Our bus ride from JuJuy to San Pedro de Atacama proved to be one of the most beautiful, and one of the most unpleasant we’ve had so far. The bus made it’s way past Purmamarca, where we had spent our previous day, and high up into the mountains to cross the Andes. We had amazing views of the mountains and the surrounding valleys; however, the border crossing into Chile was at an alarming height of over 4,000m above sea level. After waiting in 3 lines and hauling our bags to and from the bus with the wind whipping in all directions, my head was throbbing and I was feeling more than light headed. Although we had prepared for the insane altitude with lots of sleep, light meals, and lots of water, my head continued to throb until we were well into our descent into the desert, which is only 2,400m above sea level.
Arriving in San Pedro de Atacama was a bit of a shock. It is a dusty little town surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, as well as the pure blue skype. We made our way on foot to the hostel, and after checking in, we got the low down on all that there is to do in the Atacama desert. Activities range from horseback riding, to geysers, to all sorts of lake activities. We ended up booking a tour to the salt lake of Laguna Cejar and a trip to Valle de la Luna (the Moon Valley), as well as gathering information on our upcoming trip to Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. From there, we headed into town to explore a little bit. Being that San Pedro de Atacama has only about 2,000 inhabitants, it has a very tiny town center, made up of tour agencies and restaurants. The main street is dusty, without pavement, and is mostly filled with people venturing from place to place by bicycle or on foot. We ended up having a bit of a splurge on dinner, and having a delcioius meal at a little restaurant called Tierra. Although the city had been hot when we had arrived in the afternoon, by the time we left the restaurant, it was quite chilly outside. The breathtakingly starry sky more than made up for the brisk temperatures; I have never seen stars like that in my entire life.
Our first full day in Atacama had a lazy start. For the first time in ages, we have actual beds (instead of bunk beds), and they are beyond comfortable. I may have taken the “get lots of sleep in high altitude areas” to heart a little too much, refusing to get out of bed until sometime well after 9. After we finally got up and had breakfast, we made our way into the town to run a few errands, and explore a bit more in the day light. The exploring was shortlived, and we made our way back with a bit of time to spare before the Laguna Cejar. At 3pm our tour picked us up, and we set out for the lake, which is famous because it is 7 times saltier than the ocean. The lake is in the middle of the valley with a pretty amazing view of the mountains from all sides. Although Ryan opted not to go in the lake, I made my way in, and as cold as it was, it was a pretty cool experience. From the get go, I had very little difficulty keeping my hair dry, as my body bobbed like a buoy on the surface of the water. Tipping myself forward, I was able to sit as though I was in a chair without difficulty, as well as take my arms out of the water without sinking even a little bit. Once I got out of the water, the sun dried me off, and I was left with a thin coat of salt all over my body – gross!
Once we had finished at Laguna Cejar, we made our way to the eyes of the salt flats, which are 2 side-by-side giant pools of water. A few people jumped in, before we made our way to our final destination, which was the salt flats close to the eyes. We waded through the shallow water, taking photos, before having a pisco sour and snacks while watching the sunset. The sunset itself isn’t anything spectacular, but as it sets over one mountain range, it casts a red glow over the desert mountains. I felt as though I had been transported out of the Atacama desert and onto Mars. Because Atacama is the driest desert in the world, it actually has the closest landscape to mars, supporting very little life. Once the sun had gone down, we made our way back to San Pedro for another cold, but starry desert evening.
The following morning was a less lazy than the first, and we had a bit of an earlier start. Although the scenery in San Pedro is amazing, the facilities are not. The wifi barely works, and the water is hit and miss. Getting caught at a cafe and not being able to use their toilet because there isn’t any water was not an ideal way to start the morning! Nevertheless, we made the best of our morning, finishing up our errands and stocking up on water and snacks for our salt flats tour the following day.
Once again, our tour began at 3pm, except this time we made our way into the desert, driving on a red sand road until we reached a set of salt caves that we proceeded to climb through. The view was amazing, and I felt even more like I was on Mars. The coolest part of this section of the tour was standing in a group, completely silent, listening to the salt rocks moan and groan due to the expansion and contraction of the humidity in the air. From there, we made a stop on the road to look at the rocks that have been formed from blowing sand over the years, as well as to admire the giant sand dunes. Our next stop was the Death Valley, and we stood above the valley with its intricately carved out floor, looking over the mountains; it was all very outerworldy. Looking over the edge of the valley, I can understand the name of the valley, as there is no way anything would survive the fall into the valley, or survive the desolateness don in the valley. Our last stop was the famous Moon Valley, which looks out over an intricate valley, similar to the Death Valley, and then over the mountains and the perfectly shaped cone volcano, which towers over San Pedro de Atacama. We watched the sun set one final time over the Atacama desert, getting a slightly different view of the mountains with less clouds. The mountains and sky shone red, and the sky turned into a rainbow of colours as the sun set over the mountains. There are no words to describe how beautiful this was.
We spent the rest of the night packing for the salt flats and doing a little last minute hydrating, before heading to bed. Next up… Boliva!