcanic lava and ash. The colourful mountains in the above photo were even more beautiful in real life!

How beautiful are the pastel hues of those mountains!?

Another photo suggestion from our tour guide!

The group that I was walking with were really lovely people and we ended up all just chatting the whole time we walked around these towering rocks. I am sure that, at some point, our tour guide was providing us with very relevant and informative information. By this point, the altitude was slightly higher (I believe around 3,000m) so all of the talking had most of us a little short of breath.

On our way to the next location, we stopped a pretty viewpoint overlooking a blue lake - once again, since it wasn't on the original itinerary, I really don't remember the name (I have spent quite a bit of time searching maps of this area but to no avail)!

Ok, now onto the next destination of the day and this time I know the name: Miscanti and Miniques Lagoon. By this point we were at an altitude of 4,150m (coming from SPdA, which is 2,406m - to put it in perspective, Melbourne has an altitude of only 31m above sea level). 

These two lakes are called the Lagunas Altiplanicas (which just means high plateau or altitude).

Above: Laguna Miscanti and in the background (left) is Miniques Volcano. 

We were dropped off near Laguna Miscanti and started a hike along the lake and towards the second lake, Laguna Miniques, it can't have been more than 500m but at that altitude, it was hard work! 

Yes, I was the lame tourist that was willing to participate in one of  'those' panorama photos - but it's pretty cool, no?

Above: Laguna Miniques. 

I am wearing a long sleeve shirt primarily to avoid sunburn - it was really hot!

The tour ended with lunch and a view of the beautiful Laguna Miniques.

By the time we had all finished lunching and driven back to SPdA it was almost 6pm and I was so tired (but fulfilled)!

Day 2: Geysers de Tatio

If I thought that 7am was bad, I was in for a rude awakening. For the next tour, I was picked up at my hostel at 4:30am. The struggle was real. 

Our guide did tell us to go back to sleep while we drove to the site but I really cannot sleep in a van driving along bumpy roads - I was too worried it would make me feel sick. 

The plan was to be at the Tatio Geysers for sunrise so the entire ride there was pitch black and we arrived to the area to be greeted by the lovely temperature of 2 degrees celsius - ouch! I had brought minimal cold weather clothing so I was wearing layers comprised of most of the t-shirts that I had packed. 

As you can tell, the weather wasn't our friend on this occasion and the clouds foiled our plans of a lovely sunrise. Instead it was a cloudy dawn and there were no sunset photos to be had (I had made the mistake of having a look at some online in advance). 

I mean, the geysers were still pretty cool - the one above was surrounded by pretty orange and yellow hues (some form of mineral deposit, I forget which one). We were told that this is the third largest geyser field in the world.

Please excuse my 'it's-6am-and-I'm-cold' face. 

Michael and I had actually visited Geysers in 2017, at Yellowstone NP - you were definitely allowed to get a whole lot closer to these ones than you are in the USA. Our tour guide told us that they never used to have any barriers at all, until a tourist was mortally injured when taking a selfie and falling into geyser. 

This was close enough for me!

Another pretty geyser - you were allowed really close to this one!

FYI: the altitude here is 4,320, which is the highest that I was the entire trip. This altitude also makes this area the highest geyser field in the world. 

The top photo is of the biggest geyser in the geothermal field and the photo on the right is supposed to be of myself walking through the steam (and grimacing beautifully). 

After we visited the geysers, we visited a nearby hot spring (singular) - mind you, it was still around 5 degrees. I championed the YOLO spirit and put on my bathers (whilst shivering) only to get about knee deep into the hot spring and realise that it was only luke warm... After that I decided that I didn't want to be wet and cold for the rest of the day, so I counted it as conquered (I was technically IN the pool... so close enough).

From here we went and visited some wetlands in search of some wildlife. 

The wetlands also presented some very pretty photo opportunities. 

First, we stumbled upon some llamas (apparently they belong to someone even though there was nobody around). 

Then, we found flamingos!

Then, we stopped at a canyon for some more photos - don't mind my puffiness, I was still wearing a lot of layers. 

Our final (and probably the coolest) stop for the day was Valle de Cactus (which does not need translation). There, we saw some BIG cacti, some were more than 7m tall.

Our tour guide explained that some of these cacti are hundreds of years old - they are protected and are not supposed to be cut down but when they die, and collapse, sometimes the materials are used by the local people. 

We hiked through the valley for about 30 minutes - I thought it was really distinct and unique and I really enjoyed it. 

It was around 3pm when I was finally dropped off at my hostel... afternoon naps were had. 

