Atacama Desert: Salar de Atacama

Late last night we arrived in the Atacama Desert — which required a two hour flight from Santiago, and then a drive of an an hour and a half.

The flight was actually interesting, as the vast majority of the passengers were men from the age of 20-50. It seems that the city of Calama, into which you fly, is very near a large copper mine. The men work shifts of 7-10 days, and then fly home to be with their families. I suspect that the job probably pays well, but the life is likely brutal.

The drive to San Pedro de Atacama was unremarkable, as it was basically dark for the most of the drive. As we arrived in the “town,” I was surprised at how basic it was — adobe buildings, and dirt roads. A paved street is a relative rarity. The whole reason for the town’s existence is to give tourists access to the incredible natural wonders in the area, as the Atacama Desert is one of the driest locations on earth.

We are staying a nice hotel called Terrrantai, just off the center of the town. Actually, in any other location, the hotel would have seemed wildly overpriced for what you got. But, given that everything needs to be shipped in, and the town is very small, a quiet place to rest, on comfortable beds, with a wine and cheese hour seems beyond civilized!

In the morning, we rose before dawn, as we were being picked up at our hotel between 6:30 and 7:00 am. The van arrived at 6:45, and we boarded with a dozen other people who looked bleary-eyed, but excited. Thus began our 12 hour journey into the desert.

We started at Salar de Atacama, which is the second largest salt flat in the world — 200 kilometers by 90 kilometers. It beautiful, in a moonscape sort of way. It is also the home to both Chilean and Andean Flamingos. You can tell the difference between the two because the Andean flamingos walk in a straight line and dredge up the water and disturb the brine shrimp that they eat, while the Chilean flamingos walk in a circle. Of course, the Chileans say that their flamingos “dance!” In either case, the flamingos are beautiful, and if you are fortunate enough to see them fly, they are stunning. (I must admit, the sight of the flamingos was not as stunning as when Ogen took us to see flamingos outside of Merida, Mexico, but it was still pretty cool.).

After staring at the flamingos, we walked through the salt fields. The ground looks like snow, rather than salt, but I assure you that a small taste of the crystals confirms that it is salt.

Then, our tour guide fed us a lovely breakfast of bread,cheese and avocados. So much for avocado toast being the province of hipsters and foodies!Read more