Atacama Desert: Arica & Putre

After our exciting experience in San Pedro, we flew even farther North, to the city of Arica located at the border of Chile and Peru. Arica is in the desert and is a beach town with a pretty coastline. Our first stop after our hostel was Museo de Sitio Colon 10. This is a really interesting museum because it showcases the excavation of a graveyard that was discovered at the site during an attempt to construct a hotel there. 48 corpses are shown in situ, half buried and half exposed, under a cover of glass. The corpses are of the Chinchorro people, an indigenous group that lived in Arica thousands of years ago. It is believed that some of the bodies may be as old as 5,500 years! Some show signs of mummification because the Chinchorro used that practice. The bodies are amazingly well preserved because of the dryness of the Atacama desert.

Turtle inside our hostel!

Bodies in situ

In Arica we also had a chance to explore the coast at low tide and to observe lots of sea creatures up close on the rocks. Afterwards we watched a pretty sunset over the water and then had loco (similar to abalone) and ceviche at a tiny restaurant (practically a shack) right on the beach.

Crabs

Sea creatures

Sunset

From Arica (at sea level), we drove our rental car (a pickup truck with high clearance) through the Lluta Valley all the way up to Putre, which is located in the Andes Mountains at about 11,500 feet. In the valley, we saw petroglyphs created hundreds of years ago by locals (unfortunately we couldn't get any good photos because they were too far away). The total drive took less than three hours and was along a windy two-lane highway. The only other vehicles we saw on the road were big trucks and a few police cars (seemingly to assist broken down trucks!). This route is the sole option for truckers from Bolivia to reach the ocean in Chile. At some point along the ascent, we found ourselves looking down upon clouds below us! It was quite an experience. Neither of us had ever been past 10,000 feet for any extended period of time, so Nikki was quite nervous about possible altitude sickness.

Looking down upon the clouds!

We did well that first day at 11,500 feet in Putre. We walked around the small town and shopped for artesanias (handicrafts) in the town square. We also had a huge lunch at a local restaurant that consisted of a hardy stew and a cut of pork, rice, and fresh vegetables. Putre is so high that it seems to be virtually always in the clouds! We did feel the effects of the high altitude that first day. We were both short of breath after simply strolling up the small hills in town, and Nikki had a headache.

Putre town square (fog or clouds?)

On the second day we began experiencing some sort of digestive ailment (we couldn't digest any food) - we think it may have been food poisoning made worse by the high altitude but can't be sure. Despite this, we decided to make the trip we planned to Parque Nacional Lauca, with Greg behind the wheel. This was not a good idea for Nikki, as this park is located at almost 15,000 feet. She got a fever that seemed to get progressively worse the higher we travelled along the way. She was also nauseated, and her headache got much worse. She basically did not get out of the car in the park, and for her the trip just was not worth it! However, Greg did go on a short hike down to a beautiful lake. The scenery is mystical at that high altitude. There are large mountains and volcanoes that are higher than 21,000 feet, and some are completely covered in white (see photo below). By the end of the day, Greg was also sicker. The next day we descended back to sea level and felt better, but didn't eat. We flew back to Santiago where we had a day to relax before flying back to the United States.

Mountains blanketed in white

Llama in the park

Adorable rabbits at a lake in the park

Atacama Desert: San Pedro

After our week in Southern Patagonia, we flew almost all the way to the TOP of Chile to spend some time in the Atacama Desert. Atacama is the dryest desert in the world. NASA used to do experiments there to simulate a Mars-like environment. Some children grow up in parts of the region without ever seeing rain. Atacama is on a plateau and is thus at a high elevation, and it's vast. It spans approximately the northernmost 600 miles of Chile.

San Pedro de Atacama was our first destination. We spent four full days there. Getting there from Punta Arenas (way down at the southern tip of Chile) was a long process and involved three different modes of transportation and multiple stops along the way. We have been using Sky Airlines throughout the duration of our travel in Chile and continued that trend here. However, that meant we had to take three different flights on two separate days. On the first day we took one flight to get back to Puerto Montt. We had to make one stop along the way (but didn't have to change plans). The next day we had to take another flight to get to Santiago (with TWO stops along the way), and a third flight to get to the Calama airport, which is near San Pedro (that flight had one stop along the way). As you can see, the in-flight portion of the trip was kind of a "milk run," as our travel guide says! Once we reached the Calama airport, we still had to travel by taxi over an hour to get to San Pedro.

The effort was definitely worth it. San Pedro was the most charming place we've visited! San Pedro is a town (rather than a city), composed almost solely of adobe-style buildings with thatched roofs and a mixture of brick and dirt roads (see photos below). It is incredibly touristy (there are literally dozens of tour companies, handicrafts stores, and restaurants in this small geographical area), but still manages to feel mostly authentic. It is surrounded by breathtaking scenery that affords a wealth of possibilities for activities. The Andes Mountains and a number of active, snow-capped volcanoes form a semi-circle around the town. Looking at the nearby surroundings, in general we could see brilliant blue skies and rich red hues.