Day 3: Valle de Arcoiris

Today the pick up time was more reasonable, 7:30pm, that meant that I could sleep past 7am, something I had not been doing much of on this 'holiday'.

Today was a shorter day, we were only visiting two sites: Valle de Arcoiris (Rainbow Valley) and Petroglifos de Yerbas Buenas (petroglyphs). 

Before doing any hiking, we stopped for breakfast - man, these tour operators were really feeding me well! There was barely any need for any other meals (I was also really capitalising on all included meals). 

Valle de Arcoiris is located in what used to be a river, named Rio Grande. Well, the river no longer exists but has left behind a beautiful valley filled with colourful rocks, the likes of which I have never seen before. I'm sure it's fairly easy to guess where it's name comes from!

Selfie with the green, purple and red (let's call it red) rocks - the tour guide explained that the different colours were due to a mixture of high concentrations of clay, salt and minerals, which were gradually exposed as the river dried out and erosion occurred. 

The altitude is high, but slightly more friendly than the previous two days, at 3,241m.

I took this up close shot to try and capture how it looked in real life walking through this multicoloured and otherworldly landscape (no filter, i promise, my legs are just dirty...). 

As you can see, I took many photos and it was hard to narrow it down to the best ones!

There were also some interesting clay rock formations here. 

On our way out of Rainbow Valley we were disrupted by some llamas just going for a casual stroll down the middle of the road. 

A llama traffic jam! 

They're so cute though!

Our second stop for this tour was to an archaeological site in which we were able to view petroglyphs. Our guide explained that, rumor has it, that nobody is really sure how ancient these are. There is a little bit of a conspiracy theory that perhaps the local native people actually created these in order to boost tourism? But nobody actually knows if this is true or not - he said we could make our minds up for ourselves!

Most of the drawings / carvings were of different Chilean animals. 

The above picture is of a huge murals (aptly named 'el muro') of different petroglyphs - the sign explains that there are lots of llamas presents as they were really important for the survival of these people. 

After a jam packed few days (including lots of early mornings) I was quite happy to get back to my hostel around 2pm, giving me plenty of time to relax (and eat empanadas of course). 

Day 4: Valle de Marte y Valle de la Luna

Mi ultimo dia en SPdA.

This time, I had [wisely] chosen an afternoon tour - which meant a sleep in (well, only until 8:30am because I couldn't risk missing the free hostel breakfast). 

Today I was also visiting places with much friendlier altitude: 2,264m. Comparatively low!

The above photo is taken overlooking Valle de Matre (Mars Valley) and I think it's one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. The scenery was so different that I did feel like I was on another planet.

I think a second photo is justified - just stunning!

After viewing Valle de Matre from above, we hiked around the rim before descending into the valley itself, via sand dunes! The sand dunes themselves are huge and hard work to hike along.

Also, that is the tour guide hiking in front of me - they all wear legionnaires hats here!

Another tour guide suggested photo! The sky looked beautiful so this actually worked pretty well. Also, I was jumping on giant sand dunes so the risk of injury was very much minimal. 

The next photo was taken after we had hiked out of Valle de Matre and is a rock formation called Las Tres Hermanas (The Three Sisters). You may need to use your imagination here, but supposedly the 'sister' on the left is praying and her habit is blowing behind her. The one in the middle has her hands up in payer and the on the right is holding a baby (Lion King style).

From here, we drove arrived at Valle de la Luna with the goal of hiking to an observation point to watch the sunset. 

It was terrifying. 

Anyone who knows me well know that I am absolutely, unreasonably, terrified of heights (well, it more the idea of falling from a great height - I am not afraid of planes or ferris wheels - but anywhere that I believe I could likely fall from a great height....).

Ok, so, we hiked along this ridge (above) - if you look closely you can see lots of other people hiking along the path. Needless to say, there was ample opportunity to fall from a great height. 

I did not enjoy it - but I did do it and I did survive!

Once we had arrived at our sunset viewing point, I sat down and did not move for some time. 

A sunset shot, including, on the right, the death defying ridge we had hiked along.

I know that these kinds of 'I'm-admiring-the-sunset' photos are popular on Instagram but, if I am being honest, I had the shakes a little and smiling was not really happening, so the person taking the photo just told me to look at the sunset. 

Fortunately it was extremely pretty!

After this, our tour guide pointed out that there was actually another path that you could hike down that did not involve hiking along a steep ridge - I couldn't believe that he had not told me this on the way up! The nerve!

Well, that was my last night in Chile!

The following day meant the beginning of a sequence of bus journeys and flights to get from Atacama - Calama - Santiago - Sydney - Melbourne!

I hope this has all been somewhat enjoyable to read - until the next trip :-)