Atacama Desert: 6 days in the north of Chile

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Atacama Desert is a big MUST when you travel around Chile. It is located in the area Norte Grande (Big North) and is the driest area in the world. According to our tour guide, there are only 3mm of raindrops yearly. We spent 6 fabulous days in the Norte Grande whereas 3 unforgettable days in the Desert. That is just enough time to see the most significant and attractive sights in Atacama.

Starting from Santiago, we landed in Calama where we stayed overnight at the beginning of our trip. We were said that it is not worth to spend time in Calama as it is a pure mining town and there is nothing to see. However, we found it very Chilean and amusing. Calama is small, you can get everywhere on foot and with every step you won’t forget that you are in a mining town as copper statues and details are everywhere around the town. There are also many workers around, building and reconstructing some parts of the town, so we believe that next year Calama will get its new look.  Streets are full of market stalls, pigeons, street vendors, broken pavement and small local buses. Very intriguing here is that it looks pretty destitute, but actually it is a Chilean economic leader making big amount of copper money every year. We overslept in Calama the first night when we landed there and again on our way back from San Pedro de Atacama to Antofagasta. The first accommodation was a cute and cozy apartment owned by local people who were very nice and hospitable. Our room with a small kitchen was on the first floor, so we had a view on the whole area of small one-story houses, very typical for Calama. The other one was a very clean, newly built and not pricy hostel which we highly recommend. It is called Hostel España and it is located very close to a big supermarket and the main bus station. 

After a very cold night, we took a bus the next morning and headed towards San Pedro de Atacama. It was an hour and a half comfortable ride to a famous touristic town in the Desert. Once closer to San Pedro, it seems you are in the middle of nowhere and the only things around are wind turbines rising from the sandy flat area. San Pedro is even smaller than Calama, so everything is on a walking distance. It was a distinct first impression while we were walking towards our accommodation. Instead of roads, there is sand, and instead of brick and firm houses, there are small houses made from adobe. We were surprised by the river flowing immediately in front of our window which is also a part of the “sandy road” that cars cross every day on their way to the center. The first thing you should do when you arrive in San Pedro is to go to a tour agency and make a reservation for all the tours you want to take. The most popular ones and also not very expensive ones are ‘Valle de la Luna’, ‘El Tatio Geysers’, ‘Laguna Cejar’, ‘Salar de Talar, Piedras Rojas y Tuyacto’ and visiting an observatory. 

Atacama is one of the best places on the Earth for stargazing. It is almost never cloudy and the night sky is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The two-hour-night-sky tour in the observatory, made only for tourists, is the priceless experience which we will never forget. We were stargazing through the telescope, and later with a naked eye, and also got an interesting lecture about astronomical facts in front of a video beam. We saw the brightest star in the sky, other galaxies and planets in other galaxies, stars and constellations. This night sky visit was covered with all the explanations necessary to understand what you see. Definitely don’t miss it!

The next day was reserved for ‘Valle de la Luna’. It started in the afternoon and lasted more than 4 hours. Another unforgettable experience was broadened by visiting a cave made from remains of evaporated ocean and salt, sand dunes and ‘Three Maries’. This unique and salty cave made us walking, jumping, climbing, kneeing, and leaning through it. ‘Three Marries’ are actually three stones made of salt which look like praying women. Strong wind blows and spreads sand everywhere making beautiful sand dunes. The whole area is the mixture of salty rocks and hills and dark sand. Once you get on the highest point, there is a magnificent view on brown and dark orange colors touching the light blue sky on the horizon. Such a thing can’t be ended without watching a sunset, which we actually did at the end of the tour ‘Valle de la Luna’. It was one of very rare cloudy days and thanks to that, it was one of the most beautiful sunsets in Atacama this year. The sky was changing colors from bright yellow, over orange and red, to purple and dark blue as the sun was setting behind mountains and volcanos. 

The next day started very early in the morning. We were picked up at 4:30 am when we started towards ‘El Tatio Geysers’. The tour guide told us to put on warm clothes such as jackets, caps, gloves, scarfs and to bring our swim suits. Funny, isn’t it?! Geysers are at 4300m altitude and the night temperature is between -15 and -20 while during a day it can be +25 to +30. We arrived there at around 6:30 and we had luck because it was ONLY -5. This area of geysers is the third largest area in the world. Underground waters and rivers are boiling due to magma of active volcanos around, and steam and boiling water burst from the ground. We touched the ground and it is very warm and on some places even hot. The reason why you should go there very early is because of the steam which can be seen as long as the temperature of the air is still low. Once the sun rises and the air becomes warmer, steam disappears. It was a gorgeous morning……geysers and steam around, sun is rising, magpies are flying around and we are having breakfast and drinking warm coffee or tea in pure nature while the air is becoming warmer. It couldn’t be better! And soon after this memorable early morning, we arrived at thermal water and got ready our swim suits. It was an extraordinary experience - bathing in very warm thermal water while the temperature of the air was 0 degree. People were either bathing in warm water, which was in some parts even boiling and in some parts cool, or standing around in their warm jackets, boots, gloves and caps taking pictures of beautiful scenery around. After warming up in thermal water, we started towards the most interesting residential place in that natural area. It is a village Machuca. The population of this tiny village is what makes it especially interesting. It is close to ‘El Tatio Geysers’ in Atacama. Many people used to live here in the past and they were growing some plant for mining business but today only 7 people remain living here. They live in houses made from adobe, they make their own jumpers and food, and there is even a little church at the end of the village. In the end we saw 4 residents which means we saw more than half of population. J On our way to Machuca we saw very interesting wild animals next to the road. The first one are some green rabbits which look like squirrels and which have longer tails and bodies. The second animal was vicuña. It is a relative of a camel, and living at this high altitude these animals are protected in Chile. Due to big differences between day and night temperatures they have special hairs which grow only 1mm per year. A long time ago, people used to capture them and make pullovers, but luckily vicuña is highly protected today.

After these amazing 3 days in San Pedro de Atacama, we overslept in Calama again and the next morning took a bus to Antofagasta, which is the second largest city in Chile. It is an industrial city, but what is fabulous there, is the coast and the Pacific Ocean. The whole length of the coast is occupied by sport events…..football pitch, basketball and volleyball courts, aerobics, table tennis, outdoor gym, dancing courts, playgrounds and all of these activities you can enjoy with the sound of Pacific waves breaking on the rocks and stones and beautiful sunset down the horizon. 

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