The South American Odyssey

A 147-day adventure by The Craze for Travelling Read more

Follow Insights Calendar Photos Share

The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Tropic of Capricorn & Inca road
December 1, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 12 °C
After the visit to the Socaire church, we walked a little distance away to the control point where our bus was waiting. On the way our guide showed us the Rica Rica plant which is used to make tea and is very good to treat rheumatic disorders. He also showed us the deep red flowers of Sangria plant.
The next stop was at the Tropic of Capricorn marker on the road. The old Inca road also passes here. This road goes all the way from Macchu Picchu to Santiago in Argentina in the South.Read more
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
2
2
Toconao
December 1, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 12 °C
The last stop of the day was at Toconao village. Here we stopped at the main square with the old bell tower from the colonial time (built in 1750) still standing in the square. The door of the bell tower was made of dry cactus. Even the circulares staircase inside the church was made from dry cactus.

Toconao village, with a population of around 700 people, is at 2,475 m above sea level and located 38 km south of San Pedro de Atacama, sitting on the edge of the vast salt flat “Salar de Atacama”. The geographic landscape that surrounds the village is formidable. The village itself is an oasis, with a sweet water supply free from mineral contamination such as arsenic or acids, and ideal for the cultivation of fruit trees such as pears, plums and quince as well as vegetables. Most buildings are constructed from white, soft liparita stone, quarried locally.Read more
Traveler Height mentioned is in meters ,I think? This is the IST time I am seeing the Church having such a poor maintenance,may be due to lac of funds?
12/9/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Where do see the height mentioned? The renovation was going on when we went there.
12/9/17Reply
2 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
2 2
Back to San Pedro de Atacama
December 1, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
From the main square, we walked over to the canyon with the freshwater just behind the village. Our bus was waiting there to take us back to San Pedro de Atacama.
We were back in Atacama at about 6 pm. There we tried a drink called Mote con huesillo (It is a non-alcoholic beverage consisting of a sweet clear nectar like liquid made with dried peaches (huesillo) cooked in sugar, water and cinnamon, and then once cooled mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat (mote)). It was very refreshing. We went for dinner after that and slept early.Read more
Traveler The back ground board shows all about your location.🙄🙄
12/9/17Reply
Traveler Yeah khan BHI koi khana hai ,my dear.
12/9/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling 🤣🤣🤣🤣
12/9/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Starter hai yeh.
12/9/17Reply
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Death Valley
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
We woke up at 7 am and got ready for the 7:30 am pickup. The plan for the day was to go to the Rainbow Valley and the Hierbas Buenas petroglyphs in the morning and the Moon Valley in the evening on 2 different tours.
We started the day by going to the Death Valley (Valle de la Muerte) to pick up some of our group mates from a hotel there. The valley has some amazing formations.Read more
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
2
Route to the Rainbow Valley
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
The road to the Rainbow Valley was very scenic. The valley is situated North of San Pedro de Atacama and about 60 kms away by road. We even saw herds of Vicuñas grazing in the early morning sun. The vicuñas here were much lighter in color than the ones we had seen before.Read more
Traveler That's really attractive,a beautiful runway to take off.
12/9/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yeah 🤣🤣🤣
12/9/17Reply
2 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Route into the Rainbow Valley
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
The route into the Rainbow Valley was through a deep canyon with a river flowing through it. It was an amazing combination of nature's beauty and man made route through it. It was a very cool feeling driving through a gorge with high steep walls on both sides.Read more
2 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
2
Reaching Rainbow Valley
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Around 9:45 am, we reached the Rainbow Valley. The dramatic landscape continued into the valley. Now we could see some formations with interesting colors.
Traveler Reminds of Leh.
12/9/17Reply
The Craze for Travelling Yup.. Very similar.
12/9/17Reply
2 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Valle del Arcoiris
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
The Rainbow Valley had amazing formations and colors in the hills.

