San Pedro de Atacama

I made my way to the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert. Since it's the desert, there aren't many towns within. My base was San Pedro de Atacama, which does happen to be a very touristy place. I believe the small town has expanded tremendously in recent years to accommodate all the travelers.

After arriving via 3 different buses (including an overnight one), I got comfortable for a bit and then went to explore and check out the variety of tours offered. Many different companies were offering very similar trips. My first inclination isn't to do a tour, but in order to really see the wide range of sights within the desert, it really is the most cost-effective way to do it. If I had more time and money, I would think about renting a car. Since I had just a few days, I definitely relied on what I heard and what the different companies offered. So I ended up signing up for 2 tours right away. I did get a discount, which was great. The company spoke Spanish, English, and French. Maybe I would soak up some translation skills. Or not.

After that was sorted out, I walked around town for a bit and ran into 2 girls from North Brooklyn Runners. What a small world. We chatted for a bit, and then met up for dinner later on that evening. After I went for a run of course. The run was pretty nice, even though I was at elevation (2407 meters). The scenery was beautiful and I found some great dirt roads to run on.

Desert running.

I met up with the 2 NBR girls and had a huge meal for dinner. It was really good, but enough for a 2nd meal, which was great. We talked about traveling (they are on a 6 week trip), running (one of them was running Boston), and various other things. It was a nice break to chat about so many common things. I hoped to meet up with them again, but it didn't happen before I had to leave. Maybe back in NYC.

NBR/CPTC sandwich.

That night, as I was getting my bag ready for the early pick-up the following morning, I realized I didn't have my debit card. I searched everywhere and couldn't find it. I suspected I left it in the ATM machine earlier that afternoon. I was kicking myself. So I went to the bank just in case someone left it behind or slipped it inside the office. No luck. I went online to see if there was any activity and it looked ok, but did contact the bank to suspend my card nonetheless. My tour the following day was an all-day affair, so I wouldn't get a chance to get to the bank during open hours. One of the hosts of the hostel offered to go on my behalf though, which was really nice. Unfortunately he didn't have time, so I had to wait until the following day to see if someone turned it in. I was trying to be optimistic. There was nothing else I could do for the moment, so I tried to get some sleep.

I got my pick-up at 7:30am, and we proceeded to get everyone else, including a group of people I met the day before from France. We drove a couple of hours to our first destination, one of the many lagunas in the desert. Along the way we saw a great sunrise, some vicuna, and a flamingo.

Vicuna.

We arrived at first stop and enjoyed our breakfast with a view of Laguna Tuyaito.

First of many lagunas.

Our next stop, not too far away, was Salar de Tara, a salt flat. It's crazy all the salt everywhere. We did a little hike down to the body of water and got some great photos of the surrounding area, including some red rocks.

Reflections.

Along with so many other tour buses, we stopped at Lagunas Miniques and Miscanti, which were very close to each other. We got some great views of Laguna Miniques.

Laguna Minques.

However, when we got to Laguna Miscanti, some clouds came, so it wasn't as clear. But still pretty cool. 

Laguna Miscanti.

All the while, the sun was also doing a weird thing and had a perfect ring around it. I'm not sure why there was a ring. At some points, there were also rainbows around the sun. Some phenomenom with the desert?

Rings around the sun.

We carried on our way and had a pretty good lunch at a small restaurant in the tiny town of Socaire. I was pretty hungry by then, so anything would have been delicious. But this still hit the spot. We had some lentil soup and some sort of chicken dish with cream and rice. I think it was a typical Chilean dish, at least that's what someone told me. It's really hard to follow Spanish, so I generally lose what is being communicated to me.

Arroz y pollo.

After the filling lunch, we drove a little ways to the Flamingo Reserve and observed flamingos in their natural habitat. I'm used to hearing about flamingos in Florida, but not in the dessert in Chile. And apparently they migrate north to Alaska and Canada, which was really interesting and news to me. You know, since I'm a flamingo expert. I got to get close to a couple by being pretty quiet. It was so bright there with all the salt reflecting from the sun and eventually it was time to move on and get out of the sun.

Flamenco.

We continued to another small town where we had 25 minutes to wander. It's one of the standard stops to encourage tourists to buy things. I understand why they do it, but I would have rather taken that time to see more animals along the drive. We wandered around a bit and I got some ice cream. That was the extent of it. 

The town of Toconao.

