It’s impossible to experience everything San Pedro de Atacama has to offer but we did our best with a rental car over three days. We spent many hours driving through otherworldly desert landscapes that truly felt like being on a different planet. Get ready for a landscape and selfie extravaganza.
Valle de La Luna was the first road trip, just about 30 minutes outside of town.
The second day we drove way out to Piedras Rojas and the Laugunas Miscanti y Miniques. At an elevation of 13,800 it was dang cold, extraordinarily windy, and about 12 F. You must buy tickets ahead of time on the official website and decide if you want to see the rocks then the lakes or vice versa. We opted for rocks then lakes.
Before we left home I connected with some backpackers on a Facebook group. They were twenty something sisters from the Czech Republic and turned out to be delightful travel companions. We initially intended to find people to share in the cost but after we met them we decided that it would make more sense to give back to the backpacker universe some of the generosity we received over the years when we were out there on the road. The only thing we asked was that in 30 years when they become elder backpackers that they do the same for someone else.
We saw vicuñas, a fox, and flamingos on the way back. It was like being on safari. We saw the flamingos at Chaxa Laguna. You can pay at the gate. There’s three kinds of flamingos in Chile, they are at these high altitude lakes year round.
And crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, the furthest south we’ve ever been.
Next morning we picked up the sisters at 0430 and drove 90 minutes to an elevation of 14,170 to El Taito the third largest geyser field in the world. Driving up a mountain on a very gravely and crazily winding dirt road in the pitch dark was pretty harrowing. We felt relived to have made it. They are best viewed at dawn because the temperature contrast between the hot water of the geysers and the cold air causes dramatic plumes of steam. Of course the drive back was stunning but even scarier than going up in the dark because now that it was light out we could see how we were going to die if we veered off the road. Luis driving skills were superb though. If you aren’t a confident and experienced driver this journey is best left to a professional tour guide.
We said goodbye to our young friends and drove out to the Petroglifos Yerbas Buenas where we could scramble around on a pile of rocks that looked like they were placed there on a movie set and find petroglyphs.
We saw tons of llamas roaming around, and probably a herd of 100 at a small watering area. They came steaming in from all directions, we pulled off the road to watch.
No trip to the Atacama Desert would be complete without an Astronomy tour. They drive you out to the desert where they have huge telescopes, give you a whole lesson on what you’re seeing, and take really nice photos for you. This experience was one of the main reasons for going to Chile, and one I have dreamed about for years.
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