San Pedro de Atacama Desert [ 1/3 ]

I’m so excited that I’m blogging about my favorite part of our trip with my parents. I got so happy looking threw the pictures, selecting which ones to upload. I might have gone overboard with the pictures but I find all of them so dear to me and full of memories.

So, going back to Sergio’s wedding. We had to cut the reception short to come back to the B&B. We changed really quick, grabbed our stuff and ran to get in the taxi that was waiting to take us to the bus terminal. We took an overnight Grayhound to Calama. We got there around 5:30AM and had to wait for our next Grayhound that was supposed to get there at 7:00, it got there at 8:00. The terminal was freezing cold. My dad took this pic of us trying to stay warm.

We were so happy so see our next Grey Hound pulling in. We had “business” seats, we were reclined almost flat. Perfect to take a little nap and warm up the body. We woke up when we got to our final destination!

San Pedro de Atacama is a little town located in the middle of the Atacama Desert (driest desert in the world) in the high plateaus of the Andes Mountains at 7,900 ft above sea level. This is a really old town that was first inhabited by the Atacameños Indians. The climate is extremely dry, hot during the day and cold at night (hint the desert). Around the town there is archeological and lots of natural wonder sites to visit.

When we got there we had to find a place to stay, there were a lot of people giving you flyers and inviting you to visit their bed and breakfast. We chose one, and made all our reservations for the expeditions we wanted to take and headed out to walk the town. I INMEDIATLY fell in love with it. It is such a picturesque and charming place, it has a natural magnetic and mystic vibe. People usually say they feel a connection with Mother Earth and refer to the place as spiritual. I agree, I could feel a relaxing sensation. Peace.

The “down town” is really tiny. Just a few dirt streets with adobe buildings. That’s where restaurants, tourist agencies or souvenir stores were. These adobe constructions are what tourists want to see. I was so surprised to see how cosmopolitan the place was. Most of the people there were European tourists. We saw lots of French, Swiss and Swedish people, Brazilians and the occasional gringo. There were also tons of hippies and free spirited people that have come to live there, mother earth was calling! I just loved it!

Walking San Pedro Town

You could have your picture taken with the Llamas. The guy was walking to his kiosk with them. I love the accessories on their ears. They were super cute.

This house was built in 1540!

We visited the famous church of San Pedro

This is the main door to go in. I love the huge nails and the color of it

The ceiling was so neat. Never knew cactus wood existed!

This is the church’s back yard. Look at the roof, just adobe and so thick

After all the walking we were looking for a place to eat. We found a really cute and rustic place. We asked what was something traditional to eat from the area. My dad and Randy got to try it, Mom and I played it safe.

My Mom is having a Cazuela , our most traditional soup. It has chicken, corn, green beans, butternut squash and potatoes. All those flavors together makes it so delicious! I had lamb with rice and salad.

This is what the boys had. It’s called Patasca. It is a super high calorie soup made of… this is when it becomes strange… ready? Pigs insides and feet. With potatoes and some huge grains of corn. This plate is traditional and they have it often. Especially after a Minga, that’s when all the men from the neighborhood get together and help each other with house or community projects. While they are working the women are cooking this fat soup for after a hard day of work. I love that concept of family and close community. I don’t love the soup though.

In that little restaurant we had the most amazing dessert! It was a pudding made of Chañar. I had never heard of that before, so it must be a fruit from the region. They explained it to me like a type of nut that you have to dry before opening and getting the seed, which is what you eat. Anyways, the pudding was so silky and delicious.

After that huge lunch we went back to the B&B to get ready for our first excursion.

Laguna Cejar

This lagoon is Cejar. It’s unique because it has an extremely high salt content. It is impossible to submerge. You will float without any effort.

Victor, our tour guide had us on a strict time line that afternoon. We needed to be at certain place for the sunset. He was always yelling: “we leave in 30 - 10 – 5 minutes people, be ready’! Under that stressful circumstances my mom and I decided to let the boys enjoy this one. We didn't want to deal with wet swimsuits and no place to change, since we were in the middle of nowhere. Possibly being late and making Victor mad.

The water was extremely cold. They came out with their skin so red.

Salt everywhere!

Ojos del Salar

This picture is from an airplane. The Ojos del Salar –the salt flat’s eyes- are two perfectly round, naturally formed wells. They don’t know how deep they are. They told us that they have tried to measure with different methods and devices but haven’t found the bottom yet.

Laguna Tebinquinche

This is where we needed to be for the sunset. I’m so glad Victor kept everybody on a short leashe and we were there on time. This is the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. That’s Victor and our tour bus. They were making some coffee and hot chocolate with cookies to enjoy while watching the sunset.

This Lagoon was so shallow, only 7inchs deep across the whole thing! That’s why it has that mirror like reflection. Randy and I were very deep into the lagoon when my dad took this picture.

When the sun started to set, the ski turned pinkish, then some strong light blue appeared to end with some purple. Amazing!

We went to bed that night with a happy heart. So thankful to witness some of Father’s creations that we have never seen before.