We headed back to San Pedro de Atacama, where I tried to figure out my debit card situation. No luck with the bank and no activity on the card. I would just have to wait until the following day and stay hopeful. Another odd thing was that I was apparently scheduled to be on flights from Cancun to Miami. I have no idea why I was booked on these fights. It looks like it was connected to my flight to Santiago, but that makes no sense whatsoever. I booked a one-way flight from one place to another. There should not be any travel for over a week later. I contacted the airlines, and it looks like I wasn't charged for this. But still a little unsettling.

I really should have gone for a run at that point to work out some of the stress, but instead I took a shower and settled in for some more research to figure out my next steps. Unfortunately it takes way longer since the wifi (and electricity and water) are hot commodities. And I was getting a pick-up for 4:30am the following morning, so I wanted to get some sleep, eventually.

The following morning I was ready to go at 4:30, except then I waited for 45 minutes for my ride. They couldn't find the place. I wish I had gotten a little more sleep, but what are you going to do. That day's tour was going to be shorter, so if needed, a nap could come later. We drove about 1.5 hours to our first stop, El Tatio Geyser Field. I've never seen geysers before and these were the 3rd biggest ones in the world, behind Yellowstone and a place in Russia. The geysers form from the heated water underground (from volcanic magma) and pressure build-up. The outside temperature is a factor in how big the geysers get. Since it a little warmer than normal (but still cold), they geysers weren't as impressive as I was expecting. However, it was still cool to see them, and we saw one in action as it rose.

El Tatio Geyser field.

After getting our fill, we moved along to the natural hot springs nearby. Not many people wanted to go swimming in the cold, but I was definitely going in. The springs were quite nice, although a lot of people were crowded in the hottest part. We didn't have long there, so I only stayed in for about 10 minutes. I then quickly changed and hopped on the bus.

Thermal springs.

We stopped to check out Vega de Putana, some marshland with a view of the Volcan Putana. Except we couldn't see the volcano due to clouds. The contrast of the marshland and surrounding area is so crazy. It's hard to believe some of these green spots in the middle of the desert.

Vega de Putana.

Our stops were very quick, but we also go a quick stop and saw some llama. 

Llama.

We of course made another stop in the small town of Machuca. Again, I would have rather lingered and observed the animals on our route. The town was super tiny and cute, but we didn't need to spend 30 minutes there.

Machuca.

We headed back to town a bit earlier than expected, where I proceeded to go to the bank and check out the debit card situation. No bueno. I hope I did that right. After somehow communicating what I needed to communicate and flipping through about 10 cards left behind at some point in the last few years, nothing. That was it. I went back to my hostel to contact my bank via whatsapp, viber, and skype. No luck due to poor wifi. I then proceeded to put my phone on roaming and spent who knows how much to get a new card. My next Verizon bill will be a joy. 

After all of that, I decided to tag along with a couple of my roommates, who were Americans, and bike to Valle de Luna. I definitely need to do something and see the Valley of the Moon before leaving. So that's what we did. 

We proceeded to bike the 6 kilometers to the entrance. I was warned this may be a tough ride, but it was actually ok. We paid our entrance fee and made our way to our first stop. Some really cool canyons and sand dunes. 

Moon like canyons.

We biked along and I couldn't help but stop and take photos. It was so unreal. Like I was actually on the moon. 

The moon?

We didn't go that far into the park, as we didn't want to bike back to San Pedro in the dark, and I had things to do. We hit up our last stop and did a hike to take in some more views. And it was amazing. That's it. 

Yes, we are on Earth. 

We turned headed back to San Pedro de Atacama. It was a much quicker ride, but of course, I had to sneak in a couple more pics. 

Dramatic skies.

 And one last photo of me on my bike. I ride bikes. But for some reason, this is the first time on this trip. 

Riding through the desert. 

We arrived back at the hostel after dropping off our bikes and relaxed. I figured out my plan and got to bed. Eventually. The following morning, I got up to take a shower. I was hoping it was on, since we ran out the day before. After my first run to the bathroom, they must have heard me, and I was able to get a shower. Which was good since I was on a fight to Santiago and then an overnight bus ride to Pucon. And we all know what overnight buses are like. 

I waited for my ride to the airport and before I left, the guy who sent me off gave me a big hug. It was so sweet. He didn't speak much English, and I mainly communicated with his colleague, but it was sweet nonetheless. Everyone was super nice at the hostel and it was nice to get a hug as I went on my way. Off to Pucon.