June 27th 2015
I’m back in the north of Chile in San pedro, having said goodbye to some amazing friends down south and now heading up back towards Peru as quickly as I can. As has always been the case in south America, I’m behind any schedule I had in mind, having spent almost 4 months in chile when I meant to spend 2 at most. That said I have a few things left to do around San Pedro de Atacama on my third visit. It’s strange to be in the city travelling alone again, since in both previous stays I’ve been quick to join up with awesome people.
Now, I normally hate tours, with a few exceptions like the best ever backpacker tour out of Mostar Bosnia, but as a solo traveller sometimes tours are the only way to get to places you want to go. Around San Pedro this is especially true, where the road signs are few and far between and a rental car starts at around 150 CAD a day. On my third visit to San Pedro De Atacama I finally decide the surreal landscapes all around might make some of the more adventurous tours worth the extravagant prices, (35000 to 45000 CLP or 70-90 CAD), the first such tour I book through the lovely Backpackers San Pedro hostel which I highly recommend (though booking tours in town can sometimes yield a cheaper price) is Piedras Rojas.
I’m feeling pretty damn sick but I’m determined not to let the attractions around SanPedro slip through my fingers again, so I decide not to put anything off, forcing myself to wake up early for the first tour.
I’m collected from my hostel as the first person in the van at 630, and after half an hour of picking up a handful of other people from hostels around this northern chilean tourist mecca town we’re on our way towards the first stop, about an hours drive away, Laguna Chaxa a place teeming with several different types of flamingoes. We all pay the 2500 CLP (5 CAD) Entrance fee and head out towards the Laguna. I’m glad to find the vast majority of the tour is ending up being Spanish, which I need to keep practicing if I ever want to be truly fluent.
The sun is barely peeking above the mountains which ring the shallow lagoon when we arrive, and we’re around 3000 meters above sea level in the chilean winter, so it’s cold, but the unique beauty of the place makes the cold easy for me to ignore as I hurry out along the path ahead of our guide towards the white crystal lake dotted by these baffling looking birds.
They don’t shy away too much and quickly I’ve forgotten that I’m here with a group alongside a few other groups and I’m focused on these amazing birds wading through the shallow waters and digging for their food. Some take flight for more distant reaches of the lagoon but enough stay close for some impressive photos.
Then the sun makes it’s presence felt casting the entire valley in glimmering orange light, shining brightly as it rises over the mountains and slowly starts to warm the air. I think I’m not alone in appreciating it as several flamingoes seem to look up gratefully.
While the rest of my group heads back to the van for breakfast, I’ve negotiated myself an extra 20 minutes to chill with the birds as the others eat. I love food, but a choice between breakfast and flamingoes, come on now. so it’s flamingoes for breakfast and I get even closer to these spectacular birds as well as finding these strange little fellows. Not flamingoes certainly, but still fascinating.
Eventually I hurry back to the van and we take off for another decently long drive to our next stop, a small town where we will later eat lunch, but for now we are checking out an old and tiny church. while it’s definitely the least impressive stop on the tour it’s still pretty enough and learning about how they irrigate their fields in the driest desert on earth, to yield sufficient crops for survival is pretty interesting.
Before too long though we’re back in the van and heading off to the most anticipated stop of the whole tour, though we do make a brief detour to a mirador of one of many impressive volcanoes located around San Pedro in the north Chilean Andes. There we also spot a pair of viscachas like I saw in Bolivia.
A few pictures later we pile back into the van and hurry along towards Piedras Rojas, a sprawling shallow lake knowns as Agua Calientes 2 surrounded by still more amazing mountains, and a strangely red coloured rock, weather smoothed rocks, though admittedly because of higher than average rainfall the red colour is somewhat muted this year with growths of calcium and other minerals.
We’re high up at this point somewhere above 4000 meters, and it’s extremely windy and cold, but our guide tells us we’ve got almost an hour here and I’m determined to make the most of it, setting off quickly away from the most famous red rocks and hiking through the unstable shale and sand mix near the edge of the lake, eventually edging out into the lake along a narrow sandbar for a better view, and trust me, such a thing is hard to imagine. This part of the world is among the most impressive regions I’ve ever seen for views of the landscapes.
I hurry along listening to music and dancing as I walk further and further from the rest of the group, jogging in short bursts despite the altitude making my lungs burn, the shifting sands below my feet not helping things.
I make it almost to the edge of the lake before turning around and hurrying back towards the rocks which give this sight it’s name.
I climb up throughly winded, hair also thoroughly winded, as I join the rest of the group who are kind enough to take some photos of me, including some more of my Paint me Jack series. It’s getting to the point where I could open a gallery just of these ones.
After spending some more time wandering around on the red rocks we head back up to the van and start heading back towards San Pedro de Atacama, but this tour is far from over, on the way back we have scheduled stops at the Lagunas Altiplanicas, often a tour unto themselves.
The drive is almost an attraction unto itself, as we weave our way up and down through mountain passes with incredible views, vicunas and llamas. Suddenly our guide and driver hits the breaks hard and we squeal to a stop, all wondering what’s happened. Then he points out the fox beside us and we marvel at the little furry creature who takes a seat not far from the road and stares right back at us. It’s pretty damn cool.
Eventually we drive away continuing toward the lakes, and paying our small entry fee there of 2500 CLP (5 Dollars) or 1500 (3 $) for students (thank you University of Ottawa- 5 year card for a 1 year program), and then climb back into the car to drive another five minutes to the first lake.
The views again are stunning, and any lingering doubt on the value of the tour is wiped from my mind as we climb out f the an and hike along the hill beside the lake, down closer to the pure blue waters of Laguna Miscanti surrounded by volcanoes and mountains. We pass a cabin where it turns out you can spend the night for 25-30 dollars a night, something I wishI’d known before as it looks like a truly incredible place. If you want to do this talk to some tourist agencies and perhaps Concaf, chile’s much maligned national park service.
We pass the cabin and continue along the path as I get to now more and more people on the tour as we get closer and closer to the sapphire blue waters. We snap a few final photos before heading back up the trail to the van and driving the short distance to the next laguna, known as Laguna Meniquez.
It’s much much smaller than it’s neighbour but just as beautiful. We spend 15 minutes exploring the area and marvelling at the endless incredible scenery before climbing back into the van and heading back towards town for a very late, but surprisingly delicious lunch.
On the way, we meet two more foxes, who cooperate well photographically speaking.
We make one final stop on the long road down out of the mountains and back to San Pedro, in a small town with another old church and tower, as well as a friendly llama. It’s hardly spectacular after all that we’ve seen earlier in the day, but the sun’s out, it’s warm, and it’s a pleasant place to end the tour.
A half hour later I’m let off in the centre of San Pedro before heading back towards San Pedro Backpackers to book my next tour, sold to me by our guide, as well as my awesome friend Albania who works at the hostel and supports my crazy pokemon card love. Tomorrow I’m off on another full day tour, this time the main attraction is the Salar de Tara. Check back soon for more otherworldly photos on another amazing tour out of San Pedro de Atacama.
