Blogs from Atacama, Chile, South America - page 4

South America » Chile » Atacama April 15th 2015

As we flew north from Valparaiso the Andes were on our right and the Pacific was on our left. As the Andes turned inland we did too and followed the mountains north for about 200 miles. On our left the green disappeared and was replaced by red/brown and red/orange, the color of the desert. Every so often there was a small village and square ponds of fluorescent green looking liquid, looking incredibly out of place. These were the copper and Lithium mines which are the most important industries for all of Chile. Aside from that, the scenery was spectacular. A small strip of grey green trees, scrubby and thorny appeared on the left side of the plane and we landed nearby. The town is called San Pedro de Atacama and it lies pretty much in the ... read more

Amazing and Magical Atacama Desert

South America » Chile » Atacama January 7th 2015

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ClairesTravel

Today was an early day. We had to get up at 4:30 for our 5:00am departure. Today’s adventure is to the geysers. It was dark and cold. The hotel packed us a lunch since we wouldn’t get the morning breakfast. Emilio came and got us again today, yea. Bad news was the Brazilian family was back. Oh well. There were several other groups too and Helena (from Australia) who was traveling along. All and all, a good group. It was quiet on the drive up (1 hour and half). We all tried to sleep but the roads were curvy and bumpy so I would call it just a rest. We arrive and the temperature was 32. We are glad we wore the right clothes. Seems the colder it is the better the geysers and 32 is ... read more

Atacama Desert - Moon Valley

South America » Chile » Atacama January 6th 2015

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ClairesTravel

Our first day in the Atacama Desert was great. Well, it started out a little stressful. We changed our pick up time to get us to the airport 30 minutes later so we would get there 1:30 beforehand. We even got there earlier as the traffic was great so we had about 1:45 until our flight. Once we walked in, we went thank God!!!!. Oh the line to the LAN desk was long. Can I say long! We got in it. On the way we saw a sign this was for baggage drop so Shelly peeled out to try to checkin at the kiosk. No go – first shot but the line was moving great so we didn’t worry until we got to the split point where they checked for boarding passes. Well, we didn’t have ... read more

Yesterday the moon, today Mars

South America » Chile » Atacama January 6th 2015

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ClairesTravel

Day 2 of the Atacama Desert( 1/5) was another great day. Today we got up and had breakfast at the lodge and then our guide from yesterday picked us up. (He didn’t think her would be our guide today). We got in a van and there were 2 other groups, both from Sao Paulo Brazil with us. The young couple was nice, the parents of the other group were nice but the kids were brats but oh well…. Kids are kids everywhere. Our first stop was to a small village (Toconao) about 20 km from San Pedro de Atacama. We saw a llama and local craftsman shop and a church that was built in 1750. As we drove along our guide showed us all of the volcanos. There are probably about 20 in this area. One ... read more

San Pedro de Atacama

South America » Chile » Atacama November 30th 2014

Vallée de la lune

Elbalex

29 novembre 2014 - Jour 43 2ème jour de suite où on se lève à 4h du mat, on commencerait presque à avoir l'habitude! On a quand même décidé de faire l'excursion pour aller voir les geysers du Tatio qui sont paraît-il plus impressionnants que ceux de Bolivie. On nous a prévenus qu'il ferait très froid car on doit monter à 4200m, on a donc sortis les vêtements thermiques et on a bien fait, la température est de -7 degrés ce matin. On arrive sur place pour le lever du soleil, le site est effectivement beaucoup plus grand qu'en Bolivie et ici il y a des geysers qui crachent de l'eau, pas uniquement de la fumée. C'est marrant, il y en a même plusieurs qui fonctionnent en tandem: quand l'un crache l'autre est éteint et inversément. ... read more

