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The Atacama

Chile

By Yes Mom I'm Alive

VALLE DE LA MUERTE

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA

LAGUNA CHAXA

VALLE DE LA LUNA

SALAR DE TALAR

PIEDRAS ROJAS

ALTIPLANO LAGUNAS

Lagunas Miscanti y Miniques

SALAR DE TALA

EL TATIO GEYSERS

LAST NIGHT IN SAN PEDRO

ITINERARY

Here is our 5-day itinerary, including where we stayed, what we ate, and where we visited:

Day ONE

From Santiago, take the early morning Sky Air flight to Calama

Rent a car from the Calama airport

Drive 61 miles (~1.5 hours) southeast on Ruta 23 to San Pedro de Atacama

Check into La Casa EcoExplor

Walk to the nearby market to stock up on a few gallons of water

Grab lunch at any restaurant along Caracoles Street, San Pedro's main drag

Drive 10 minutes north of town to Valle de la Muerte

Explore the dunes and lunar-like landscapes

Leave the park just before sunset, lest you also want to be chased out by a woman on an ATV like we were!

DAY TWO

Wake up early to beat the heat (and tour crowds!)

Drive 50 minutes south of town to Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flat in Chile

Walk on the crusty salted shore of Laguna Chaxa and watch flamingos feast in the shallow water under a band of Andean volcanoes

Note: Many guide books will recommend you head next to the nearby Laguna Cejar for a float in the high-saline lake. However, the entrance fee is an insane 15,000clp ($24)...to float in a lake. No thanks.

Return to your hostel for a mid-day nap

Wake by the late afternoon and drive 15 minutes to Valle de la Luna

Explore the dunes and lunar-like landscapes

Get in position for sunset: Most tours bring visitors to the (creatively named) Big Dune for sunset. We chose to climb up a rocky outcrop on the opposite side of the The Amphitheater, the distinct rock feature along the main road of the park. You can't lose either way.

Enjoy sunset on the moon!

DAY THREE

Wake up early and drive to Salar de Talar, sometimes named on maps as Salar de Aguas Calientes.

Walk around on the white sands and piedras rojas along the laguna

Drive further south to the Antiplano Lagoons, otherwise known as Lagunas Miscanti and Miniques

Hike around the shores of the lagunas

Return to town for rest and dinner

Go on a star-gazing tour with San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations (SPACE)

DAY FOUR

Sleep in a bit – you were out late last night star-gazing!

Drive northeast on Ruta 160 to Salar de Tara

Stop near Paso Portezuelo del Cajón for a view into Bolivia

Keep driving east toward the border with Argentina

If you don't have a 4x4 rental, stick to the paved roads! A few hundred kilometers from Paso Jarra, you'll see a parking area on the left side of the road. Park here and hike down to the colorful lagoon, where you will see herds of grazing guanaco and flamingos.

If you have a vehicle capable of going off-road, get some advice from your hotel before you go exploring! There are interesting rock formations all around the area.

Get to bed early tonight – you will need to set your earliest alarm clock yet!

DAY FIVE

Wake up early for the El Tatío Geyser tour with Cosmo Andina Tours. Pick-up from your hotel is at 4 a.m.!

Try your best to get the rest of your beauty sleep on the 2-hour bumpy drive (good luck)

Tour the geothermal field of sputtering geysers, bubbling water and steam clouds with your guide

Enjoy breakfast and coffee at your tour van

Take a dip in the crowded hot springs pool

Get back in the tour van for a drive to the Guatin cacti canyon

Return to town by 1pm (unless your van loses a tire in the middle of the desert like ours did...)

Catch dinner and often live music at Barros Restaurante

DAY SIX

After five days in the Atacama desert, we flew back down to Patagonia. However, more commonly tourists leave the Atacama for Bolivia on a tour to the famous Salar de Uyuni. Some others head northwest to Arica for bigger snow-capped volcanoes or Iquique to enjoy the coastal Chilean life.

ADVICE

Transportation

While you can certainly visit the main attractions of the Atacama through a combination of guided tours, we rented a car in Calama. We appreciated the flexibility and independence this afforded. For the most part roads were in decent condition and we did not experience any issues driving in northern Chile.

We did elect to take a tour to the Tatío Geyser because the road up to the geysers is notoriously difficult. We were happy with this decision – the road is not made for sedans!

There is one Copec gas station in San Pedro de Atacama. Fill up whenever possible; it is a long drive to most destinations from town!

Guided Tours

While most of our visit was self-guided, we did take two tours from San Pedro de Atacama:

Star-gazing tour with San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations: The company picked us up from our hostel and took us their headquarters outside of town. There, in pitch darkness, our guide pointed out constellations and stars in the night sky. We were served pisco sours, hot chocolate, and cookies while we took turns looking into the telescope.

Unfortunately, Jeff and I neglected to specify we needed an English language tour so we had a good laugh when we arrived and found out our tour was in Spanish. We can both speak some Spanish but I can't say our astronomy vocabulary is great! Be sure to request an English tour if you need it!

El Tatío Geyser Tour with Cosmo Andina Tours: We opted to go on a tour to see the geysers because the road to the geysers is notoriously difficult and we did not want to drive on unfamiliar roads at 4 a.m. Even though our tour van lost a wheel and we were stranded for a few hours in the high desert, we were glad we decided to go with a tour company (and Cosmo Andina handled the accident professionally and got us back on the road within an hour). The tour included transportation to and from our hostel, breakfast and coffee, a semi-guided tour of the geysers, and a short excursion to the Guatin cacti canyon.

ACCOMMODATIONS

There are plenty of hotels and hostels in San Pedro. We stayed at two different hostels during our 5-night stay: Casa EcoExplor and Casa de Matalide. We preferred Case EcoExplor of the two.

Food + Water

Visitors don't come to the Atacama for the food. There are a few highly rated restaurants in town but we skipped the fuss and long lines. We bought groceries for our daily breakfast (yogurt and granola) and lunch (ham sandwiches) as we were often on the road during the day. We went out to dinner a few nights to some nondescript restaurants.

Do not drink tap water in San Pedro; it contains trace amounts of arsenic. Buy a few gallons of water at the local markets to keep in your room and refill your personal water bottle.

I also recommend drinking plenty of Gatorade to replenish electrolytes lost in the dry desert heat and to prevent headaches from the high altitude.

Safety

San Pedro de Atacama is located at 7900' above sea level – and it only gets higher from there as you venture to the nearby attractions (Salar de Tara sits at 15,748'!). To minimize the risk of altitude symptoms like headache and nausea, drink water, get 8 hours of sleep, don't exert yourself, watch your alcohol intake, and pop an ibuprofen or two when needed.

The other major hazard in the area is unsafe driving. It's not rare to see someone stranded on the side of the road with a wrecked vehicle or with a flat tire. Drive slowly on gravel roads and avoid sharp turns or quick braking. Check your rental car before you depart Calama for a spare tire and emergency kit. Always carry a map, headlamp, extra gallon of water, and extra food in the car.

When to Visit

We visited in January, the southern hemisphere's summer and the Atacama's peak tourist season. The weather was generally warm and dry with a light breeze.

If I were to visit again, I would plan to visit in the shoulder season between September and November, when the surrounding volcanoes may still be blanketed in snow.

Photography Advice

If you have a willing travel partner, try to get to most sites before sunrise. The light and colors will generally be best from sunrise to mid-morning. Return to town and relax until the mid-day sun (and heat) comes down in the late afternoon. Pick somewhere scenic to be for sunrise; it rarely disappoints!

Questions?

Get in touch at yesmomimalive@gmail.com

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