Blogs from San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region, Chile, South America - page 11

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After getting to Antofagasta we decided to get the bus to San Pedro for a few days. We left our bikes in the bike shop in Antofagasta to get some work done and took the 4 hour bus journey over. San Pedro is a small town in the middle of the desert, near the border of Argentina and Bolivia. It has an awesome landscape around it as it borders the Andes and also has the barren desert environment in the nearby valleys which give it them a moon like appearance. On the first night we met up with Jeremy and Aline, the swiss cyclists we cycled most of the Caraterra Austral with, so was good to have a few beers with them and to catch up! We hired some mountain bikes as ours were back in ... read more
Volcano Licancabur
Valle de la Lunar
View from Valle de la Lunar


Mostly Atacama Desert - the driest.... read more
Santiago
Salt Flat, Atacama
Valparaiso


San Pedro de Atacama is a really beautiful oasis town located in the northeast of Chile. If you, like me, are not too fond of the rain then San Pedro could be for you - it ever rains here. But I suppose that's not too surprising considering the geography: San Pedro is as it's name suggests is a desert town and the Atacama desert is the driest desert in the world. At 2400m / 7000 ft above sea level, many visitors to the town get altitude sickness. Sarah and I made our way here by coming from Iquique in Chile. So while we had acclimatized quite well, unfortunately half of us were struck down by another illness..... Arriving in San Pedro by bus, you'll get dropped off in the town square. If you happen to get ... read more
Sarah watches the sun set on another great day
Sarah stares across the desert plain
Yes, we are far from home!


Another day, another country. And we had done this trip before, 4 years ago. A short stop in Arica while we waited for a bus connection, and it was back on the bus, through the driest desert in the world – the Atacama. A place where no actual rain has been recorded in places, and it looked that way. The place was dry – no vegetation, none at all. Not even little saltbush plants, or spinifex type grasses like you might find in other parts of the world. Just wind and dust and rocks and sand. And it was beautiful, just the sort of stuff I like; scenes of desolation flashing past the smeared windows of the bus. San Pedro de Atacama was another place we had visited before. The place was much as I remembered ... read more
The road through the Atacama
The road through the Atacama
The road through the Atacama


We arrived in Santiago at 8:30am on the 25th February, fresh from a 10 hour bus journey and with the daunting prospect of a 23 hour ride at 7:00pm that evening. Still, that gave us ten and a half hours to try to see all of Chile's capital. We immediately headed for the tourist office on the main square to get some clue as to what to do for the day. After being given a map we headed for Cerro Santa Lucia, a small hill in central Santiago, which the Spanish had climbed in 1541 when deciding the location for the city. Nowadays the hill has picturesque gardens adorning it, a fortress now used as an events centre and a lookout point to see the city. From here we went back to the tourist office and ... read more
Plaza de Armas
Park on Cerro Santa Lucia
View from Cerro Santa Lucia


Hallo Allemaal, Inmiddels ben ik alweer terug in Argentinie. Hoog tijd om noordelijk Chili af te ronden. Vanuit Santiago ben ik naar La Serena gegaan. Een strand stadje. Na een dagje naar het strand te zijn geweest en een beetje verbrand geworden was het tijd voor wat anders. 's nacht een excursie gehad naar de naburige Elqui Valley. Bekend door het maken van Pisco en ongeveer 360 heldere nachten per jaar. Daar een tour gemaakt door een ruimte observatorium, was wel een leuke afwisseling na alle natuur, bergen, wandelen, fietsen etc. Na een dagje uitrusten ben ik snel doorgegaan naar San Pedro de Atacama. Een stadje van ongeveer 2000 mensen in het midden van de woestijn. Na een lange tocht met de bus, ongeveer 18 uur, aangekomen. Hiermee voorlopig mijn meest noordelijke punt van de reis ... read more
Strand
Japanse tuin
Maankijken


