My Chilean Safari

Well I have arrived in San Pedro de Atacama. First impressions were that it was what I'd expected South America to be like all along. All the walls are made of clay and stone, the buildings are low, and it is really hot! There are trees which is great. Chañaral looked really flat and empty without trees. The main road is quite touristy but nothing stnads out too much so as to ruin the charm of the place. San Pedro is really small. Only became a real tourist destination about 12 years ago. People come for the nature that surrounds this place. It is all pretty amazing.

 

Laguna Cejar

Our hostel is really nice. Five minutes out of town (so practically in the desert) and it's really calm. Me and Amina have our own room with BEDS! We appreciate them so much after four nights of camping and two night buses. We also like being able to cook again. Living off bread and crackers those last couple of days in Pan de Azucar was a bit boring.

Our first day here we pretty much just slept, after having arrived at half nine in the morning. The sun is so hot, you stand in it for a minute and feel like you're on fire. I have been using so much sun cream. The air is also a lot dryer as we are inland so there is no moisture from the sea. San Pedro is about 2500 metres above sea level so Amina felt a bit dizzy our first day. I seem not to be affected by the change in altitude really.

So after a soundingly boring first day (although we did book some tours), day two was a lot more exciting. We went on a tour to Laguna Cejar which is about 20 minutes away from SP. It's a laguna that is 30% salt so you can float in it. It's a lot of fun. The water is cool but not freezing so it's a nice escape from the heat of the sun. You really don't have to make any effort to stay afloat when you're in there. You just have to keep your balance and try not to get the water in your eyes. The water is so dense that swimming is actually a bit of a challenge. Well not a huge one, you just have to go slow. We had a great time in there. When you come out and your skin dries you are covered in a fine layer of salt. Luckly our tour guide had a pump of fresh water so we could clean ourselves off a bit.

 

Me floating in the Laguna

 

The Salt Flat

Next we went to the Ojos de Salar, which are two round pools in the salt flat. Actually there are five but the ones that everyone goes to are two that are quite close together. People were allowed to swim in them but no one in our little group wanted to. I should say that the laguna and the Ojos were in the Salar de Atacama, which is the largest salt flat in Chile. It doesn't look anything like the salt flat in Bolivia. It's like lots of rocks and then when you look closer you see that some are coated in salt. Then you notice that some are made of salt. It's really cool. And the Salar is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes.

 

One of the Ojos de Salar

Finally, to end the tour, we went to Laguna Tebenquiche which is much shallower than the Laguna Cejar so you can't swim in it. But the bottom is made entirely of salt. Really pretty. We wandered around in the water (it went up to ankle height) for a while. I liked the saltbergs. After a while we had piscosours and snacks at the van with the four other couples that were on the tour with us. It was really nice!

Today we had to get up at three in the morning to go on a tour to the geysers del Tatio. We drove for two hours, arriving at sunrise at the geysers. They were pretty cool. Big plumes of steam rising out of the ground. The reason geysers explode is because of the cold water from the mountains/volcanoes reacting to the hot rocks underground. Sadly there wasn't enough cold water today (there's generally more in winter) so none of them exploded, but they did bubble quite a lot. It was a bit weird to think that we were standing inside the crater of an active volcano. We had to be careful not to stray off the paths otherwise the ground might be unsafe. We had breakfast and then went off to a hot spring swimming pool. Amina enjoyed herself greatly because (as I have recently figured out) she is an amphibian. She likes both heat and water.

 

The Geysers

 

It was really cold until the sun came up properly

 

We weren't allowed to stand too close because of the fumes

 

Amina enjoying the hot spring

Afterwards we started driving to a river. Our guide was called Max and he was great and knew lots of information. Our driver was called Carlos and he must have very keen eyesight because everytime he spotted one of the animals of the park he would slow the bus down so that we could have a look. We saw lots of vicuña. They are the ancestors of the llama and alpacca (I think) and are still wild. Their fur is the second finest fibre on earth (first is the silk worm). We saw zorros (desert foxes), and lots of types of birds, a small rodent creature and llamas. It was really cool. It felt like being on a safari. And the landscape was incredible. Big mountains hills, rock with some plants managing to grow. There was one type of fauna that only grows 4 or 5 millimetres a year.

 

Vicuña (picture taken through a bus window, sorry)

 

A tagua. Three different species. Can be told apart by the colour of their legs; red, yellow or black

We drove to a village called Machuca where the people of Lickanantay (gente de esta tierra) live. There are only ten people that live there because it is very remote.  The government is trying to encourage more families to return and preserve the way of life. The buildings are made of volcanic rock, mud and white straw. Every New Year they go to the church, and throw eggs at the church bells. If they hit the bells they will have a prosperous year. I tried a llama kebab. It was alright. Tasted a bit like beef bit a little different.

 

Llamas!

 

A house in the Machuca village

Had a really nice couple of days. Two more days here in San Pedro and then it's off to Arica.

Happy Birthday Mum! Hope you have a great day and a nice meal out tonight!