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Published: November 21st 2012
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Travelled from the snowy mountains of Southern Patagonia to the dust and warmth of the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile via Santiago. Our base was San Pedro de Atacama, a small oasis village of clay-coloured adobe houses and dirt streets and here we stayed for 3 days exploring the area.
San Pedro is 2436 metres above sea level and every now and again altitude sickness kicked in and to help overcome this condition coca sweets or leaves are recommended.
Our trips out included a visit to the Valle de la Luna which is a lunar type valley of unusual rock formations and sweeping sand dunes,the highest being the Duna Mayor. Here we climbed the dune at dusk for wonderful views of the Andean peaks and volcanoes coated in the late evening light.
Our visit included a visit to a couple of archaeological sites and San Pedro's well run museum. The first site we visited was the 3000 year old site of Tulor with the remains of the mud huts that the early inhabitants of the area lived in. We then visited the remains of an Inca village built on the slopes of a steep rocky formation.This
was to be another of the Inca villages conquered by the Spanish during their march across South America.
The area is dominated by the Andes in the distance and the Atacama Salt Lake which covers over 1160 sq.miles. It is the third largest salt flat in the world. We visited in the early evening and watched the sun go down. The surrounding mountains changed to gold as the sun set and a very peaceful atsmosphere was created. Before that we were treated to a group of flamingos feeding in a lagoon during a stroll round the Salt Lake.
Our final day of sightseeing was to the El Tatio geysers which is best seen early in the morning. This meant leaving our hotel at 4.30 am for a bumpy ride of about 100km over an unpaved track and ascending to a height of over 4300 metres. Altitude sickness took its toll and made one feel very queasy.The geysers are formed by the contact of a cold underground river with hot,magmatic rock and this causes jets of vapour to stream upwards through fissues in the earh's crust. I hope my photos reflect the atsmosphere.
You may wonder, by looking
Sunset
View of surrounding mountains from Duna Major at the photos, why we are all wrapped up.The temperature when we arrived was minus 15 degrees centigrade and gradually warmed up as the sun rose.It was very cold. Nearby is a pool filled by sulphur rich hot springs and several brave souls were taking a dip in their swimming gear. Not for me.
Back to the UK tomorrow after a wonderful trip seeing the delights of Chile. Certainly a country of contrasts and well worth a visit.
Some of you have asked "Where is Lynne?" Lynne decided to opt out of this trip. My travelling companions were Margaret and Sue, two friends from Shrewsbury who I first met on my trip to Peru 3 years. They were great fun to be with.
Hope you all enjoyed reading the Chile blogs.
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Jackie Carslaw
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Loved the blogs John. Very reminiscent of my trip all those years ago including the altitude sickness when I was in Mexico! Have a great and safe trip back home xx