Chile's Northern Desert of Atacama

THE TOWN OF SAN PEDRO

San Pedro's main plaza

I crossed the border of Bolivia into Chile in the early morning.  A pretty easy border crossing near the town of San Pedro.  To my surprise, this desert town was beaming with backpackers from all over, who come here to experience the natural beauty and the many adventures begging you to get a taste.  It was here, I met three Australian guys who epitomize all the good stereotypes that make Australians lovable.  It was a great way to spend this last two weeks of my South American trip.  Outside of all the debauchery guys enjoy while backpacking, there was plenty of nature to experience to justify a return trip.

main street

painting the town red with some Aussie backpackers

kicking it at a bon fire with locals outside of San Pedro

STAR GAZING

It is said that the northern deserts surrounding Atacama in Northern Chile where Bolivia and Argentina converge is the best place on the planet to view the Milky Way.  What could a city slicker like me expect?  I can’t make this up, but believe you me, the stars are so visible and so tangible, that not only do you see countless stars of the Southern Hemisphere, but also, one can see the white star-studded stripe that makes up the belt of the iconic Milky Way.  Think National Geographic magazine photography in real life and you can understand what I’m describing. 

With the naked eye, I was able to see the Southern Cross just on the horizon of the Southern Hemisphere.  It is the equivalent of the North Star for those that live in the Northern Hemisphere.  Instead of the Big Dipper, one will see the Baby Llama, but is only visible as dark space.  The absence of light in this one particular area of the star lit sky creates an illusion of a llama.  With a telescope, I was able to view the ring of Saturn.  Simply amazing!

RED ROCKS AND THE NATIONAL RESERVE OF THE FLAMINGOES

Endless fields of corn colored wild shrubs stretching across open plains disappear at the edge of barren volcanoes more than 6,000 meters high.  Earthen roads snaking up and over, guiding lonely tour vans to places like the Red Rocks.  This unique place was formed millions of years ago from the powerful explosions of two volcanoes known as Miniques and Miscanti that are sacred to the indigenous people living here.  The lava, rich in iron, quickly cooled and oxidized, forming huge reddish rusted platform that look hand crafted by the hands of giants.  Contrasting with these fields of volcanic rocks are sulfuric baby-blue colored lakes.  Sections of the lakes are frozen, which include frozen waves along the shore.  Unbelievable!  Clouds are rare, but flamingoes feeding are plenty at the National Reserve of the Flamingoes not far from here.  If you’re lucky, you will also catch a glimpse of wild guanacos, a type of porky rabbit and herds of the wild version of the alpaca, known as viscacha galloping across the land.

VALLEY OF THE MOON

Another surreal landscape is the Valle de la Luna or the Valley of the Moon.  The name says it all.  There you can explore caves, hike three-hundred foot sand dunes, go mountain biking, or just take in the sun setting over a barren valley of rocks eroded over millions of years.

SERENA

Chile stretches along 4,000 kilometer north and south axis, so we broke up our twenty-four hour bus ride to the capital of Santiago at the coastal town of Serena about sixteen hours south of San Pedro.  Due to the time of year, this seaside town which is known for drawing thousands of Chileans to it’s seafood restaurants and nightlife felt a bit lifeless.  The town center is too far to walk to the beaches, so we took a taxi there to play some dominoes, sip some beers while watching a beautiful winter sunset.  Sadly, the experience was dampened, when I noticed my iphone was no longer with me in the cab back to our hostel.  Thank Jesus for icloud.  Otherwise, many of these photos would have been lost somewhere in another galaxy.

the Four Horsemen on our 16 hour bus ride to Serena