arena y sol

Alright, we're going with one more travel post, just because they're so much fun and I've got material. Myself and nearly all my fellow foreign exchange students (12) spent Samana Santa (that is, Easter weekend) in the renowned San Pedro de Atacama.  San Pedro is the geographical bookmark of northern Chile--yet shockingly small in physical dimensions and population considering its international accolade. It's a simple town in the middle of the desert (picking up on the theme around here yet?) comprised of a few dozen hostels, a couple nicer hotels and a bunch of restaurants, pubs and travel/tour agencies.  Oh yeah and...por sopuesto...a large catholic church in the center. Essentially, the only piece of nature it has to offer is a lot of sand and a lot of sun, oh! and unrivaled night-skies due to minimal light pollution and the clearest skies in the world.  But the town itself is quite basic and simple.  So, what's all the hype and buzz about this San Pedro?

Volcán Licancabúr

First-off: San Pedro is one of the only slices of civilization in the heart of the driest desert in the world.  This fact alone makes for a worth while visit--epic no? Beyond that fun fact, the greater San Pedro area is home to some of the most extraordinary natural phenomena in the world, including salt flats, salt lakes, geysers, active volcanos and hot springs--all within a few hours via mini-bus, jeep, horseback or bike. My personal favorite experience was walking atop the world's second-largest salt flat, Salar de Atacama--741,313 acres of salt.  One of the strangest natural substances I've ever stood on. 

Salar de Atacama (salt flat)

From a distance, you think you're looking at snow. Standing on it feels like ice. Then digging into it with your toes and fingers feels like sand, becoming wetter and less substantial as you go deeper...and the field stretches on and on--quite surreal-like. The salt lakes were equally entertaining and baffling. After about a one-hour trek, bumpy and rugged through the desert sand and pitiful grass-like shrubbery, our tour bus arrived at Leguna Cejar. This is a rather large, natural lake with a salt content 3x that of the ocean you're farmiliar with. Quite the phenomenon, I really don't get it to be honest.  However, it made an epic swimming adventure--quite the chilly one at that due to its subterranean-fed water sources/natural springs and extreme desert climate, around 0

degrees celsius at night.  Highly concentrated salt content in a large body of water = effortless

floating upon the surface (like the Dead Sea), ice cube in a beverage style.  Crazy fun!  It was also fun looking at my skin after exiting the lake and air drying in the sun, as the salt clung to my skin and hair doing me up like a poorly dressed crépe. Thankfully Orlando, our tour-guide, was prepared with about five milk jugs filled with fresh water (aqua dulce) to rinse.

El Tatio at 13,780ft above the sea

The other equally impressive tour I went on was Los Géisers del Tatio. Heh, a lot of geysers in a place called Tatio.  This tour is particularly fun because you get to wake up at 3:30am (*3 o'clock if you have a tent, sleeping bag and backpack to pack-up) for a 4am departure.  It's a two hour haul before you arrive at Tatio--a national park in the Andes mountains over 13,500ft above sea level, boasting more than 80 active geysers.  The idea is, arrive at sunrise for the big show: water spouting from holes in the ground at 86 degrees Celsius (186 farenheit. wowzers!), while the air temperature is usually between -10 and 0 degrees Celsius (15-32 F.). And quite the show it was!  After a tour around the geyser field with our guide, we sat down for a nice breakfast: a hard boiled egg (cooked on the spot in geyser water), ham sandwich (that's what they call bread and butter with a couple slices of ham...sometimes cheese), and coffee or tea. ¡Rico, at 4,200 meters above the sea!

After breakfast we bathed in natural, hot-mineral springs next to the geysers, and enjoyed a slow return journey with various viewpoint stops: herds of wild llamas and vicuña (umm, mix a llama, white-tail deer and gazelle =/ ish), lakes, an indigenous village, and other fun stuff.

Okay, but the fun part came after the scheduled stops.  My good mexican friend Raul and I asked the bus driver to drop us off near Valle de Guatín in the middle of the desert (with our packs and supplies), about 15 miles outside of San Pedro.  The previous day, a guy in San Pedro told us we could probably camp out there in the wilderness and survive the night because there's some protection from the cold wind (his name was Jesus...it's gotta be safe!).  But it was noon when the bus driver dropped us off, so we decided to make our way north along the road in search of a small, bathing creek we had heard about and hoped was within a few miles north.

After hiking about two miles down the road (mostly uphill), the midday sun was hot overhead and my pack was getting heavy, with nothing but sand, rocks and heat-crawling asphalt on the horizon...I was getting slightly uncomfortable and kept thinking of Fievel Goes West...until a little red pickup pickup appeared on the horizon behind us.  After a bit of smooth talking (that is, as smooth as a gringo can speak spanish) Raul and I were cruising across Chilean soil in the back of a pickup, the first of many more "hacer el dedo" (hitch hiking) trips to come.

After nearly ten minutes in the back of the truck (and we were cooking), we saw a cluster of vehicles parked ahead, off the road a bit and near a cliff that dropped into a valley...where we found our oasis!  Some less than graceful scrambling and sweating brought us to clear waters and a friendly chilean family.  We found the local spot, Puti Pobre, at the bottom of a rocky gorge, about one mile below the tourist swimming hole, Puti Tama, which charges a $15US entrance fee.  At this point we were feeling pretty good about ourselves, particularly after a long, cool swim, followed by a chilean cerveza and a couple more hard-boiled eggs from our new Chilean friends--a truly perfect afternoon.  We headed out several hours before sundown, in case we didn't have the same luck of transportation for our return trip.  Yet, sure enough, after another mile or two on foot, an affable pickup came to a halt.

Did I mention the cactus were large?

Raul and myself were feeling quite unstoppable by the time we reached the valley...amped about our succesful afternoon and ready to explore the valley of gigantic cactus and find a place near the rocky-river canyon to spend the night.  But unfortunately, it didn't end so well.  After 30 minutes or so in the breathtaking valley, two very suspicious middle-aged men appeared out of nowhere and passed us by dropping some unsettling comments.  After a second encounter with the two and more disconcerting vibes, Raul and I decided against spending the night in the foreign valley and made a quick, yet arduous exit, scaling the cliffs out of the canyon.  We made a b-line in the direction we hoped lead to the road back to San Pedro, our shadows getting longer by the minute.  After less than a mile of rocky scrambling, we were relieved to find the road not far below us.  Fifteen minutes later, we were even more relieved to find two friendly German's, Gwendalf and a name a didn't understand (something like Micah...but not), in an extended cab pickup.  They were headed to San Pedro of course and took us the whole way.

UGGH!  Yes, incredible day. Great trip, memories and experiences.  But it will now always be the trip that was ALMOST perfect...Sometimes I don't get locals, or whatever those two were.

hair-like salt crystal-formation en Salar de Atacama

geyser shy

Puti Pobre: our oasis

La Casa del Sol Naciente

camping: hippie-hostel style

Other highlights of the trip included midnight sandbording (think snowboardingt on huge dunes) under a full-moon in the famous Valle de la Luna, and a fascinating museum covering over a thousand years of the region's history with ancient indian artifacts and tools.

Thanks for reading.  I'll get back to you soon!