2 Days are not enough for SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA

Arid, barren and inhospitable, the Atacama desert seems an unlikely place for early human habitation. The fact, however, is that human settlements in Atacama can be traced back to over 6,000 years ago, and evidence of human activity goes back to more than 10,000 years ago. Called the Atacameños, or the Licanantay, the descendants of these early settlers can still be found in the region of Antofagasta, particularly near Calama and San Pedro de Atacama, and form one of the nine recognised indigenous peoples of Chile. Early settlers lived on agriculture, llama-herding and mining which gradually gave way to tourism during the 20th century. Now the small town of SPDA caters solely to tourism and this is evident as you walk along the main street “the Caracoles” which is chock full of tour operators offering tours to all the popular sights.

Located about 300 kms to the east of Antofagasta and at 9000+ feet, visitors here will need to give themselves some time to acclimatize to the altitude as it is common to feel dizzy or short of breath. Locals recommend chewing coca leaves or drinking Mate de Coca to overcome altitude sickness.

Couple of things to keep in mind here is,

• There are a variety of tours, tour operators and prices differ from one to the other. So make sure you do your research ahead of time and shop around here for the best deal to suit you. You can get better deals here than booking online ahead of time.
• The tours are quite pricey, so pick the ones that you really want to see depending on your time and budget.
• Most tour operators only take cash and there is just one ATM in town which could run out of cash. So be prepared accordingly.
• Give yourself enough time to acclimatize to the altitude and if you can afford it, stay for more than 3 days here as there is a lot to see and most tours are designed around either sunrise or sunset, so you have to choose which you want to see more over the other.
• But be aware that SPDA is quite expensive as all basic amenities need to be brought into this desert oasis from outside, so you will find that you spend almost 1.5 times what you would normally spend elsewhere.
• Accommodations are basic, mainly hostels and even the hotels are small hut like structures constructed in mud. Water and electricity cuts are common and the internet is poor at best.

We had given ourselves only 2 days in SPDA which we realized was not enough after coming there and talking to the tour operators. Although El Tatio geyser is on top of most tourist’s list, we chose not to go here as we had recently visited the geysers at Yellowstone National Park in the US. Top on our list was Laguna Chaxa to see the Flamingos, Laguna Cejar to experience the dead sea effects of floating and the Valle de la Luna but ended up dropping Valle de la Luna because of the scheduling conflict. Day 1 tour to Laguna Chaxa was only available as a combined tour of Piedra Rojas, the Aguas Caliente, the altiplanic Lagoons and Chaxa in an all-day tour format. The best price we found for this tour was for 37500 CLP ($60) per person through Lickan Antay tours. These tours began at 7.30am and would finish at 5pm, but most evening tours started at around 4pm. So we were able to do only one tour today.

Day 1 started out at 7.30am with the tour van picking us up at our apartment and stopping a few more places to pick all the other passengers from their hotels/hostels. Our first stop was for breakfast in a little village called Socaire.

Next, we passed through the “Tropic of Capricorn” marker where we stopped and took some pictures after which we proceeded on to Piedra Rojas & Aguas Caliente. Piedra Rojas meaning Red Rocks is just that and much more. The entire ground is covered in layers of huge boulders ranging from white, yellow, ocre to orange, brown and red in colors. The landscape and colors are amazing against the backdrop of the beautiful almost painting like grey, blue, brown mountains. And in between the rocks and the mountains lies the Salar de Aguas Caliente (hot water lagoon) with its mesmerising aquamarine waters.

The color palette is so amazing that it will awaken the photographer in anyone. Even though the water is a bit warm to the touch, the air around is so cold and windy that it warranted us to bundle up with down jackets and woolens. But it did not stop us from admiring the beauty around. The mountains especially are so surreal, almost like a painting with dark bluish grey sand from top and a dusting of white sand from the bottom. Our guide gave us an hour here so we had plenty of time to admire the beauty and take plenty of pictures.

We then made our way back to the van where our guide suggested we skip the altiplanic lagoon as the lakes according to him were frozen and not worth the 8000 CLP entrance fee. He suggested to spend extra time at the Chaxa lagoon instead which all the other people in the van were in agreement with. So we returned to the little village of Socaire where we had breakfast on our way in. Lunch was served at the same restaurant and afterwards we walked over to the old historic church located at one end of the only street in the village. We spent a few minutes here and then we were off to Laguna Chaxa to see the flamingos.

The entrance fee here is 2500 CLP ($4) per person. Laguna Chaxa is a shallow lagoon located within a large salt flat and here you can find the largest concentration of Andean and James Flamingos. It was an amazing sight to see the pink flamingos on the blue waters of the lagoon against the mountain backdrop. We spent a good hour here walking along the pathway and photographing the beautiful and graceful birds in their natural habitat. On our way back we made one more stop in another small village Toconao and visited the church before returning back to SPDA for the end of the tour.

