Muy Seco, Muy Alto y Muy Frio

So we crossed into Chile to go to San Pedro de Atacama, a very touristic destination for all who want to observe the wonders of the Salar de Atacama (3rd largest salt desert in the world) and the places around it. The bus ride was quite intense as we crossed the Andes and at one point we were at 5000 meters altitude... a bit of a head ache... a guy passing out in the back and aspirin for kids... it all went away!

San Pedro de Atacama (2438m alt) is a small 2000 inhabitants village considered the main center of the Atacamenan culture. During high tourism periods I sincerely believe that there are more tourists than locals; it is very simple with low houses made out of earth and sooooooooooo COLD! I have never felt so cold in my life! We stayed there for almost 3 days and I had to wear all of my clothes! The hostel in which we stayed was very very very cold and I almost fainted while taking a shower! On the shower door they ask you to keep your showers under 3 minutes for water sake as you are in the desert... but sincerely WHO CAN STAND A SHOWER FOR LONGER ANYWAY IN THAT COLD???? :)

While there we took 2 tours: Lagunas Altiplanicas and Salar de Atacama & El Tatio Gysers

Salar de Atacama looks interesting and less white during the summer; while I imagined it would be very flat, in fact it is quite rocky and made up of sponge like grey rocks/salt; we saw the Chaxa Lagoon, the home of 3 types of flamingo birds: Chilean, Andean and James... they are quite funny as they feed all day long so they stay with their heads in the water almost dancing around on their long legs to eat the "tasty" Artemia (Brine shrimp). We continued driving with the scenery of the vulcanos at the horizon; 5 active vulcanos which due to the altitude only puff some smoke and gas (Licanbur- 5900m alt and Lascar- 5592m alt).

It is amazing to see how humans make a life in these out of this world surroundings... desert, salt, cold, wind, vulcanos and high altitude... but impressive enough they do, although Mother Nature still reigns. The Jere Canyon is an oasis of green and hope for the Tocanao village.. virtually a huge crack in the ground where the earth is rich and people can grow fruits and vegetables. We stopped in Toconao for lunch and we had "carbonera", a very tasty soup made out of carrots, potatoes, sqash, pasta and some meat; I also tasted fried chicken with rice and quinoa (a local seed grown in these parts). YAMMY!

For El Tatio Gysers (highest altitude in the world) we had to wake up at 3:30am so to be ready to get the bus at 4:00am; this was not even the pain... the pain was that the temperature was crispy cold and although I dressed really warm it did not matter... my toes froze in less than 5 minutes walking outside among the smoky gysers. I did not find them that impressive. We stopped at the thermal baths so people could bathe; I only put my feet in the water and it felt good after 20 minutes when my feet stopped hurting. On the way back we stopped to eat fried lama meat (super tasty but hard) and cheese empanadas in a small Indigenous village.

Although we came back really tired after this whole morning affair we decided (as we were leaving the next morning) to rent bikes and go see the Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley) and Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) approximately 40km there and back. I can tell you now that I know why they call it the Death Valley... it´s because it gets impossible to bike through the very rocky and sandy up and down road... I think there were a few "brave" tourists like us who did not make it hahahahah The scenery simply incredible... huge walls of brownish rocks, total silence and a blue sky punctuated just by the moon (here you can see the moon almost at any point during the day!). We stopped to look at the tourists doing sandboarding... we wanted to try too but we were to tired and still had a valley to tackle!

The Moon Valley was quite far and it took us for ever to get to the viewing point (el mirador); we raced time as we had to be at the mirador at around 5:00pm to catch the sun down and the out of this world red hills and mountains on the other side. We had to ride so many times up hill that I thought I will leave my poor legs there... but we finally made it in time! The view was beautiful but much less red/pink than postcards show... It took us for ever to get back to the village; we rode through pitch darkness at the light of our flashlights, millions of stars and the moon...

In a few words Chile was extremely confusing due to the many zeros of prices plus the constant feeling of cold didn`t help either; Chileans speak really fast but they are welcoming people. I am still amazed by the harshness of the land (I didn´t see that much of Chile but from what I saw), of how high the mountains/volcanos can be and how people make a living in a very simple but hard way.

This was Chile for me,
Miruna :o)