Dnes sme sa rozhodli hlavne oddychovat a ist len na par kratkych prechadzok v okoli San Pedra. Najprv sme zavitali do Valle de la Muerte /udolie smrti/, jedine co sme videli boli kamene a piesok, nieje sa comu cudovat ze tu nic nezije ani nerastie. Teplo bolo neskutocne a nikde ani trocha tienu, ani sme ho cele nepresli a po pol hodinke sme sa rozhodli vratit sa naspat. Dalsim cielom bola Pukara de Quitor, mala pevnostka z 12 storocia, leziaca na jednom z kopcov pri San Pedre. Vyskriabat sa hore v tom teple stalo vela premahania a jedine co sa z nej zachovalo su obvodove muri, ale aspon ze vyhlad z nej stal zato. A to bolo, hlavne vdaka teplu, na dnes vsetko. Cile je zatial prva krajina v ktorej nam davaju bloky vzdy ked za ... read more
Valle de la Muerte
Valle de la Muerte
Valle de la Muerte


Na dnes rano nas cakala navsteva vyhlasenej atrakcie San Pedra - Tatio gejziri. Najvacsou nevyhodou, teda aspon pre nas, bolo ze gejziri su aktivne iba rano medzi 7 a 8. A ano, hadate spravne znamenalo to dalsie skore vstavanie, tentoraz sme uz o 4 museli byt pripraveny pred vchodom do nasho kempu. Vylet zacal slubne, mikrobus prisiel na cas, sofer Felipe vyzeral prijemne a hovoril po anglicky, cesta bola asfaltova. Postupne sa vsak cesta zacala zhorsovat a nakoniec sme isli po piesku, zrazu sa Felipe rozhodol prestat nasledovat ostatne mikrobusy /z inych agentur/ a zabocil na inu cestu. Islo sa stale tazsie a tazsie az sme ostali stat zapadnuti v piesku. Felipe poprosil cestujucich, teda vlastne iba muzsku posadku, aby mu pomohla vytlacit mikrobus z piesku. Vonku bola hrozna zima, urcite pod nulou, autobus sa zabaral ... read more
geysirs El Tatio
geysirs El Tatio
geysirs El Tatio


Na dnes sme si pozicali bicykle a rozhodli sa navstivit blizke Valle de la Luna /udolie mesiaca/. Udolie vyzeralo presne podla nazvu ako mesacna krajina. Nikde nic, ani najmensia bylinka, dokonca ani kaktusy nieto nieco zive. Vsade same piesocne duny, zerodovane skaly a strasne teplo. V udoli sme tiez navstivili byvale solne bane, tato sol vsak nebola krasne biela ako v Uyuni, skor to vyzeralo ako spinavy lad. Vsade naokolo to pukalo a zem pod nami bola len taka krusta a v nej diery. Tiez sme videli Tres Marias /tri Marie/ tri obri zerodovane kamenne utvary, ktore ani s obrovskou davkou fantazie nevyzerali ako Marie. Cesta naspat bola namahava, sice konecne po asfalte, ale stale do kopca a proti teplemu vetru. Vyhlad na San Pedro vsak stal za to. San Pedro sa nam obom paci, je ... read more
Valle de la Luna
Valle de la Luna
Valle de la Luna


Rano nas cakalo krute vstavanie o 4, len sme sa po tme obliekli - z nejakeho dovodu nezapli elektrinu /zeby kvoli setreniu?/, nasadli do aut a vyrazili. Jeden z dovodov preco sme vstavali tak skoro bolo aby sme stihli vychod slna, Facundo opat vyzeral zmatene a postupne nas vsetky auta predbiehali. Prvou zastavkou bol Manana gejsir a okolo neho este par dalsich dier z ktorych vychadzala sirna para a v niektorych bublala voda. Zima bola neskutocna, pod nulou a tak sme len rychlo vybehli z auta, urobili par fotiek a hned naspat do tepla. Pred vychodom slnka sme dorazili do Aguas termales /termalne kupele/, kde bolo male jazierko s krasne teplou vodou. Jedinou prekazkou bolo odhadlat sa, vyzliect do plaviek a prejst tych par metrov k jazierku v treskucej zime. Medzitym vyslo slnko, pomaly sa zacalo ... read more
Manana gejzir/ Manana geysir
Aguas caliantes
Aguas caliantes




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