For Day 2, we booked the afternoon tour to Laguna Cejar which was to depart at 4pm. Since we had the morning free, we decided to explore the little village of SPDA. We headed first to the Iglesia San Pedro de Atacama (Church of SPDA) located on the west side of the tree-lined Plaza de Armas. Built in the 17th century, this is the second oldest church in all of Chile and has been through several restorations. Indigenous adobe material was used in the church’s construction, whose appearance is characterized as simple and elegant. The walls, roof, and the entrance door are built with algarrobo wood and cardón (cactus wood), and bound together by llama leather, in the technique traditional to the altiplano.

We walked along Caracoles, the main street and the center of the little village before heading to our apartment for some lunch and then returning back to the office of Lickan Antay by 3.30pm for our tour.

This tour consisted of visits to Laguna Cejar, Ojos de Salar and Laguna Tebinquinche which included a Pisco Sour cocktail and snacks at sunset. The cost of this tour was 14000 CLP ($22) each plus an entrance fee at Laguna Cejar of 15000 CLP ($24). The van picked us up at 4pm and then went around the village picking up other people. This tour was one of those that was not specific to Lickan Antay but combined with other tour agencies. And hence, to our disappointment, the tour driver/guide did not speak English. But lucky for us, one of the tourists spoke good english and acted as a translator which was of great help. But the most disappointing and upsetting thing about this tour was that the tour guide really rushed us and pulled us out of the water after just about 10 minutes in Cejar while we were supposed to get a good half hour.

Laguna Cejar is a sinkhole in the middle of a large salt flat. This lake is saltier than the Dead Sea and because of this, you can float and cannot sink here. We reached Laguna Cejar at 4.35pm and the tour guide informed us that we had to be back at the van by 5.30pm. So we headed towards the lake and walked to the other end as they had small covered shelter-like structures that were a good spot to keep our belongings and change into our swimsuits. We then proceeded to get into the water which was a bit cold to the touch. Govi first got in and started floating immediately. Although both our cameras (GoPro and Iphone) were waterproof, Govi was not comfortable taking it in the water. So I stood for a few minutes taking pictures and a video before putting the cameras away and getting into the water. Although I can swim, I am used to putting my head in the water while swimming. As this water was so salty, people had warned us not to swallow the water. So I tried to slowly ease into the water while Govi was assuring me that nothing would happen. As I got into the water, I did swallow some water and God! It tasted so salty that it almost burnt my throat. After that, it took me a few minutes to muster the courage to actually let myself go and once I did that, it was an amazing feeling to just float in the beautiful blue waters.

It was 5.05pm and we were barely in the water for just 10 minutes, when our driver/guide came up to us and started telling us to get out and get ready. As we got out of the water, it was really funny how our entire body was covered in salt that it looked like we had white paint all over. We headed towards the showers and it took a bit of scrubbing to get rid of the salt. After getting dressed, we made our way to the van and to our surprise, none of the other tourists had returned. It was really disappointing and infuriating as we were looking forward to this once in a lifetime experience and we barely got 10 minutes.

Our next stop was just another 10 minutes away at Ojos de Salar. These are two perfectly round sinkholes but they contain clear and sweet water. Some of the people from our group decided to wash off their salt from swimming in Laguna Cejar by jumping into this small pond. From here we headed to Laguna Tebinquinche which unlike the other lagoons of the Atacama Desert (generally small pools of water) is actually a proper saltwater lake, nestled under the towering peaks of the Andes. This lake generally is known for its mirror-like surface reflecting the beautiful Andes, but as we were here during the tail end of spring, the lake was frozen over. But the sunset here is spectacular, turning the mountains into a kaleidoscope of colors which all the tour vans were getting ready to witness. We walked on the clearly marked pathway along the large lake and took several pictures. The lake is absolutely beautiful with the salt covered banks in white with a undercoating of brown leading upto the light blue icy waters of the lake and the mountains in the background. We made our way back to the parking lot where the driver had set out a table with some snacks and glasses with Pisco Sour. We watched the sunset and were spellbound by the myriad of colors shown in the sky and the mountains all the while enjoying the food and drink provided. The sunset in the Atacama Desert is truly a sight to behold and one not to be missed. It is amazing how much beauty lies in this driest and desolate desert. Once the sun went down, we started to make our way back to SPDA all the while watching the beautiful crimson sky as it was impossible to take our eyes away from the spectacular sight. Although this concluded our visit to SPDA, it left us wanting to return back here again as there is so much more to see.

Some sights we did not get to see in SPDA but should be on the list of everyone visiting here are:

• Valle de la Luna in the nearby Los Flamencos National Reserve – a lunar-like depression with unusual rock formations
• Geyser El Tatio
• Miscanti and Miñiques Lagoons
• Puritama Hot Springs
• Llano de Chajnantor Observatory, a radio-telescope site, home of “ALMA”, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
• Licancabur volcano trek
• Pukará de Quitor (Fort Quitor)