We read someplace that calling Chile the land of extremes is an understatement. From our beginnings in the glacial and green rainforest we now find ourselves in the world’s driest desert – the Atacama.
In the middle of the desert is the tourist mecca of San Pedro de Atacama. All along our travels we had been encouraged to come here. It’s a tiny, adobe-built oasis, with a small tourist area packed with tourist agencies and gift shops. But it had an easy and friendly vibe. If one tourist office couldn’t help you they would send you to another one. It has much more of an indigenous population than other parts of Chile due to its proximity to Bolivia.
Although tours aren’t our style, here it made sense to join some that went to the most popular places. For example, sunset at the Valle de la Luna is a must-see attraction. So here’s a photo of us, carefully taken to avoid seeing the other 300 friends with us at the top of the dune.
Another tour took us to the Salar de Atacama, a large salt flat that is home to 3 species of flamingos.
But the highlight of our stay was a daylong trek that required us to hire a driver and private guide. Our friends Daniel and Kristin from Puerto Varas told us we should go to a village called Machuca and hike through a valley to another village called Rio Grande. We found out that this is NOT one of the standard tours. But we found an outfitter who was happy – for a price – to fulfill our wishes.
So early in the morning we headed out of San Pedro towards the mountains. But we have to mention one more thing… it actually rained the previous evening! This only happens a few days per year in San Pedro (there are parts of the Atacama where no rain has been recorded for decades.) Anyways, this made the morning ride exciting because when we arrived in Machuco there was fresh snow!
We hiked for about 6 hours, first going up through a grassy valley where llamas grazed.
At the top of a rise we met a couple of local women who pointed out a shortcut that our guide had not taken. This brought us to a trail used by the Inca’s, as this was near the southern extent of their empire, and a small ruin with pot shards.
We were surprised to find ourselves in a cactus-studded desert. The cardon cactus looks very similar to Arizona’s saguaros.
Then we dropped into a canyon with redrock walls and a stream that was swollen from the snowmelt.
With our Uruguayan guide, Fabian, at the end of a great day!
This was our last day in Chile, and it was quite a finale!
