San Pedro de Atacama — The road liss traveled

Back to Chile! This will be the 4th time on this trip I think?! And it won’t be the last because the plan is to do the Bolivian Salt Flats and then loop back to San Pedro de Atacama to fly home (San Pedro -> Lima -> Chicago). Good thing they let you come and go as you please on the 90 day visa!

So I arrived in the mid afternoon, and the first thing you realize is, it is hot hot hot! February is South American summertime! Fortunately my hostel was only a few blocks from the bus station, and it had a pool, so I knew what my plans were. Later that afternoon I headed down to main strip to ask about the Bolivia Salt Flat tours. And boy is it overwhelming! I don’t know how you’re supposed to decide which company to go with because there’s a million of them and they’re all seemingly the same. But the thing is, you don’t know who’s gonna be in your group, and there’s tons of hispanic tourists, so I had to do some research online to figure out which companies are more of the gringo-catering kind, because if I was alone on a tour with all Spanish speakers for four days straight, I just might snap! Or you know, sit there and sulk for four days.

All the shops are located on this one street

So I was able to find an English speaking tour that left in a couple of days, which gave me time to explore around San Pedro a bit. Like Salta, there’s nothing much in the city, everything is basically group tours and excursion to the different spots outside of town. MORE GROUP TOURS AGHGHG! I’m getting super jealous of the people with the decked out camper vans! But hey, there’s volcanos, hot springs, geysers, high altitude lakes, crazy rock formations, lots of stuff. All the tour companies want you to bundle up like 3 or 4 tours for a cheaper price or whatever. I ended up seeing a company that advertised this huge yellow badass looking truck/bus (like what I rode in Africa) with a huge breakfast spread of eggs, cheeses, meats, breads, fruit and avocado etc. Sign me up! 4:30 am pick up, wheee!

Being at a high altitude, it is freezing cold in the morning. Fortunately they give you blankets on the bus for some extra warmth. And once again, I’m the only gringo on the bus. Sigh. We drove for an hour and then they set up all the tables and chairs in front of this really pretty lagoon, it had bits of white stuck around the edges, calcium deposits maybe? Eventually they called us over for breakfast, I just grabbed a seat at the end of the table, a bit awkwardly. As I’ve said, my Spanish just isn’t good enough conversationally, especially in Chile/Argentina. Great food though! The rest of the morning was a few more lakes, and just very interesting looking landscapes all around. So it was nice, but I am so done with Spanish tours!

lunar landscapes. Some vicuñas in the foreground

If you have magnifying glass eyes, those are flamingos

So many different colors in these high altitude lakes

Back at the hostel I met a Dutch girl (again) at the pool and we hit it off pretty well, made dinner together, and she convinced me to go on the geyser tour with her the next morning. If I must! Another 5am start, ugh. They get you there 1.5 hours before sunrise to freeze your balls off before that sun finally creeps over the hills. I mean 30 minutes before sunrise would have sufficed, jeez! The geysers were pretty cool, although if you’ve been to Yellowstone, it is kinda child’s play. After breakfast there was also a hot spring to swim in, but the air is still cold as hell, so you gotta keep your whole body underwater, jostling for the warm vents with the other tourists. Anywho, I could have probably done without this tour. I was happy to spend the rest of the day at the pool. And sleep in the next morning. And go back to the pool! Laying on the couch at home is sounding better and better!

digging the light behind the water vapor

I did end up renting a mountain bike for a few hours in the late afternoon that following day, and that was the best thing I did in San Pedro! They have some very cool mountain bike trails just outside of town. Some parts were pretty advanced, so I had to pick up my bike and walk it occasionally, and one part where I had to scootch by butt down a hill dragging my bike, but i made it! Better than faceplanting on my bike! The sun was going down and the scenery was awesome. This was more of the adventure I was looking for, not these group tours where they drag your sorry ass around all day.

San Pedro de Atacama in the foreground here. It looks weird seeing snow covering a desert volcano, but you don’t realize how high up this is. I bet that volcano is 20,000+ feet!

you’ll see a few desert foxes hanging around

So that was about it for San Pedro de Atacama, the next morning I would be getting picked up super early once again, and heading in a jeep off for a 4D/3N excursion to the Bolivian Altiplano! Which looks a lot like the Chilean Altiplano!