Category: travel

4am start for this one.

Took it with a different company, the other one was fully booked.

“The road is longgggg, with many a winding turn…”

Bumpy and long.

The woman next to me is sick and has to rush to the door which I hold open whilst she is sick and sits back down next to me.

This has the effect of encouraging my own sick thoughts which are suppressed.

Fall asleep.

Opportunity
Bumpieness has gone and we are almost there.

This tour stops for photo opportunities and I have to open and close the door for people who don’t have the strength to work the handle.
Which is most of them.

I let them peer in the window a few seconds before I let them in..

We’re here.

Geysers el Tatio

An exciting place to be at 4 o’clock in the morning.

Which translates to tour of the mountain and salt lakes of Atacama.

Tropic of Capricorn – Chile
Here you drive past it in the desert.
Pretty unremarkable really.

Salar de Atacama
The Salar de Atacama is a massive salt formation formed over 30 million years.
It spans across a whole valley 1,000s of square km across, a big valley.
The ‘Salar de Atacama’ is where water rises to the surface and evaporates in the desert sun depositing whatever minerals it has picked up along the way.
There are 30 million years worth of these deposit lying under the plain at Atacama.

These are some English girls, here we are in front of Laguna Chuxa which has some interesting life forms.

Like I, they did not speak Spanish.

One of them was from Wolverhampton, can you guess which?

Rock
I have picked up this rock showing some of the salt deposits.

I notice when I get the rock on the bus that there are a number of worms living in this piece of rock, which crawl out like maggots unto the dash-board and annoy/excite/entertain our driver.
Having a closer look indicates that the rock is made up of many beasts alive and in various states of death and decay.

Surprisingly rather than being a place of hot arid water deprived salty death, the lakes are actually supporting their own unique microcosm of life.

A concept strange and alien to the resident of an industrialised nation like myself.

Lugunas Altiplanicas
These are no salt lakes located high in the mountains. These are fresh water lakes and are bright blue in colour.

There is another smaller lake next to Miscanti, this is covered in Algae cormorants burds of various descriptions.

Behind the lake there is an active volcano.

Toconoa
We stop on the way back to visit a lush valley. This valley is made remarkable because of its contrast to the surrounding deserts.

There is a clear stream flowing through.

The guide shows us cave paintings.

The back of my legs are burnt, from the salt lake I suspect.
I apply some of the English girls sunscreen.

On the way back we visit town Toconoa, I buy an ice cream Danky, like a Corneto and we drive back to San Pedro.
The girls moan because the guide has not be guiding as completely as they would have liked.

The cost
The tour costs $21m, about 20 quid.

It lasts from 8.30-9 till about 6pm and is worth the money, even if your tour is in Spanish, like ours.

One of the guides Cosmos does it in English but doesn’t accept credit cards.

It seems that accommodation in San Pedro is more difficult to get than the tours.
I have to ask around to find something within my price range.

Eventually find somewhere called ‘Hostal Jama’ slightly out of town toward Lagunas Altiplanas.

Its cheap and they do my washing for free.

There is a link to it here.

San Pedro de Atacama.

Backpacker/Gringo central, essential stopover for your gringo traveller.

San Pedro History
San Pedro is the oldest outpost on the Atacama and used to be an administrative centre for the region. Now most it seems entirely devoted to relieving tourists of their dollars.
Not to put it down, San Pedro is an expensive, if enjoyable place to spend a few days and there’s plenty to do.

San Pedro Tours
Tour shops litter San Pedro, tours on offer include:

Valle de la Luna – Golden valley of sand called Valle de Luna for its resemblance to Luna land-mass.

Lagunas Altiplanas – This seems more like it, a few lakes mountain vista backdrops. Green and lush.

Geysers el Tatio – Spurting geysers organic mud bath plus a 4am start.

There are hundreds of tours on offer including moon boarding, 6 day mountain trips into Bolivia, visits to active volcanoes, horse riders (no motorcycle hire).

Your itinery depends entirely on how long you have in San Pedro and how much you want to spend.

The tours I have included seem to be the most popular round town.

Chuquicamata is closed today.

There are no tours till Monday.

Today is Friday.