Up, up, up in the Atacama

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From Caldera, the next jump is up to San Pedro de Atacama, deep inland not far from the Chile-Argentina-Bolivia border. The struggle to get two tickets to get us there shows just how popular our next destination is. A tiny oasis town in the middle of the Atacama Desert, San Pedro is a minute, almost insignificant blip on the landscape.

But oh, what a landscape! And this is why visitors to Chile flock to San Pedro de Atacama in their thousands. It's hot, it's dry, it's high up - the 2,400 metre altitude doesn't agree with everyone - but this little town of barely 5,000 inhabitants is surrounded by some of the most astonishing scenery in Chile.

Again, here, the pictures will do most of the talking. We spent a delightful four days here, visiting the best of what the area has to offer: geysers at 4,000 metres above sea level, high-altitude azure lakes, salt flats, flamingos, vicuñas, snow-capped cordillera and Andean villages. Another day, another Chile.

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Photos

Valle de la Luna, San Pedro de Atacama
The white crust is from mineral deposits, which appear just after rain. Of which San Pedro has had a LOT in recent weeks.