Blogs from San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region, Chile, South America - page 14

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Hola amigos; here we are now in Chile, writing to you from the sleepy (and very touristy) town of San Pedro de Atacama. It's been quite a journey since we last wrote to you, so I guess I'd better start from the beginning... The day after our bike ride we decided to take a trip out of La Paz to a village a few hours North called Sorata, known for a nearby cave containing a pool historically believed to have healing properties. Though we didn't actually visit the cave in question, by the time we got there we were in serious need of some healing - the minibus driver's handling of the twisty alpine-style roads was even more hair-raising than on our taxi trip to Ollantaytambo (we privately nicknamed it 'Death Road part II'). Added to ... read more
Cementario de Trenes, Uyuni
Fern, in the palm of my hand
Jon, can we take one home please?!


Hello friends! We have made our way down the Peruvian coast and into the Atcama desert of Chile. Highlights of our trip since the last blog: We flew over the Nazca lines, which are these ancient giant drawings in the desert of different animals and shapes and an astronaut (or what they call the astronaut). No one really knows how made them or why. They were made by moving rocks out of the sand in distinct patterns. They´ve stayed that way for so long because the heat of the desert creates this bizarre protective layer on the ground so the wind doesn´t disturb the placement. The plane was a 6 seater and a little rough on my stomach, but I managed to make it through without throwing up. This might not seem like an accomplishment, but ... read more


After a 24 hour bus ride we ended up in San Pedro a dusty oasis town in northern Chile. San Pedro is famous for the nearby Atacama desert the highest and driest on earth. The town itself has a laid back feel and is tiny just one square and one major street, made up of whitewhashed buildings and a plaza with a beautiful church as the centre piece. It is a very dusty place with dirt streets, you expect to see Butch Cassidy riding through the main square, it has a real frontier feel about it. Travelling in this vast and empty northern desert of Chile, where a brutal sun gives way to a freezing night, has an eary feeling without any vegetation around, it is likened to the surface of the moon. San Pedro is ... read more
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The day we left Salta was a silly start with a bus leaving at 6.30am. I don’t know who scheduled this but I don’t like them! The day itself started out well with a bit of a sleep, and then improved with some stunning views during the drive. The altitude changes here are amazing, and as a result there is a lot of zig zagging road that we had to cover. Some great views and exceptionally narrow stretches of road! We managed to get a little bit of excitement on this trip as when we were going through immigration to leave Argentina (at some silly altitude) it seemed that I had illegally entered the country… No record of an Aaron Michael with my passport number. Fortunately for me, Catherine was there and her stamps matched mine… ... read more
Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley


Vi har akkurat vært fire dager midt i ørkenen, nærmere bestemt Atacama og byen San Pedro de Atacama, og det har vært helt fantastisk! Byen i seg selv, er bitte liten, men likevel Chiles kanskje største turistmål: 3000 innbyggere og noe sånt som 2,7 millioner turister her årlig! Jeg er glad vi er her utenfor høysesong, for å si det sånn! Men nå er det ikke selve byen som er turistmålet her, det er alt som er rundt, og vi har vært på noen supre turer og sett MYE fin og flott og fantastisk natur, som kanskje toppa seg med en geysir-tur til 4300 meter i går. Men det første først. Vi dro fra Viña del Mar og videre til La Serena, en liten trivelig by. Ikke så mye å gjøre der, tror helt bestemt at ... read more
Photo 7
Photo 8
Photo 9


After the pandemonium in Santiago, today was a day to rest and explore this tiny town in the middle of nowhere. We all gasped as we stepped out of the hostel to see miles and miles of desert, surrounded by mountains and beautifully conical volcanoes. We hadn't been able to fully appreciate our location on arrival, and we spent a good few minutes just staring at the view. The morning was dedicated to booking a 3 day trip to the salt flats in Uyuni, Bolivia, as well as some activities for the following day. Conscious that we shouldn't eat a big meal for dinner as we were going to an altitude of 4200m the following morning at sunrise, we opted for a 3 course lunch! A charismatic charmer called Rocco encouraged us into his "gourmet" restaurant ... read more
View from hostel
Tiny Town
First taste of ceviche


