Last week, some of my fellow volunteers and I took advantage of an extended weekend and travelled to San Pedro de Atacama, the driest desert in the world, located about 100 miles to the East of Antofagasta where I am currently living. At an altitude of roughly 8,000 to 14,000 feet, San Pedro is quite literally out of this world.
The less is more principle definitely applies here in The Atacama Desert. Because there is less of things like water, foliage and animal life, every thing you see is more striking and more extraordinary.
During my voyage to the town of San Pedro, I caught glimpses of brightly plumed falcons, mohawked sparrows, wild llamas and deer-like guanacos against an unreal landscape of mountain ranges, sand dunes and volcanoes.
The town is quite small with a set of narrow streets to divide the many restaurants, hostals and tourism companies. Yes indeed, the word is out. San Pedro is a very popular tourist destination and expensive, but it's worth it.
After booking our hostal, we rented bycicles and trekked it to El Valle de la Luna, roughly 10 miles outside of the town. We arrived shortly before sunset and hiked a sand dune to the top of the mountain range. There we caught the other-worldy view of the moon-like terrain as its colors shifted from shades of brown, to red, to blue, to violet and finally to black with nightfall. Nice touch.
We then jumped back on our bikes and peddled back toward town under a blanket of big, bright, abundant stars. The altitude, clear sky and very little man-made light makes the Atacama desert an ideal location for stargazing. You forget how many stars there actually are until nights like this one.
The following day we traveled to El Salar de Atacama, the Atacama Salt Flat, via bus. Nearly all of the desert is covered in varying layers of salt due to the ancient sea and later, large lakes that once covered the now dry desert. Here, at the salt flat, there is white as far as the eye can see. There are also small ponds scattered about, where three of the only four species of flamencos in the world live, feasting on the small crestaceans that live in the highly mineralized water. I also saw sea monkeys. They really do exist. Strange creatures.
Later, we were taken to two large lagunes, Miñique and Miscanti. The landscape looked unreal, more like a painting. The bright blue water, snow capped volcanoes and yellow desert grasses provided a wonderful contrast for the spectacular views.
Despite one of the volunteers having a minor bicycle accident, a fruitless search for a mythological tunnel, and running out of cash, it was a wonderful trip. If you ever are in the area, I strongly recommend you check out San Pedro de Atacama.
Now, I'm watching my pesos for a trip to Peru in July.
Until next time-
G
