During any conversation with fellow travellers there comes the question “Where have you been/are you going to during this trip?” Almost every person we spoke to in Chile – and many in Argentina – said “San Pedro [de Atacama]”. This is perhaps not surprising as the Atacama Desert is the most visited part of Northern Chile and probably vies with Tierra del Fuego/Patagonia for the most visited in the whole of the country.

 Its popularity is due to the amazing scenery – salt flats, lagoons, volcanoes, sand dunes, weird rock formations, geysers. It attracts the adventurous who want to go climbing, trekking, sand-boarding, biking and horseback riding. It also attracted us! OK, so we may not be young and super fit any more, but we are certainly adventurous and for our age aren’t that decrepit – well only on some days! There are tours which cater for all levels of fitness, so although we had to walk at high altitude and scramble up sand dunes and manage with maybe four/five hours of sleep between excursions we were able to see and do everything that we wanted.

As you might remember from the last post, to get to San Pedro we first caught the overnight bus from La Serena to Calama. The Lonely Planet says that as a place, Calama holds little to attract visitors. Believe me, it holds Nothing! However, it is a central hub of transport for both buses and planes so most travellers are forced to at least pass through it. Unfortunately, due to an early flight when we were leaving, we decided to spend one night there – and got ripped off by the hotel. That’s not really a story for the blog but, if we were doing it again, we would most likely stay the extra [half] night in San Pedro and book airport transfer which all of the tour companies offer.

It didn’t help that the local bus we had booked from Calama to San Pedro, on the morning we arrived, had been cancelled meaning we had a two hour wait of which half of it was spent wandering around Calama trying to find a café open and worrying that we wouldn’t get to our accommodation in time to meet the pick up for our first trip.

To the good news – we were on time and all of the hassle was definitely worth it as we had three great days in San Pedro.

During the bus ride from Calama we had begun to see what the desert had to offer but our real introduction came with our first mid-afternoon to early evening excursion to the “Valle de la Luna”.

The Valley of the Moon, named for its lunar landscape….

…..lies at the northern edge of the Salar de Atacama [salt flat] within the Salt Mountain range.

Landscape, shaped by plate tectonic action….

…. and erosion….

…. give the impression of being in a different world.

The Salar was a very large lake which has partially dried leaving its surface level below that of the departing river bed. It is in the driest place on the planet – many places often don’t get rain for four or more years and Calama went from 1570-1971 [Yes, more than 400 years] without seeing a single drop. Therefore, for much of the time, the only water seeps down from melting snow on the surrounding mountains and volcanoes…

….. and evaporates, leaving salts behind – both on the ground…..

….. and forming lacy patterns on the rock.

Wikipedia states that rainfall is, on average, less than 30mm per year but the rate of evaporation is 3,500mm per year.

We visited the “amphitheatre” where we were told to be quiet, put our ears to the rock and listen for a “crack” as the rocks expanded/contracted due to the day to night changes in temperature in the desert.

Crossing to the other side of the Valley we climbed sand dunes, the “Greater Dune”….

….. giving rise to some amazing views.

When the sun began to go down …..

….. we were treated to a reviving snack – including a pisco sour…

…..before going up to Mirador Likan-Antay where volcanoes formed a backdrop to the deserts changing colours as the sun set.

We returned to San Pedro with time for a quick beer before joining the Astrological tour which started at 21.15. At least that is what we thought. However, in San Pedro most restaurants won’t let you have just a drink – you have to order food and we didn’t have time for that – so no beer!

“Una Noche con las Estrellas” is run by a very small company who have an observatory about 20mins drive out of town. There is a bigger company doing a similar thing but, as you know, we prefer smaller operations with fewer participants. We weren’t disappointed. In fact, it is probably fair to say that this was really high on the list of our favourite experiences of the whole trip.

We started with an interactive “class” when major stars, planets and constellations were discussed and identified using the naked eye. The astronomer taking the class was phenomenal – what she didn’t know wouldn’t have filled a postcard. It was all conducted in a really nice manner – we weren’t lectured to, but guided and involved.

We then moved on to the telescopes which she and the other staff set to focus on various features starting with the moon.

Although we can all see the milky way, what we see by eye is actually nothing compared to what it is really like.

We viewed nebula….

…..and galaxies….

…. which were amazing, but Mike and I both thought that seeing Saturn was even more phenomenal. I actually gasped in awe when I looked through the scope.

We were also shown various phone Apps to use to continue star gazing and how to take photographs on a smart phone. Not sure whether our Android is smart enough but, because we had our proper camera, Mike was given a lesson on how to take star photos with it and wrote down the necessary settings.

The evening finished with everyone getting their photograph taken…..

….. before hot chocolate was served inside while we watched a slide show of what we had seen, a copy of which we were then given, which has enabled me to share the photos with you. A fabulous evening.

The following day we went on an 11 hr trip to the “Piedras Rojas y Lagunas Altiplanicas”.

In some ways this turned out to be most disappointing of our four excursions from San Pedro. We certainly saw lagoons….

…. of which the two above were on land to which Indigenous people have been given Regional Autonomy.

