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Published: December 2nd 2005
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Three flights later and we were still in Chile but it felt like another world when we arrived in Calama near the Bolivian border. Our plan was to stay in Calama that night but not for the first time since arriving in South America our plans changed as it seemed easier to get to San Pedro de Atacama 120km away (where we were planning to go the following morning) than into Calama itself. We did wonder on the wisdom of this decision when we arrived in San Pedro just after midnight with no accomodation booked (our driver had assured us that it wouldn´t be a problem) and the first place our driver tried was shut, the second was full and the third wanted $30 each (a fortune in this part of the world)! Our luck was in though as the next place we stopped at was to drop off one of the other passengers (Denis) and thankfully there was space for us too. As a further stroke of luck, Denis was a keen mountainbiker (he even had his own bike with him) so it wasn´t long before we´d agreed to meet up the following morning to find some places to go
for a ride.
Our accomodation was named after the Volcano Licancabur that, at nearly 6000m, towers above San Pedro (SP). As well as being a nice place to stay in it's own right, SP had the added attraction of being at about 2500m and therefore a good place to begin the altitude aclimitisation process before heading up onto the high altiplano. SP itself is an oasis town surrounded by desert and on the edge of the Atacama desert (apparently the driest place on earth).
The following morning, after a stroll around town and a browse through the local ´artisania´ market, we headed off, us on our hired tanks (sorry bikes) and Denis on his full sus Specialised that turned plenty of heads. We found our way out of town in the right direction but that was just about the last useful bit of information we managed to extract from the map we had been given so the ride became a bit of an epic as we navigated more by guesswork than anything else (although we always knew where San Pedro was thanks to Denis´ GPS). Despite this and never actually finding ´Death valley´ it was a great way
to explore the dramatic desert landscape and involved cycling along old 4x4 tracks and dried river beds. As we got closer to SP we met some of the tour parties and joined them at the lookout overlooking the Cordilleria de la Sal. We then headed off for the Vallee de la Luna, a popular place to see sunset. We were the only ones on bikes who stayed for sunset but there were hundreds of others brought by the local tour buses. As soon as sun set we sped back towards town in the failing light/darkness and 8 hours after leaving SP we got back to town tired, thirsty and hungry but happy after a great day.
The following morning it was another very early start (4am) for us to take the trip to see El Tatio geyser high in the mountains above San Pedro at sunrise. Óur bus was first to arrive at about 6am but was quickly followed by many others. It was a strange place to see so many people, particularly because at over 4300m, it was bitterly cold (cold enough to freeze my camelbak hose). The geysers themselves were ok but I don´t think they were good enough to justify the early start - it was enforced because most of the geysers are only visible as steam in the cold morning air. As it began to warm up a bit some hardy souls also took a dip in the small thermal pool but we settled for a paddle. On the drive back down to SP we stopped at the isolated settlement of Mapuche where a few people eek out an existence from their ´flock´ of Llamas and more recently the passing tourists in need of an empanada or two.
After a quick lunch it was time to get back on the bikes as the afternoon´s entertainment was a trip to 3 lagunas out in the Atacama desert. Once again the map/directions confounded us but this time more spectacularly - I don´t think I have ever overshot a turning by 10km in a car let alone on a bike! We eventually made it to the Lagunas which were an amazing blue colour amid the arid surroundings and so salty that you floated easily in them. We were thankful that a group of Brazilians who had passed us on the way there (and stopped to chat to Denis after seeing the flag on his bike) were still there and happy to give us a lift back. We gratefully accepted although in hindsight I wish I had cycled back as the extremely uncomfortably 15km ride in the back of their 4x4 is better forgotten. After dinner we said goodbye to Denis and packed our rucksacks for our 4x4 trip to Uyuni in Bolivia starting the following day.
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