Chile posts: Dances with lions

South America » Chile » Atacama » Chañaral de Aceituno June 21st 2014

View over Chañaral de Aceituno

Patiperro

This turned out to be one of the best weekends I've had in a while. During 2012 and 2013 I traveled around the world. Now I'm back home and back to a job with schedules (not complaining, just saying). This year, especially the second semester, I'm planning to do short getaways to lesser known places in Chile and write about them. That weekend I got my outdoor fix which was much needed. Just when I managed to get a few days off work, the people that work in a dive center with whom I usually dive, planned a dive trip to one of the best spots in continental Chile. It's a not very well known cove: "Caleta Chañaral de Aceituno". For this same reason, dive sites are just recently being discovered. The main attraction of this ... read more

Photogenic birds and sunset over Chañaral island

San Pedro De Atacama - Lunar Landscapes and Swimming at 4,000 Metres

South America » Chile » Atacama April 16th 2014

Rain and wind carved rock in the Valley of the Moon

fromthebottomup

By the time of my departure from Salta I had begun to take long bus journeys for granted. At worst they were an enervating, necessary evil. At best they were comfortable, an excuse to switch off and read. I had no reason to amend this assessment ahead of the journey from Salta to San Pedro De Atacama (San Pedro). We left Salta in darkness at 7 am and for the first few hours followed the same route as a couple of days earlier; up to the start of the Humahuaca gorge and then west into Pumamarka. It was mildly interesting to recognise places we'd seen before - Tumbaya, the locals now dispersed, presumably back to the mountains; the 7 coloured hill at Pumamarka. However, it was only when we passed Pumamarka and entered terra incognita ... read more

Dunes and rock formation in the Valley of the Moon

Sunset across the Valley of the Moon and the Atacama Desert (1)

Sunset across the Valley of the Moon and the Atacama Desert (2)

From the bottom to the top of Chile via Bariloche and Santiago

South America » Chile » Atacama April 15th 2014

Bariloche lakes in the sunshine

Around the world eventually

After our lovely, but slightly longer than planned stay in Puerto Williams due to adverse weather, we were very happy to wake up to a calm, snow free morning on the day we planned to fly back to Punta Arenas to make our way north. On leaving our hostel for the airport we were given a big hug from Patty the hostel owner, who was sad to see us go as we were her last guests of the season (she was either going to hibernate or migrate to warmer climes for the winter). There had been much talk about the various sizes of aeroplanes that flew from Puerto Williams from other hostel guests, but we had no idea which plane we would be boarding. Our plane turned out to be one of the smallest, seating only ... read more

Ross enjoys an Argentinian birthday meat feast

The Dust and Heat of the Atacama Desert

South America » Chile » Atacama March 12th 2014

Gas stop at Maria Elena

Rosco p

The ride from Antofagasta, north through the Atacama, which is one of the driest deserts in the world, where there has been no recorded rainfall, is a challenge for both riders and motos. One of the biggest challenges for the rider is Staying Awake!! The desert is not boring by any means, but couple the 525 kms and temperatures in the mid 30's C one has to pay attention. We got away around 8.30 am and basically 'Fuel Hopped' as the Spyder only has a usable 200km range, but by then everyone was happy for the rest and more fluids. We passed many old ruins from the Nitrate mining days that are just disintegrating in the harsh conditions. We stopped at Maria Elena, one of these old nitrate mining towns that is still inhabited. After refuelling ... read more

Two Days in Iquique, Chile (March 2014)

South America » Chile » Atacama March 9th 2014

Iquique 001

GregandJoan

5 March 2014 – Wednesday – Arica to Iquique, Chile Notes: Morning bus through Atacama Desert to Iquique. Lunch Menu del Dia at Oasis. Joan retired to beach and I walked the downtown. Main street with many wooden clapboard buildings, some in shameful disrepair; wooden boardwalk. Very hot. The bus trip from Arica to Iquique took 5 hours, passing through the Atacama Desert in which nothing grows. It claims to be the driest desert in the world. When you think of Chile you do not think of deserts, but a large percentage of Chile is desert. The Atacama Desert is over 1000 kilimetres long and we will be travelling through all of it. We had not heard of Iquique before yesterday. We had been planning on going straight to Antofagasta but Joan was having a difficult ... read more

Brief history of Chile

Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians inhabited central and southern Chile; the latter were not completely subjugated until the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its ind...more history

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