San Pedro de Atacama
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We took a 12-hour bus ride from Salta to Calama, crossing over the Andes on the way. Similar to the Santiago -> Mendoza drive, this was very scenic. We got up to a maximum elevation of 4,800 m which me and Lucas definitely noticed. At first I thought it was just a headache, until we had to get out at the border crossing and quickly realised it was from the altitude. The headache and shortness of breath stopped pretty much as soon as we were back halfway down the mountain.
We stayed the night in Calama before collecting our rental car the next day. Not much to report on regarding Calama, I probably wouldn’t recommend staying there unless you have to do what we did. We booked an SUV vehicle (not 4WD) and they ended up giving us a Ute which was all talk but no walk since it didn’t have 4WD or even all wheel drive. We drove to San Pedro de Atacama once we collected the car and ended up sorting some admin the rest of the day like getting out Chile pesos, exchanging for USD & Bolivianos, and we booked our 3-day 4WD Uyuni salt flats tour.
Our first full day with the car we went to Laguna Cejar which is a salt lake you can swim in (float in). It’s so buoyant that it’s actually impossible to sink, and therefore would be pretty hard to drown in. You’re only allowed in for 20 days minutes before the salt can start affecting your skin.
We also visited Laguna Tebinquiche which was just down the road from Laguna Cejar, but it was pretty unimpressive and not worth posting any of my average photos on this blog for.
The next day we set off for Salar de Tara but we chickened out on the way there realising it was probably more suitable to be in a 4WD for that trip. We ended up driving on SH27 until we got to Mirador Salar de Loyoques, about 2 hours from San Pedro. We stopped a lot along the way for pictures of different scenes. We got up to about 4,700 m again, but this time I didn’t really feel anything other than slight shortness of breath when I ran to the car to get something. Amazing how quickly the body can acclimatise when it needs.
Next stop was visiting Petroglifos Yerbas Buenas, some cave carvings / drawings that date back to some date I don’t actually know because we got there and they were closed. We drove 1.5 hours from San Pedro de Atacama to find out the caves were shut. We were also going to check out Valle de Arcoíris (valley of rainbows) but this was also shut off due to flood damage. Not the most successful afternoon. We did however see our first llamas on the drive back which was exciting.
On our final day with the car we got up at the crack of dawn (4.45am) to visit the El Tatio Geysers which are best seen as the sun is rising. This was a 1.5 hour drive, and when we got there we found out we could only drive to one of the geyser sites since the road required a 4x4 due to heavy rainfall a few days earlier. Another activity that was affected by the rain. We still got to enjoy the geyser pools while the sun was rising so we were happy enough.
After a nap back at the hostel and some breakfast/lunch we put our walking shoes on and set out for the Devils Throat rocks, a 6km walk from the hostel. However, when we got there we got turned around as apparently there was flood damage there as well. So another activity/plan that didn’t go ahead due to the high rainfall in the Andes a few days earlier.
I went for a few runs during our stay in San Pedro, the same route each time. It was nice to get up early in the morning before it got too hot and move the legs. I opted for a countryside run to get out of the town. It felt more like I was running in a quarry, but instead I was just running in San Pedro’s natural environment. On my last day I had a big golden dog run with me the whole way haha. At first he ran up to me excited and wanted to play. But when he realised I wasn’t up for games, I was too busy puffing, it tucked in next to me and followed the whole way. It turned around when I turned around haha. Poor buddy probably just wanted an owner 🥲
The next day we dropped the dirty car back off to the rental place in Calama before heading back to San Pedro for one final night before we headed off on our 3 day 4WD Uyuni salt flats tour. It was epic being able to experience San Pedro de Atacama with a car, having the freedom to do what we wanted and when. We appreciated every moment of it and enjoyed our 4 days in the area.
Links & Lessons Learned
[ SAN PEDRO, CHILE ]
[ CHILE ]
[ SOUTH AMERICA ]
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