San Pedro de Atacama

(This post was written a week ago, but we've been unable to post it due to lack of access to the Internet.  We've been up to a lot of stuff since then, and we'll post about all that soon.)

We arrived in San Pedro late Friday night at around midnight after a very long 25 hour bus ride.  The ride wasn’t too bad.  We’re getting used to these long bus trips.  The continent of South America is huge, and unless we want to pay more for flights, the buses are the most economical choice.  To tell you the truth, I think that these long rides through the different regions are actually one of the best ways to see the countries.  We get to experience seeing all the mountains, deserts, and small towns instead of just hoping from one airport to the next. Air travel may be practical, but it doesn’t quite give you the perspective of what the region is really like.  We’ve so far spent around 80 hours on bus rides.  If you compare that to back home in Canada, 80 hours would probably get you at least two thirds of the way across Canada. Just think of all things you would see in a road trip across Canada, and then add to that that we are doing it in a foreign continent with very different geographical areas, and you can imagine that these trips provide quite the visual stimulation and are quite the eye-opener.  We can now look at a map of South America and remember what all those different areas look like.  I’m sure as we head farther north we will experience even more interesting regions.

The trip from Valparaiso to San Pedro de Atacama was very long, but still quite interesting.  We saw less huge mountains than on our last ride, but they were exchanged by quite a different scenery – the desert.  Some of the areas we drove through were absolutely unreal.  There were stretches of the ride where we went over two hours without seeing a single plant.  Not even a cactus or a weed.  The landscape was nothing but sand and rocks.  We drove through valleys and sometimes you could almost imagine that you were on the moon or on Mars.   In one of my earlier posts, I noted that flying into Santiago was just like that.  We could see barren mountains from the plane, but now seeing them close up it was really special.

When we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama is was immediately evident that this town was going to be very interesting.  We walked down the dusty streets and saw that this place was quite special.  Even in the dark, we could see really neat looking restaurants, shops, and hostels that had a distinct desert character.  The town is mainly a tourist spot, built to accommodate all the travellers interested in checking out all the surrounding natural wonders.  There are salt flats, salt lakes, dunes, rocky valleys, cool rock formations, and lagoons.  The town is set up in a way that it is very easy to get out and see them.  The town has a lot of tour operators that organize everything for you.  They will drive you to these places (usually less than an hour away) and then show you around and let you explore by your selves for a while.  They’ll pack water and snacks for you, and ensure that everything is taken care of. Because of the amount of different tour operators that are in San Pedro, their prices need to be competitive, so you can get some really good deals.

Floating in Laguna Cejar

The first place we went to was Laguna Cejar.  It is a small salt lake in the middle of the desert.  Due to all the salt in the ground, it has a 40% salt content.  Comparatively, the oceans have around 3.5% and the Dead Sea has 33.7%. We went swimming, and it was amazing how you would just float on top of the water.  You could pretty much just stay still and sit or lay down and the water would hold you up like you were on an air mattress.  It was a pretty cool feeling.  After getting out, our skin was absolutely covered in salt.  There was a thick layer of it everywhere, and your swim suit dries into a crust.

We also went to two valleys in the area.  Death Valley (although the Spanish name “Valle de la Muerte” sounds cooler) and Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon).  These valleys had some really cool rock formations, and some incredible views.  We got to hike around through caves and around huge cliffs and weird salt pillars and the like.  The Valle de la Luna was absolutely amazing.  As sunset approached we hiked up a big dune to the top of a cliff and got some really cool sunset photos.

Valle de la Muerte

Valle de la Luna

Sunset at Valle de la Luna

The weather here is typically very hot and dry.  Apparently this is the driest place on earth.  The day after we arrived however there was rain.  We were told that this is the first time it has rained here in years.  The town was instantly a giant mud pit as they have no drainage systems.  It was neat to see but the rain came with some cooler weather and lots of clouds so it does impact the scenery, and we don’t really get to see as much as some of the roads are closed. 

The plan from here is to stay for another day or two until the weather improves and then head out on a 3 day trip though some more of the deserts and see Salar de Uyuni.  We’re really looking forward to it as it is supposed to be really beautiful.  If the weather remains poor we may end up not being able to see some of it, so we’re really hoping it improves.  This trip would bring us over the border from Chile into Bolivia where we plan on staying for a while.

Photo album for this post:

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile