Visiting the Atacama Desert, Chile

By Terence Baker

Church near San Pedro de Atacama. © Joris van Ostaeyen

A succession of flights took me to the world’s driest spot. I passed through San Francisco, New York City, Lima, Santiago, Antofagasta and finally to Calama. Then came a bus trip from Calama to the village of San Pedro de Atacama – and at last I had reached my destination, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.

My guide, Victor Vaccaro, said he remembers it only raining once here. And that was a rain that any Englishman or New Englander would scoff at.

San Pedro de Atacama once had a river, but no more. Water is funneled in from the Andes via artificial channels. The nearby mountains (most noticeably, 19,409-foot Licancabur) mark Chile’s borders with Argentina and Bolivia. The village itself has lived on tourism since the construction of the road to Calama, but its dusty streets, whitewashed church and small square still retain a feeling of remoteness.

On all sides, the desert starts with a vengeance. Care must be taken on the road to Calama. Graves mark the road – initially, I thought they were monuments to traffic accidents, but traffic accidents are a rare problem here in the desert where approaching cars kick up clouds of dust that can be seen 20 miles away. It turns out that landmines were laid here in the late 1980s when relations with Argentina hit rock bottom, and today no one can remember exactly where the mines were laid. The graves show where some unfortunate traveler rediscovered one.

Fortunately, the area immediately around San Pedro is clear, but do not wander too far into the desert.

Tourists come to San Pedro to visit several wonderful sites. (Tom Cruise was one of the visitors while I was there.) The Salar de Atacama is the world’s second largest salt flat – the largest is Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. This vast, flat expanse of churned-up salt is sometimes colored dun by windborne clay. The heat is intense, the colors leading to the mountains on the horizon truly impressive, and the road to the entrance runs straight as a die for mile upon mile, disappearing into the floating whiteness. Several lakes provide sustenance to three species of flamingo, to avocets and other birds.

On the way home, stop at the village of Tocanao, which might well become the next San Pedro. The Valley of the Moon, just to the north of San Pedro, is popular at sunset for sightseers and photographers. Lines of people snake up the massive dunes (sometimes illegally walking across the dunes rather than straight up on the designated routes) to find the perfect roost. From these vantage points, watch the setting sun color the dunes, rocks and mountains.

A hike along one of the numerous gorges in the Valley of the Moon allows escape from others. The valley will be the closest most of us come to visiting something resembling the moon’s surface. One of its rock formations, The Three Marias, resembles worshippers bent in prayer. The leftmost pillar was partially toppled several years ago when, for the sake of a photograph, a group of 20 tourists all had the bright idea of trying to stand on it at the same time.

A massive slab of mountain has the shape of an amphitheater. For years, a bizarre urban myth circulated that the rock band Pink Floyd was going to hold a free concert here. At the end of 1999, in fact, several thousand people traveled to the Atacama Desert in full expectation that the festivities would shortly begin. They did not.

A very early morning start is required to visit the El Tatio geyser field, 60 miles north of San Pedro. A knowledgeable driver is a must: the roads are less than perfect and the risk of getting utterly lost is very high. The geyser field, only several bursts of hot water away from Bolivia, is the highest-altitude geothermal field in the world at 14,300 feet above sea level.

It is best seen at first light, when the vapor from 30 or so vents produces a memorable scene. A sweater is needed at dawn, but you’ll warm up quickly, especially after a dip in one of the warm pools. Ask which ones are swimmable before jumping in – the water in most will strip the skin off an armadillo in seconds.

As you traverse the road back from El Tatio, it will be dark. The headlights unveil wandering rheas, which look like ostriches, and vicuna, similar to llamas but smaller. The desert, pockmarked with hardy bushes, is wondrous.

A safer place to ease the muscle pains from those bumpy roads is the Banos de Puritama, a series of pools half-hidden by vegetation 15 miles outside San Pedro. Here, small waterfalls create natural showers, and tiny fish nibble at your toes.

Visiting the Atacama Desert is an adventure that reveals much in this land of extremes. But here’s a question for you: Is anywhere on Earth known to have the most average conditions? And would it be exciting to go there, if you knew?

>>>Return to Table of Contents