http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Chile , Antofagasta Region , San Pedro de Atacama en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:12:25 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:12:25 UTC Next stop San Pedro de Atacama Arrived bleary eyed to a warm sunny morning in San Pedro and stumbled way to the hostel.Got chatting to some people in the hostel and joined them for breakfast turned out the hostel was organizing a trip that evening to sandboard at night decided to signed up and then spent the rest of the day chilling around San Pedro and the hostel.The eveningrsquos boarding http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-350324.html It was a long hot dusty overnight bus trip to San Pedro de Atacama it took about 12hours in the end. It was real desert. We travelled for hours on a lonely road with the sun beating down with nothing to see but orange dust and sand. I had never been anywhere like this before. Then finally an oasis literally a patch of life green trees and buildings right in the middle of nowhere at 2400m http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-349174.html HolaWe are back in Santiago after a 10day excursion to the Small South of Chile a region with volcanoes beautiful lakes and very interesting trees We spent 2 days in Santiago de Chile walking around the historic district and enjoying the view off Cerro Santa Lucia a hill in the middle of the city that has a sort of castle built into it. From there one can see the sea of highrise building http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-348507.html Next stop after the desert was San Pedro de Atacama a small colonial town in Chile not far from the boarder. This route seemed like the obvious way to get to Salta Argentina which is where I was keen to spend some time on recommendation of friends. Had I known what it would entail I might have thought twice and travelled the extra ten hours back to Uyuni and caught the trainDoes anything actua http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-346613.html San Pedro was a cattle town until about ten years ago but now has become a tourist mecca. It is an oasis in te desert. It has gone above and beyond to preserve its original feel adding a salt and magnesium compound to the streets to preserve its dirt road feel while allowing for more pedestrians. Day 1 Saturday Breakfast is an interesting experience. The hostel is supposed to provide the mea http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-345628.html Hey allWe had lots of fun in Salta despite the camping Our campsite was pretty poor squat toilets and a family living in the shower blocks There ground was full of rocks too not the most comfortable nights sleep We were pretty impressed with Argentina however the change was evident as soon as we went over the border better infrastructrure tarmac roads better houses billboards eve http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-345328.html After what was a little over a 24 hour bus ride I am wiped. The place is pretty booked up but I got a room at the Eden Atacameno fortunately. My advice for Chilean bus travel is this. Do not pick seat 47. It started out fine and dandy. The first thirty minutes I was by myself. Then I had a young lady with a 5 8 month old on her lap next to me. The baby was well behaved but then 2 and 12 hours l http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-345148.html Day 575 24.10.08Nothing much to say for today as we had a whole 26 or so hours of travel before reaching our next destination. A quick hop back to Santiago from the coast and then a all day all night journey to the Atacama desert where wed arrive in San Pedro de Atacama a small oasis town at about 9am the next day. The semicama bus seats half bed were pretty comfy and we managed to get a http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-339340.html From La Paz we crossed into Chile in the far north at Arica and got a bus south to San Pedro de Atacama in the Atacama desert.The Atacama is the driest desert in the world and home to some incredible scenery. The desert is absolutely freezing at night due to the altitude and the clear skies which make it one of the best places in the world for astronomy. Although neither of us know any constella http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-332999.html 16.9. martesSan Pedro.Letzter Tag. Dort. In der Wste.. http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-332814.html 15.9. lunesSan Pedro.4h Frh. Drauen. Sternenklare Nacht. In trockener Eisesklte und einsamer Stille der Wste ist das immer nherkommende Burren eines krftigen Motors zu hren. Schritte und Knirschen des Schotters sowie er betreten wird. Ein krftiges Klopfen an der alten morschen Holztr. Dunkel.Drinnen. Hektisches Suchen. Der Strom scheint noch immer nicht zu funktionieren. Rucksack packen. http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-330259.html 14.9. domingoSan Pedro.Um 14h ging unsere Tour zu der Laguna Cejar und den Ojos de Salar los.Aber nein aber nein ihr sollt nicht glauben wir htten davor nichts gemacht als geschlafen..Doch nichts desto trotz ging sich nicht all zu viel aus dank der und ja dies lsst sich einmal mehr genau zurckfhren auf die.. Entschlossenheit der Chilenen.Ich mchte anmerken dass diese alle 2 Minut http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-329797.html 13.9. sbadoAntofagasta. .. San Pedro.In der trockensten Wste der Welt der Atacama liegt in einer kleinen Oase das Dorf San Pedro. Fr ChileTouristen ist San Pedro ein Hhepunkt ihrer Sdamerikareise. Mondlandschaften Salzseen Geysire und Vulkane stillen das Bedrfnis nach ursprnglicher Natur. Das Dorf besteht aus einer einzigen schmalen Strae einigen Nebengassen und einer schnen Plaza http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-329525.html Day 91 Sunday 28th August Back to the warmth in San Pedro de AtacamaIt takes an hour from the border to get to San Pedro de Atacama the border town in Northern Chile. I'm still dressed in thermals numerous layers and a coat when we stop at the border control post in San Pedro. The immigration is straightforward but afterwards we must all stand in a line next to our bags as they are inspected http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-329062.html The alarm on my cell phone is going off and I futilely bat my hand at the empty air trying to find it. I force myself into consciousness enough to remember that I'm on the top bunk and that the phone is tucked into a pocket of my pack at the foot of the bottom bunk. I scramble my way to the foot of the bed and hop down to the floor. I rip the phone