Wikipedia can tell you about the Atacama Desert. It will tell you that it is the driest place on the planet. You’ll look at a map and see it occupies a hearty chunk of land at the top of Chile. You’ll also learn that the most recent James Bond movie was filmed there. And somewhere you just might read about San Pedro de Atacama, the oasis town of your dreams.
I’ve never seen more Germans nonchalantly carrying expensive cameras around their necks than I have seen on the pedestrian streets of San Pedro. It’s a year-round backpacker heaven, essentially the big brother to Pucon in the south. There are solicitors outside every main restaurant trying to convince you to eat at their place; walk five minutes off the main strip and the prices are usually halved. All this in a town with no real supermarket and only two ATMs that frequently run out of money.
We went on a lot of tours in San Pedro, almost too much. I never thought I’d become such a tour junkie, but that’s really what you do here. The sights around San Pedro are destinations in their own right, and the cheapest and easiest way to experience them is in a van with a bunch of other tourists. Luckily we had an awesome group of Canadian girls and a few fellas from Cali and we were able to get everything for a steal.
So I will pick out six moments to convey the bizarre landscapes and rare sights of the desert.
1. Sandboarding is like tobogganing while standing up: you have little control, it hurts to wipe out, and it’s a hell of a rush. The place looked something like Tatooine which means it looked like Morocco. You’d also guess that the climb back up the dune was strenuous and that I got sand in every orifice of my body. You'd be right.
2. The Laguna Cejar is a very salty lake located quite a few klicks down a very bumpy road. The salt increases the density of the water and thus you always float without any effort. It was a neat sensation, and swimming was very easy. Of course, the salt dries on everything you touch so you need a good rinsing with freshwater afterwards.
3. Los Ojos del Salar are two smaller pools of freshwater that randomly sit in the desert. The van driver started talking trash to me and making chicken noises about being afraid to swim so I jumped in. The cool freshwater was an amazing feeling. But after the buoyant memories from the salt lake a little earlier, it suddenly felt like I was sinking like a lead pipe.
4. The Salar de Atacama was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It’s a salt plain, similar to the one we saw in Salta, but it is covered with 10 cm of water. The water is still, acting like a huge mirror in front of the Andes background. It only got better as the sun dipped low, casting a golden hue on the scene before quickly setting behind the horizon. There are images you never forget.
5. The only way to see the El Tatio geysers are an early morning (4am) drive to high elevations, and the worst headache of your life afterwards. The geysers put on a bit of a steam show at dawn every morning as the cold air and evaporating water meet. The guide tells us not to go too close. Before the sun goes up it is negative 14 and I give up my gloves to the guy from Cali who is shivering like was just saved from the Titanic.
6. The most classic tour in San Pedro is the Valley of the Moon. It was rather strange, and looking back at the pictures does make me think it looked like another planet. But after the action-packed few days and so many superbe sights, I was a little disappointed.There, six things. That wasn't TOO long.
The desert remains a place teaming with life – albeit foreign backpacker life. Crossing the desert is one of those spirit of adventure ideas you hear about on life lists, and none sounds more poetic than the Atacama. I sit on my 21st Century camel – a cushy Marco Polo bus – and watch the green enclave fade away and become engulfed by bleakness.
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