San Pedro de Atacama – Day 1 (Post #110)
Michele here…
On April 24th, we got up at 5:15am in order to catch the 7:00am bus from Antofagasta to San Pedro de Atacama. We were the only tourists on the bus, which is now becoming the norm for us. After 5 hours we were dropped off in the middle of no where in San Pedro. Eventually a taxi came by and although the place we booked was only 1 kilometer away we decided it was worth the $2 to take the taxi because we couldn´t figure out where to go. We checked in then walked through the town. San Pedro is an interesting place. It is one of the driest places in the world. While here we constantly had static electricity in our hair and clothes. It´s also very dusty and hot and the roads are not paved. All of the buildings are adobe style. The main street seems to have 3 types of establishments – tour excursion offices, restaurants, or hostels/hotels. The restaurants are all quite nice and include a big bon fire in the middle of the restaurant at night since it gets very cold in this desert area. Here is a picture of the main street:
Our first day in San Pedro we decided to hike to Pukara de Quitor. This is a fort on top of a hill and the hike there and back took about 5 hours (including looking around nearby inca ruins and taking photos). We were not feeling that well during the hike since San Pedro´s altitude is 8,045 feet and it was 96 degrees (yes, I had a thermometer with me). We did manage to set up the tripod and take a few photos. Here´s one of them:
The next day we signed up for two excursions – one to the Valley of the Moon and the other to the Taitio Geyser field. Photos and more explanation about the excursions are explained in the next two blogs.
Gotta run!
Tags: Category #27: Chile
Michele Harmon
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