Blogs from San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region, Chile, South America - page 12

So we were sad to be leaving Argentina where we have spent most of the last couple of months enjoying the food, wine, sights, sounds and scenery. But the plan for the second half of our South American trip is to head north, and so this is what we did. We had booked onto an early bus that would take us from Salta across the Andes to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. We just made it to the station in time, but the rush was unnecessary as for the first time our bus turned up late. Fortunately there were only 7 of us making the 10 hour journey, and we were the only 2 on the lower deck, quite the luxury we thought until it turned out that the doors to the luggage compartments didn’t ... read more

Heading to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), we had heard from many other travellers that it was an over-crowded and over-priced tourist trap with not much to do... As for the first two descriptions, it is true that the streets of the small city of San Pedro de Atacama, with a population of merely 3,200 locals, are lined with an innumerable amount of tour companies and are overrun with tourists from all over the world. That being said, as with any area that attracts visitors, prices will be slightly elevated. I think that coming from a ski resort town like Steamboat Springs, where peak season visitor numbers can increase the town population three-fold, this didn't really phase us too much. In regards to being told that there was not much to do in San Pedro de ... read more

En arrivant à San Pedro de Atacama, je suis très déçue. Cette petite ville au milieu du désert, avec ses rues de sable et sa chaleur étouffante est pleine de touristes. Partout les gens parlent anglais, les restaurants affichent un menu typiquement européens et les touristes se bousculent aux portes des auberges. J'ai envie de sauter dans un bus direct pour le nord tant j'ai peur que le reste du Chili soit comme ça ! On rencontre Steffie, une allemande très extravertie avec qui on partage un dortoir. Je lui explique qu'on compte rejoindre Salta en Argentine le lendemain, et elle s'empresse de nous dire qu'il faut réserver le billet de bus immédiatement car il n'y en a presque plus. Depuis le début de mon voyage, je n'ai jamais réservé de billet à l'avance, mais je ... read more

After a short break after the altiplanic lakes we headed to the Death Valley for a half an hour trek. From there you have an amazing view of the valley and the Atacama Desert. Then we headed to the Moon Valley where we visited the sites of the Three Marys, the Slat Mine, the Amphitheater and finally watched the sun set. It was beautiful. As soon as the sun hit the horizon it turned the desert into a beautiful painting filled with vibrant pink, red and orange colors. ... read more

So, after the mountain biking escapade, we decide too give horse-riding a miss and opt for an afternoon tour of Valley of the Moon to watch thee sunset instead. We arrive at the booking office about 10 minutes before the tour leaves as instructed, to be told that there is less than the minimum number of people, seven, booked on to the tour, so it isn’t running! (We had thought Chile may be more organised than Bolivia, but obviously not!) We had only booked on to the tour a couple of hours before and had not been told this! Anyway, he got on the phone, ringing other agencies to see who had space, this sort of thing seems to happen everywhere, they simply combine all the operators groups in to one so they don’t take empty ... read more