from the pocket and cancel the alarm as quickly a http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-324746.html San Pedro de Atacama is a tiny town in the Chilean Atacama Desert not far from the borders with Bolivia and Argentina. Its sole purpose is to provide a base of exploration for travelers to the surrounding area's geysers canyons lagoons and other geological features.The town is inhabited by about five thousand people and is divided into two pieces tourist and residential.The tourist section is http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-324333.html Yo were in San Pedro now the deserts of Northern Chile. Yesterday was Iquique. Iquique was sooo nice hostal RIGHT by the beach. Where in the States could you get a room seriously steps from the beach for only 12 a night The water was beautiful the sand ahh Iquique the town itself however was really run down sketchy lots of Chnese restaurants. The Chinatownwas disappointing just some http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-324031.html As we said in the previous blog the difference between Bolivia and Chile hit us the very second we crossed that border... the landscape is pretty much the same just on the other side of the mountains but the roads houses food and most noticeably the price could not be more different.San Pedro de Atacama is one of the main routes in or out of Chile and most people just use it as a cross point to http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-323208.html Monday 11Next morning we drove out of town via Chuquicamata. Have been told it employs 15000 workers per shift and they run 3 shifts per day. The workers all have fantastic pays and conditionshellipsince early 1990s when the unions took control and organized minersrsquo rights. The next major long haul was to San Pedro de Atacama. This was a drive with big views up and up and up the mountai http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-319920.html This is one of our last days here in San Pedro de Atacama so several of us went to the salar an area south of San Pedro which is composed of salt lakes. http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-319083.html I have been here in San Pedro de Atacama for 3 week now. Most of this time has been spent underground mapping caves for the EarthMars cave detection program. The first week was spent finding caves in the region. This task was given to the mapping team which I am the leader of. The first few days were spent figuring out which strata of rock the cave were formed in. We had directions to seven cave http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-319062.html Am 19. August machte ich mich nach San Pedro de Atacama auf. Nach einer 12 Stunden langen Busfahrt mit einem sehr netten Sitznachber der allerdings leider scharchte ohne Ende kam ich dann auch entlich in diesem kleinen Ort an. Das erste was einem hier auffiel es gibt nur Touristen echt der Wahnsinn. Ich bin dann auch 3 Naechte dort geblieben. Es gab sehr viel zu unternehmen und auch sportlich http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-317353.html As soon as we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama we went to the bus company to report the fact that we had to pay twice for our bus tickets. We were advised to call Sandra to ask her to call them and confirm that she had sold us the tickets... They would not call her themselves as they were not willing to pay for the international call. Dominique called her but she just hung up on him. That evil S http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-316918.html The bus to San Pedro de Atacama brings you through kilometre after kilometre of desert but this is no featureless landscape of sand dunes rather an everchanging vista of of mountains salt flats plains filled with rocks and boulders and in the distance the brown silent mountains stand watch. There is almost no vegetation apart from some small scrubby plants perhaps some cactus exactly as you wou http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-314334.html Nach unserer 4 Tages Tour durch die bolivianische Wueste faellt uns bereits beim Grenzuebergang nach Chile der grosse Unterschied zwischen den beiden Laendern auf ein Unterschied wie Tag und Nacht was Strassen und Preise angeht Doch die kleine Oasenstadt San Pedro mitten in der Atacamawueste gefaellt uns ausgesprochen gut auch wenn die Hostalreservierung ein Mal mehr nicht funktioni http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-311483.html Dag 52. Siden vi ennaa ikke hadde oppdaget at klokken skulle stilles tilbake var Eirik paa butikken for aa kjope brod lenge for de hadde faatt det i butikken. Jane sov til kl 9 rene luksus. Sengene var utrolig herlig og putene som en drom akkurat som hjemme. Mens Jane sov satt Eirik og leste i reisehaandboken. Han fant ut at 3 km unna var det et gammelt Inkafort kalt Pukara de Quitor. Vi http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-309145.html THE MEDIA HAS PICKED UP ON WHAT WE ARE DOING HERE AND THE DISCOVERIES WE ARE FINDING Here is the link.httpnews.yahoo.comslivescience20080731sclivescienceincrediblediscoveriesmadeinremotecavesWill write more on my day off Sat or Sunday.Knutt http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-306822.html Hi everybody I arrived in San Pedro de Atacama on 717. San Pedro is a quaint little town with a population of 2500 which doubles when you add all the tourists. The architecture reminds me of Santa Fe 200 years ago narrow streets adobe buildings. Everything is priced like Santa Fe too A drink in a restaurant is 7 a beer is 4 a meal runs about 10. The locals are very friendly and seem h http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-304436.html Upon our arrival in San Pedro we immediately made our way to the nearest restaurant and wolfed down 2 mansized pizzas. We then checked in to our bb on the outskirts of town a whole 10mins walk from the centre. The bb was very homely with its adobe walls and limited electricity and running water. Our first morning there was a Sunday and it turns out that the people in charge of San Pedro don http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-303383.html After leaving Valpo in political tension there was plently of time to relax on a 23 hour bus ride to the north of Chile. After having a restless flight to south america I began to fear my ability to sleep on transport had disappeared thus I was pleasantly surprised to wake up at a gas station in the middle of nowhere some 3 hours after leaving the bus station. Another 10 hours sleep and I was pro http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-293695.html