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Published: March 9th 2011
I am proud to say that we have conquered the Atacama desert with little more than the help of knowledgeable tri lingual guides, big vans with competent drivers, a hotel with a pool, good restaurants, and our own steely determination.
It's a low key day here. We have checked out of the hotel but are camped in the lobby with our luggage catching up on email, writing postcards and Abbey is working on her math homework (awaywork). The last two days have been pretty interesting. We have visited salt flats, and huge lagoons surrounded by mountain peaks on the "Altiplanico", which is the alpine plateau of volcanic rock that forms the foundation for the Andes. On the floor of the desert is a massive salar caused by salt rich ground water fed from rain and snow melt from the mountains, which evaporates, leaving behind ever growing salt crystals. This is different from salt flats in places like Utah, where occasional rain re dissolves the salt and levels it out. Here, the salt crystals just keep growing. We saw some as high as two feet. Outside of the salt flats, the desert has some very tough, dry grass that manages to
wick up some fresh water from the ground. Wild Vicunas manage to somehow get regular meals out of this grass.
Yesterday afternoon, we traveled through canyons and walked up a huge sand dune in a nearby canyon. Around every corner was a great photograph. The wind is continually reshaping the canyons of soft stone, and in one narrow canyon, you can see how. The wind was incredible. The evening ended on a hilltop watching the sun seting against the Andes, with the last light reflecting off the tip of a perfect cone shaped and snow covered volcano called Lican Cabur.
I believe the Atacama is the driest desert on earth, and you can certainly feel it. When we are out during the day, drinking water is a must. With the amount of dust in the air, clothes get dirty just by walking around outside.
San Pedro is truly an oasis in the desert, hugging a tiny river coming out of the mountains. Water from this river allows the small region to grow corn, plant trees and raise animals. Despite the large number of tourism related businesses in town to service gringoes like us, I think that the
community is still fairly authentic with mud walled homes mud fences along the narrow, dirt streets. The little white church was full of locals on Sunday, and later that day we had to step aside as a farmer herded goats down the street to use a different field. Carnival is on in South America, and the locals are celebrating in a variety of events. Yesterday we witnessed a public blessing of vehicles that included a new school bus, ambulance and several private cars. The blessing included speeches followed by the pouring of beer on the vehicles and sprinkling them with confetti and streamers.
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DcatsRcoolio
Dawna Smith
the mission
now that is a nice way to do adventure...you can soothe your steely determination in a cool pool at the end of the day. Hey Abbey don't forget the mission...super secret revenge (expect it when you least expect it) mission.