Avec traduction française Die Fahrt von Salta (Argentinien) ueber die Grenze nach San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) stimmt uns auf das ein, was wir in den naechsten Tagen an Landschaften zu sehen bekommen werden: Schluchten, bizarre Felsformationen in allen Farben, Kakteen, (Salz-)Wueste und das alles in unglaublichen Hoehen. Der argentinische Grenzposten auf dem Paso de Jama liegt auf 4200m, wir haben erstmals etwas Muehe mit Atmen. In San Pedro (2400m) wollen wir uns etwas an die Hoehe gewoehnen, bevor es wieder hoch hinaus ueber die Grenze nach Bolivien weitergeht. San Pedro selber hat aber auch sonst einiges zu bieten, wir koennen uns problemlos 4 Tage die Zeit vertreiben. Dies nicht zuletzt wegen dem gemuetlichen Hostel mit Haengematten und der Bekanntschaft mit Patrick und Judith aus der Ostschweiz. San Pedro liegt in einer Oase am Rande der ... read more
Felsformationen im Valle de la Luna
Valle de la Muerte im Abendlicht
Geysirfeld El Tatio


Hola Amigos! After arrangements were finalized for Glenn and Marjorie’s journey home, Greg and I jumped on a bus to San Pedro de Atacama, in the north of Chile, away from the earth quake scene. San Pedro is 24 hours by bus from Santiago and landscape wise is very different. Not a cloud in the sky, hot temperatures in the high 30s, very dry, little vegetation apart from cactuses and sparse shrubs and clay coloured dirt and buildings. We stayed at this wonderful little hostel, Candelaria, with hammocks and an above ground pool. Our first day, we walked into town to explore and see about organizing a way to get into Bolivia. The town is made up of narrow dirt streets with small bungalow stores, restaurants and tons of tour agencies. The tourist vibe was easily ... read more
Greg running down the sand dunes, very fun!
Laura on the moon
Greg watching the sunset..shortly after this photo, Greg started shaking from the earth quake


So OK, we´ve been a bit lazy. First blog in ages! I´ll do a bit of a summary of what we´ve been up to, and hopefully we´ll be a bit better from now on. We´re in the desert in northern Chile at the moment, nut for now here´s a catch up... From Bariloche we went down to El Bolson, a nice little town in the lake district in Argentina. It´s a bit of an old hippy hangout, apparently it´s got one of the world´s great energy centres, but we didn´t feel anything man. What we did feel was a big 8hr hike in the rain up and down mountains, and over indiana jones style bridges, which Sarah loved. From there we got a couple of buses over to Chile, where the slightly anal border control took ... read more
Gently does it...
Sturdy bridge
Birthday beer on Chiloe


San pedro de Atacama ligt in het midden van de Atacama- woestijn op ongeveer 2700m. Het is een klein dorpje, heel gezellig, maar ze kennen de prijzen en het loopt er overvol met toeristen. In San Pedro de Atacama de eerste dag een moutainbike gehuurd, er was ons gezegd dat er enkele archeologische sites de moeite zijn. We zijn eerst een site gaan bezoeken 4km ten noorden van san pedro. De plaats heet Quitor en is een oude inca-ruine. vervolgens 12 km naar het zuiden van San Pedro gaan kijken naar de overblijfselen van een pre-colombiaans Atacameno-dorp Aldea Tulor. Die middag om 16u vertrokken richting de Moon valley. Er is absoluut geen leven te bespeuren en de vallei heeft, zoals de naam zegt, iets weg van een maanlandschap met scherpe pieken die gevormd zijn door de ... read more
San pedro de atacama
Moutainbiken
Moutainbiken




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