Mineral deposits have left vibrant reds, browns, purples, greens and yellows on the rocks in this area over the course of thousands of years, and in addition, the wind and very occasional rain have carved interesting shapes, rocky spires and small canyons into the valley.Read more
1 like
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Into the Rainbow Valley
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
We got off the bus and started on a short trek through the Rainbow Valley. There were stunning combinations of colors in the hills around. The formations too were one weirder than the other.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Rainbow Valley formations
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Deeper in the valley, the formations had even more stunning colors and formations. It was like walking on a totally different planet.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
To the deep canyon
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
After walking through the main starting area of the Rainbow Valley, we took the bus again and drove to one of the side roads deep inside the valley about a km away. Even on the way the formations and the colors were breathtaking.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Into the deep narrow canyon
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
At the end of one of the side roads in the Rainbow Valley, there is a deep eroded narrow canyon. From the entrance, the track splits into 2 paths. The one to the right is about 20 mts deep. The walls are only about a meter apart and about 50-70 mts deep. It was an amazing feeling going into this formation.
The track going to the left was much longer but the walls were about 15-30 mts deep only and it was much broader at about 5-6 mts.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Left track of the deep canyon
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
The left track went in almost 150 mts winding and twisting deeper into the canyon. It was a surreal feeling walking in with no one else around. It was very quiet and mystic inside.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
In the deep canyon
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
We spent about 20 minutes walking around exploring the very narrow and deep canyon.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Hierbas Buenas Petroglyphs
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
After the Rainbow Valley, we went to the Hierbas Buenas nearby. There are thousands of petroglyphs carved into stone by early Atacama dwellers, some about 11,000 years old. They are from all time periods, from the first caravaners to the Incas.
There are very interesting petroglyphs carved into tha rocks and some are quite strange in that they have creatures carved that don't exist in this area. This probably indicates that the people drawing them were well traveled and had seen animals in other parts of the continent. A recurrent theme was pregnant animals basically indicating some connection to worship of fertility.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
More petroglyphs Hierbas Buenas
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
The hills in the area are all covered by petroglyphs. There's one called the artist's mural that is covered with hundreds of indecipherable petroglyphs one over the other.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Booking Wickedcampers
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
We were back in San Pedro de Atacama by 1:30 pm. We went to the Wickedcampers office to book the van for the Argentina part of the trip. After that we had about two hours before the afternoon tour to the Moon Valley, so we went to find the French bakery we had been told about to have our lunch.
The bakery turned out to be a damp squib. Much noise about nothing. They didn't have much to eat besides a few empanadas and breads. We had empanadas with juice. The food was nothing special and quite expensive and the waitresses were very insistant about their tips. Not a place worth going at all.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Moon Valley tour begins
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
At 16:00 we started on the Valle de la Luna tour.

El Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) is located 13 kilometres (8 mi) west of San Pedro de Atacama, to the north of Chile in the Cordillera de la Sal, in the Atacama desert. It has various stone and sand formations which have been carved by wind and water. It has an impressive range of color and texture, looking somewhat similar to the surface of the moon. There are also dry lakes where the composition of salt makes a white covering layer of the area. It presents diverse saline outcrops which appear like man-made sculptures. There are also a great variety of caverns.
The valley got its name due to a small depression of salt ground, 1,650 feet (500 m) in diameter, that exhibits odd sculptural shapes. These are the result of a sequence of transformations on the earth's crust caused by the folding of the watery ground underneath the salt lake. Because of its lack of humidity, there is no life here, which has turned it into one of the most inhospitable places on earth.

Our 1st stop in the Moon Valley was outside the Salt Cave. Here the guide tried to explain the geology of the valley but we hardly understood him in Spanish or even English. He had very basic geology knowledge and very poor English so we actually didn't get anything.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Quartz in Salt Cave
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
The start of the salt cave was like a narrow gorge about 20 mts deep curving deeper into the canyon. Here the guide showed us some of the quartz that had been compressed into almost glass like clarity.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Salt formations in Salt Cave
December 2, 2017 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
Further in we came across salt flower formations on the walls. The path continued twisting deeper in the canyon.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Through the salt cave
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
At some places, we had to double down to go across the rock formations inside the cave which actually till now turned out to be a cave without a roof. It was an interesting experience walking through the formations but at the same time, all the tours to the Moon Valley start at the same time and it was quite crowded inside the cave. Some people were turning back due to claustrophobia and others were walking very slowly in the narrow path.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Into the actual salt cave
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
After walking for about 15 min in the salt cave, we were actually still walking in the canyon. The actual cave started after that. We turned on our lamps and went into the cave.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Inside the salt cave
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Inside the actual cave, it was quite dark. Some of the people in the group had been given head lamps. These were actually needed due to the pitch darkness inside. At some places, we had to crawl to pass to the other side. A lot of people turned back around here.Read more
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Exit of the salt cave
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
About 10 min into the cave, we saw light at the end and above. That was the cave exit.
0 likes
The South American Odyssey The Craze for Travelling
Climb up at the end of salt cave
December 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
The salt cave exit opens up towards the top instead of a horizontal exit. At the end, there is a steep climb up to the top of the canyon. There are very interesting salt and clay formations here.
0 likes