At neither of these sites were we able to walk down to the side of the lagoon so having taken a photograph there wasn’t much else to do. Now – old[er] person rant begins! I say, take a photograph – which we do, maybe even three or four – of the different views and maybe one of either or both of us. What we don’t do is take 20 selfies turning this way and that, pulling various faces and then get our friend/relative/tour guide to take 20 more in sitting and standing poses – only to repeat the process maybe two or three times with a different backdrop from a few metres away. There was one traveller who, at my best guess, must have around 300 photographs of herself on that day – and others weren’t far behind. Meanwhile, yours truly is standing around – admittedly enjoying the view but, at one of the stops, freezing cold due to the biting wind. I now realise that that this is the trend and the way “social influencers” [or people who want to be/think they are] operate, and just hope that tour operators don’t turn all trips into photoshoots rather than interesting and informative days out. Rant over.

The windy stop was at the Piedras Rojas.

At 4,000m altitude we had expected cold – and wrapped up well for it, but the wind chill factor really kicked in. When we arrived, we thought this was just another lagoon/salt flat because so much had been made of the Red Stones that we expected huge rocks or rock formations. It’s a good job I took this photo or we wouldn’t have had any red stones at all!

Our other lagoon stop was in part of the National Park.

Here we had been told we would see two types of flamingo. Unfortunately, only the Andean flamingos were in evidence.

Having written about the disappointments, I will mention the highlights. Firstly, the wildlife. The above photo is just a token taste of more to come later in this post as, given that we saw several different birds and animals during the trips from San Pedro, I decided to have a separate little section on the flora and fauna we saw in the desert.

The other highlights were breakfast….

…. which was served to us at the Tropic of Capricorn….

…. enjoying the relative solitude and isolation….

…. and late lunch which we had in a small sheltered quarry on our way back to San Pedro.

It is perhaps a good time to now say a little more about San Pedro itself. It reminded us very much of a Mexican town in terms of its adobe buildings.

It is bustling – but mainly with tourists and businesses which cater to tourists.

Unsurprisingly, given the above, it was more expensive to eat/drink out but, fortunately, because we had very little spare time between trips and were fed on them, we only had one beer each and one late lunch prior to leaving on our third day.

That day was a very early start for us. We were picked up at our accommodation at 05.00 to be taken up to the “El Tatio Geysers”, again on the altiplano but even higher this time – at 4300m. The pre-dawn start is due to the fact that they are best seen just prior to or during sunrise and it is a 1.5hr drive from San Pedro.

Not the biggest geysers in the world – that honour falls to those in Yellowstone National Park – but it is the highest geothermal field. There are around 80 gurgling and spurting geysers…..

…. and a hundred or so gassy fumaroles. We were enveloped by steam and carefully followed our guide to stand behind walls constructed to allow viewing of the geysers from a safe distance …

…. and to walk around the field without mishap.

It is not a good idea to stray. Some of the crust is very thin and falling into a scalding pool is not a good idea.

“Structures” form as the water evaporates leaving behind mineral deposits.

In 2009, an operating malfunction during geothermal exploration caused a huge [60m] eruption of steam which took away most of the pressure in the system until the artificial fumarole was capped. The surrounding communities lobbied the government to investigate the potential environmental damage from continued workings at the site. Work was suspended and, the following year, the geysers were declared a national monument to prevent further geothermal development in the area – but some of the installations remain.

As the sun began to rise…

….we began to lose some of the visual effects and it was time to head up to the ridge for a scenic breakfast.

Our way back down to San Pedro took us past the Rio Putana …

 …. which originates from the northern flank of the volcano of the same name.

The valley through which it flows is very beautiful and in the wetlands we saw several species of birds. This brings me nicely to the wildlife section I promised above.

Having seen only Andean flamingos the day before…..

….. it was great to also see Chilean flamingos here.

Although very similar to look at, there are distinguishing features. The Chilean ones are slightly smaller and a lighter pink with more orange than red and black wings – though some of their underside wing feathers are black.

They have distinctive red feet and knees and they eat differently. Andean flamingos dip their heads in and out but the Chilean ones keep their heads under water for longer, swishing from side to side in a kind of syphon movement. It can be hard to capture them with their heads out – but I just about managed with the one above.

It is also, I am told, not often that flamingos are seen flying. I was lucky to get a shot of this too – albeit at a distance.

Again, at a distance, we also saw the “Wari” bird….

…. this plaque on the side of the lagoon helping me to identify them.

We also saw the following…

Being a desert there really aren’t many plants but some manage to survive in the dry salty earth….

…. some managing to look like sleeping animals!

With regards to animals, we saw Vicuñas in various locations…

…. and, if what we were told is correct, this older looking vicuña is probably a solitary male -overthrown from the pack by another male – and who will probably die quite soon.

We twice saw a Viscacha – sometimes referred to as a “cottontail rabbit” – and although the first photo isn’t that sharp, I have included it because it shows his/her tail.

So, there you have it. Three very full long days filled with all the different sights the Atacama Desert offers. So we now needed a few days of R&R which is pretty much what we got in Mendoza and Cordoba, Argentina and which I will tell you about next time.