First stop of our Chilean trip, San Pedro de Atacama a cute little village in the middle of the desert, a village living off tourism, where prices are astronomic and where streets wouldn’t exist if you took out restaurants, bars, hostels and tourism agencies.
Yet San Pedro de Atacama is a world-renown place for having the purest sky to look at the stars and the planets, as well as a discovery place of meteorites. Many sites can be visited around the town offering views over salt flats, desert dunes, geysers, Lagunas and many more! A Place not to be missed!
Yet San Pedro de Atacama is a world-renown place for having the purest sky to look at the stars and the planets, as well as a discovery place of meteorites. Many sites can be visited around the town offering views over salt flats, desert dunes, geysers, Lagunas and many more! A Place not to be missed!
DAY 1 - VALLE DE LA LUNA
This valley is composed of the youngest salt mountain in the world (“only” 25 million years old, whereas the Andes are 65M old and the Domenico over 100 M years old). This mountain range started growing because of the intense pressure of the both the Andes and Domenico mountains which surround this area from east to west.
The soil of this valley is mostly clay making it a great playground for the shape of the mountains and rocks to constantly change due to erosion. Moreover, the materials contained in the rocks and clay are easily solved with water. This salty water coming from the surrounding volcanos easily evaporates in warm temperatures; evaporation process through which the minerals and salt contained in the rock remain at the surface (hence the white on their tips). It is a constant change.
The soil of this valley is mostly clay making it a great playground for the shape of the mountains and rocks to constantly change due to erosion. Moreover, the materials contained in the rocks and clay are easily solved with water. This salty water coming from the surrounding volcanos easily evaporates in warm temperatures; evaporation process through which the minerals and salt contained in the rock remain at the surface (hence the white on their tips). It is a constant change.
This valley is surrounded by three main volcanos. Back in the times volcanos were associated to gods and hence given special names. The Linkankabur volcano (5’960m), an unactive volcano meaning “volcano from the people” is used as a reference point for upcoming raining weather, which can be diagnosed by a round shaped cloud on its top. The Lascar Volcano (5’600m with possible excursions) is an active volcano meaning “tongue of fire”. This volcano only spreads smoke in the early morning due to the cold which enables the rocks to tighten leaving more space for the smoke to escape. This volcano is chief volcano to the surrounding ones, one can hear the lava come out.
The valley was also a place of salt extraction between 1800 and 1830. The extraction was made by hand and was used for product exchange. Workers lived in the valley until 1944. The interest in this activity started to bring capitalism to S.P de Atacama around the 60s. Seeing the interest of extraction salt over there copper mining paid the workers to massively extract the mineral to export it. Yet in 1990 they stopped extracting this salt as it was too expensive to export it (sea salt being cheaper) |
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DAY 2 – PIEDRAS ROJAS, LAGUNAS ALTIPLANICAS Y SALAR DE ATACAMA
PIEDRAS ROJAS
To reach the Piedras Rojas (4’200m) we passed through the Capricorn of Tropics, a mix of desert and forest (intelligently they planted a forest to keep the area outside of Atacama greener and more humid and more alive in case the town grows bigger, and the Inca Route which goes from Santiago to Quito in Peru on the maritime front and Santiago to Mendoza in Argentina on through the mountains.
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LAGUNAS ALTIPLANICAS
An altiplanic lagoon start as of 3’000m high is usually salty (hence the white on the border of both lagoons) with small seaweed and here cover both Bolivia and Peru. We visited two lagoons: the Minique Laguna (4’300m of altitude, 1.5km2 and 18m deep) and the Miscanti Laguna (4’300m of altitude, 10km2).
Surrounding the lagoons one can see different types of animals belonging to the camel family: Llama and Alpacas (which are domestic animals) and Vicuña and Guanaco which are wilds. Here is how it usually works between them: 1 male for 6 to 7 females; and the males fight each other to eliminate competition by biting their testicles. |
SALAR DE ATACAMA
This desert (300 square km) is the driest and cleanest in the world having no bacteria, plants or animals – except flamencos. It was created over millions of years with the same process of water evaporation. Because the salar being located in between two mountain ranges (cordillera Domeico and the Andes), it blocks the water from the cordilleras to the Pacific. The water remains in-between both mountains and cleans the materials of all volcanos surrounding the salar.
The salar has a depth of 1.5km of pure salt, yet this salt cannot be consumed. Copper and lithium are extracted here, lithium being extracted for technology (75% of the world’s lithium is extracted here). |
DAY 3 – GEYERS
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Waking up early to go and see geysers is something hard sometimes but worth it! Geysers are formed due to a thermal shock between warm soil and cold temperature outside which enables water to escape and create team. Boiling water of geysers reach up to more than 300 degrees Celsius.
Coming back from the geysers we stopped at a small town (10 houses) living off tourism: they make around 1000€ per day only selling anticuchos (heart skewers) de llama, empanadas de queso and drinks. This adds up to about 3.5M pesos per year for 10 families. The government support the survival of this town and the money they make as a consequence of all the suffering these families have gone through and to preserve the historic heritage (otherwise the families would leave the area – things children did and in order to keep them around they installed internet satellites to keep them around). Right after the town we visited a lagoon with flamencos. These flamencos consume about 1kg of mini shrimps per day, spending 16h a day looking for food! Flamencos can live up to 80 years and live off monogamy; they seduce each other by dancing together. Of the male dies, the female is allowed to look for another companion, yet if she dies the male won’t find another female and would die. |
Transportation: $35 private transport from Uyuni to San Pedro. This price includes a stopover in VillaMar with accommodation, dinner and breakfast.
Accommodation: Hostal Juriques, a perfect stay with a cute patio with hammocks. 8-9000 pesos (11-13€ per night in a dormitory including hot water, wifi and a kitchen at disposal.
F&B: count about 4000 (5,5€) minimum for a dish, about 9000 (13€) for a menu but very dependent on where you eat. Food is expensive there, even in supermarkets.
Activities: 65000 CLP (93€) with Lickan tours including guide transportation and alimentation when applicable for four activities (Valle de la Luna, Piedras Rojas y Lagunas altiplanicas, Geisers, astronomic tour) – this cost exclude parks entrances fees (about 18’500 (26,3€) for all tours)
Accommodation: Hostal Juriques, a perfect stay with a cute patio with hammocks. 8-9000 pesos (11-13€ per night in a dormitory including hot water, wifi and a kitchen at disposal.
F&B: count about 4000 (5,5€) minimum for a dish, about 9000 (13€) for a menu but very dependent on where you eat. Food is expensive there, even in supermarkets.
Activities: 65000 CLP (93€) with Lickan tours including guide transportation and alimentation when applicable for four activities (Valle de la Luna, Piedras Rojas y Lagunas altiplanicas, Geisers, astronomic tour) – this cost exclude parks entrances fees (about 18’500 (26,3€) for all tours)