San Pedro de Atacama de Chile. 25-27 de Octubre.

After the dizzying border crossing from Argentina we were greeted by the dusty, beige, adobe town of San Pedro at 2400m. In line with the dramatic change in geography the tiny tourist town was instantly unlike any place we had visited thus far. With quite obviously no water (1 hour of drizzle per year on average), combined with the nearby salt plain Salar de Atacama, it was easy to understand why this is regarded as the driest desert on earth!


San Pedro main drag.

An awesome and very small town, everything here is based around day excursions to the various geographical points of interest in the area. It is also a prime base-point to Bolivia via the Salar de Uyuni. We spent an efficient 2 days here enjoying the new found desert heat (during the day) and visiting some super interesting spots.   

 

As it never rains, and daytime temps are tepid at minimum, a lot of the restaurants and markets have these thatched open-air roofs. Daylight, shade, ventilation; Also combined with the thermal mass of adobe construction = cool during the day, warm at night. Architectural splurge over.  

El Tatio del Geizer field.

Our first excursion began with a 4am start to catch the sunrise thaw of the El Tatio Geizer field. At 4300m we arrived to a very frozen -15deg. As the sun rose and melted the ice, the field came to life!   







Yep, things got a little steamy between Clare and I.




8am swim at naturally formed thermal pool on the geizer field. Cold out, warm in.  



G    u    a    n    a    c    o   '    s

Llama wool cardy in production.



Valle de la Luna (cave view).



Valle de la Luna - Anti Teatro



Muchos Volcans (we could count 28 on the horizon, 2 of which were steaming)



The soccer pitch in front of our hostel!

Laguna Ceja, Agua with 30% salt content/floating goodness.
Fills for a few months per year from snow melt in the Salar de Atacama.
After swimming we had to shower in soda water!  



A small 26m deep lagoon in the middle of the desert. Created by an
underground water current off the Andes, the water eventually met
ground so dense it was forced to boar its way up to the surface.



Last time we were at a lake it was icebergs floating, this time salt-bergs.



Team bandy donning matching pairs of salt-socks.

Being able to sniff Bolivia on the horizon, and having enjoyed the similar geography of San Pedro we were really excited about what was to come in Bolivia over the next 3-4 weeks.