San Pedro de Atacama

7 July 2017

On arrival at Calama airport, the first thing the bus driver said was to ‘put on your seatbelts’. No one had insisted on seatbelts for months now, so I knew Chile was going to be different – everything worked and I was relieved after the haphazard chaos of Bolivia.

There are windfarms en route to San Pedro; the roads are well maintained and the people well-mannered and organised. All the stories I had heard in Peru about the Chileans seem somewhat exaggerated now. I know. They’re still upset about the War of the Pacific, 1879 to 1884.

The drive from Calama to San Pedro de Atacama is stunningly beautiful; and is a tour in itself. Look in any direction and you will be greeted by an impressive vista. The ante-plano stretches before you framed by the Andes Mountains and blanketed by a startling blue sky.

San Pedro has the largest Salt flats in Chile and lies between the main Andes mountain range on the East and the Cordillera de Domeyko on the west. As rain fall on both ranges, the minerals are carried to the flat planes below where they form a salt crust; but near San Pedro the salt flats are cracked forming small crystals around the mud compared to the smooth planes in Uyuni, Bolivia. This is because of the heat and low humidity: water evaporates too quickly, not giving the minerals enough time to form a hard, flat surface above the earth.

This area is rich in minerals and is probably the richest region in Chile, hosting the copper mines as well as a significant proportion of the world’s lithium deposits. Of course, in the late 19^th century they didn’t have lithium batteries; saltpetre mines and guano deposits were strategic conflicts between Bolivia, Peru and Chile – saltpetre can be used as fertilisers or in the making of explosives. It seems somewhat absurd now, when chemical fertilisers are manufactured, but back then many wars were fought over guano and saltpetre. Not too long before the War of the Pacific, Spain made one last desperate attempt to re-exert itself in South America with the Chincha Wars, 1864 to 1866. If you really thought about it, they were basically fighting over dried bird poo.

It’s a strange thing to make value judgements on historical events with our modern sensibilities.

My own journey in this part of the world was a lot more peaceful and relaxed. I had agreed to meet my husband in San Pedro at the beginning of July, and after a cycling injury in Bolivia, I was more than happy to be looked after.

Having stayed in a hostel on the edge of town, weaving through adobe houses each day while I waited for his arrival; it was a little strange to move to a proper hotel when he arrived. Understandably he is not a fan of hostels, when you feel you have paid your dues in life, ‘slumming it’ is no longer an option. After a very comfortable afternoon in the hotel reception I also could not go backwards in lifestyle.

We were lucky enough to squeeze in some start-gazing before the full moon. When there is too much light you cannot see the stars. It is obvious when you think about it, but you seldom do if you don’t need to. We learnt a lot about galaxies, stars, planets and how to spot constellations. It was amazing to see the pale yellow glow of Jupiter with the naked eye, and then observe it through a telescope and clearly see all of its four moons. We also saw the earth’s moon through the telescope for the first time. Completely unreal!

 

When the astronomer mentioned Alpha Centauri, I immediately thought of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, the four light year distance is so close that Douglas Adams chose to place the local planning department there. Glad I don’t need to go there to check whether there’s a demolition order for planet earth.

A less enjoyable experience was the Tatio Geysers, it was so cold the soles of my feet hurt inside my boots, the frostiness seared through my clothes and pierced right into my bones. Chris couldn’t stand up straight from the cold, appreciating his Peruvian hat for the first time, even the purple alpacas didn’t put him off wearing it. Between us, we used a lot of tissues just to maintain some semblance of civility. I was constantly shivering and could not stand still long enough to appreciate the steamy geysers and the bubbling explosions from below the earth.

The sheer variety of activities available from San Pedro is amazing and it’s not just sightseeing. Cycling around town and to Moon Valley or Death Valley are great options, if you were up for it you can even go sandboarding. The Moon Valley here is very different to what I saw in La Paz. Here, the earth is red and has a wholesome feel to it, compared to the concrete look of the rock formations in La Paz. The sand dunes are also a dark reddish-brown, almost as if they were ground down from mud bricks, instead of the yellow granules powdering the Arabian Desert.

The sunset over Moon Valley is magical; your gaze follows the sun as the shadow pushes the light towards the horizon. Then the entire sky become sediments of colour as the residual light creates stacked layers of blue, pink and red, one fading into the other until there is darkness.

Before we leave this magical place, we had to see the ante-plano lakes. The Chaxa Lagoon early in the morning is serene and enchanting. The flamingos were so close and plentiful it was even more exciting than seeing them from a high platform in the Galapagos. When they take flight, you truly acknowledge that this is nature. In this story, they are the protagonists and we, humans, are here to witness their lives.

Finally we make it to an ante-plano lake that is still accessible at this time of year and realise why people come to this part of the world. The Andean peaks mirrored in the lake are breathtakingly beautiful, and the stillness, the silence… fills you.

In today’s world our senses are so over stimulated and even quiet places are filled with activity. Here there is nothing, once the crunching of the tires on the dry mud roads cease there is just silence!