SAN PEDRO de ATACAMA: Dry Tourism

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When Madonna sang eloquently of her love for San Pedro, we assumed the ´girl with the desert in her eyes´ referred to the worlds dryest place - the Atacama desert. And we figured we would love it also.

And so we left Argentina, for the dry delights of Northern Chile. And we found San Pedro. And it was kind of nice enough. It was just that you could safely fire a gun down the main street, and not hit a single local.

It is easy to see why San Pedro is a hive of history when getting out of it and looking back. It is set down in a depression, bringing the scarce water resource closer to the surface. The early travellers would have seen a relative oasis. Pre-inca civilisations blended into an Inca colony (a probably bloodless process), followed by Spanish colonisation (definitely bloody), shaping the complex finds here to be enjoyed - and combined with the unbelievable volcanic desert landscapes, it is now easy to understand why there are so many of us touristy types here...

Unfortuntately, we also discovered a good recipe for a migraine:

* 1 hard day of internet catchup
* add an insufficient one quarter measure of water to maintain a dry consistency
* a splash of unaccustomed altitude, and
* shaken hard (not stirred) with a hard arsed cycle the previous night to catch a spectacular sunset in the desert

Arlene came crashing down with a really good one, and was written off for most of our (remarkably expensive) stay in this little town. Benj´s role as increasingly frustrated nurse gave way on the last afternoon to a desperate last minute bike rental (an ill-fitting mountain bike) to do a 30km time trial ranging between concrete highway to ´rough as guts´dusty roads, in a bid to catch the sights before moving on forever and missing San Pedro´s various treasures.

The best of San Pedro is not far out of town, so bike rental is big business.

* Valle de la Luna - a national park boasting beautiful terrain, and of course a good sunset vantage. This means cycling back to S.P. in the dark, heavily rugged up in some terrible fashion accessories (ref photos).
* Aldea Tulor - a small pre-Incan town of some 200 inhabitants is now a series of circular adobe type walls being reclaimed by the inexorable progress of the desert sand dunes. Beautiful to see how this community lived in interlocked dwellings, giving a real community to their lives.
* Quitor Pukara - pre-incan, and then Incan fort of Quitor. Imagine a pa site using stone walls, where most of the walls have survived the eventual conquering spaniards (who actually sent malcontent Incan slaves in to take the defensive heights). Despite news of the fall of the Incan civilisation in Peru (North) by the Spaniards and allies, this was the site of a brave final defence. Unlike the walls, the local Incan hierarchy did not survive, as the invaders carefully ensured they were beheaded and impaled on the Pukara.

So with some excitement, we are again saying goodbye to Chile, and keen to experience a completely different South America, as we enter Bolivia.
Hasta Luego, Chile!

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Photos

Northern Argentina to Chile
The desolate volcanic scape was a breathtaking sight in the flesh

Spot the local (by day)
A game of ten gringo bowling anyone?

Great way to get around
...and what a view in every direction.

Best empanadas ever
Llama was good, fortunately no cat on the menu.

Plenty of lakes, and partly frozen
Warm by day, deadly old by night

Q: Scientist, Priest, or E.T.?
A: All of the above. A priest who took a great interest in local archaology, and founded the Museum in San Pedro.

San Pedro by night
Muchas touristas a todas horas.

Aldea de Tulor
Recreation of this desert town housing 200 odd people

Back entrance of the pukara
Benj goes roack climbing up the back of an impassable defensive position, thinking this LOTR type entrance must be the main road in...

Pukara
This fort withstood two Spanish assaults. Thid time unlucky - the summit was taken by ex-Incan slaves, and a successful society was beheaded.

Amigos de Espana
Moon Valley canyon.

Take the higher ridge
Fortunately most tourists go the easy way - so the further places are a little less busy...

Comments

[Krista]

loving the lycra
More great photos guys! Especially like the lycra shots, and the one of the tardis :-)

[Steven]

Migraine cure
I found whilst traveling in South America the best all round cure for anything is the good old cocoa leaf, get the leaf raw, rinse with clean water, chew the leaf and then spit out the waste. (You get used to the taste) after a good 6 or so leaves you will have no sickness that worries you. ;)

[ArleneandBenj]

Lycra
Thanks Krista, Sometimes important to not take personal appearance too seriously - it was funny what we ended up wearing when thinking only of the temperature dropping 1deg per 6 mins... Hope you guys are well with your big life adventure also! Benj