San Pedro is at 8,000 feet, an altitude which Nikki thought might be a problem there. However, we both had no problem with the altitude. Nikki had a headache our first evening but didn't feel any effects the next day or for the rest of our stay. (Of course Greg wasn't affected by the altitude, as he is a superior human being :P) [Even when we visited the Tatio Geysers at about 14,000 feet (see below), we had no issues. Go figure! However, see our next entry on Putre to find out how we did spending multiple days between 11,500 and about 15,000 feet - not well!]

On our first full day in San Pedro, we got up early to rent bikes and ride to Tulor, a town from 800 B.C. that was recently excavated. We took a moderate bike ride to get there and back, cycling through a nearby oasis village. On the first day we also did some shopping for artesanias (handicrafts) in the many shops and art galleries San Pedro has to offer.

Tulor

The following day, we rented bikes again and headed to Pukara de Quitor, a fort built by the Atacamans around 900 A.D. for protection against invaders. It was impossible to show the total size of the massive fort with our camera, but we included some photos below. It's built on a hillside, and we were allowed to walk through it to the top and explore! We don't think this would ever be allowed in the U.S.

Pukara de Quitor: view from the top

Pukara de Quitor: Greg holding down the fort!

On this second day we also took a guided tour of the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) and surrounding areas and Death Valley. The Valley of the Moon has an other-world landscape. Nikki pretended she was actually on the moon! Death Valley is the driest place in Atacama, the driest desert in the world. We think that makes it the driest place in the world! It also appeared to be the windiest. We couldn't get a good photo there because of the lighting, but the place itself is not as interesting as the Valley of the Moon, mostly one can note the complete absence of any plants or life other than tourists.

Valle de la Luna

Valle de la Luna

On our third full day in San Pedro, we took another guided tour. This time we went to Laguna Cejar and Tebenquinche, two salt "lakes" about 30-60 minutes outside of town. Getting there was rough because we were driven over some pretty bumpy roads! However, it was worth it for the experience of floating in Laguna Cejar. We were told that these lakes have a higher concentration of salt than the Dead Sea. If you walk into Laguna Cejar, once you get neck-deep your legs and body immediately rise to the surface! It is impossible to sink because the large amount of salt greatly increases the density of the water. We had to wash with fresh water afterwards because we had dry salt all over our bodies. The lakes are on a large expanse of land sitting on top of a water table. The soil in the area, like the water, has a very high concentration of salt. Salt water lakes are formed when water flows into a lake, but not out. Instead, the water leaves through evaporation, leaving behind its minerals. We did see a few flamingos on this outing, we could not get very close because they are easily spooked.

floating effortlessly

salt lake

salt lake with tourists

On our last full day, we took yet another tour to see El Tatio, a field of geysers in the Andes Mountains. It's one of the highest geyser fields in the world. We had to leave at 4:30am because the geysers are most active in the early morning, and it takes a long time to reach them because they're at about 14,000 feet. Our experience at the geysers demonstrates the lack of safety standards (or personal injury law?) in Chile. We were allowed to walk all over the grounds that contained multiple geysers, and some of the paths went directly over very small geysers. Most of the geysers had some rocks around them marking a zone that you should stay out of. The geysers were somewhat unpredictable and could start bubbling with scalding water or shooting steam unexpectedly. We had to be careful!

flamingo near the geysers

On the last day Greg did sandboarding, which was a lot of fun! Sandboarding is relatively unpopular because there aren't chair lifts! You spend 10 minutes arduously hiking up a dune and catching your breath and then go down the dune in about 10 minutes. This is exactly the kind of thing Greg likes though, and there are few places more beautiful to catch your breath than Valle de la Luna.

That night we were scheduled to go star-gazing with a guided tour of large telescopes. San Pedro is perhaps the best place in the world for star-gazing because there is little humidity, clouds, and air to obscure your view.  Unfortunately the star gazing was cancelled due to the growing clouds. It rained that night. San Pedro rains a little in the summer (and sometimes even snows!). Nikki didn't hear the rain that night while she was sleeping, and the next day didn't know it had rained. The landscape is so dry that there were few signs by morning except for a few puddles. On our second night in San Pedro we did get a chance to see the stars. On our walk back to our hostal, we saw a power line had fell down and was leaning on a truck! This knocked the power out for the section of town we were in. We inferred that power outages for one reason or another were not an entirely uncommon occurrence when our hostal keeper gave us one of many flashlights on hand. The rest of the walk and until we went to bed we enjoyed the beautiful, bright, clear night sky, undisturbed by any city light.

Southern Patagonia

After our trip to Chiloe, we spent a week in Southern Patagonia. Patagonia is the large area that encompasses approximately the bottom 2/5 of Chile. It is known for its remoteness and the adventure it offers to travellers, including trekking, rafting, kayaking, and climbing. Punta Arenas (near the very bottom) is known as "the end of the world" because it is one of the southernmost large cities on the globe, with the exception of those in Antarctica. Cape Horn, Chile is literally "the end of the world" (not including Antarctica), but from what we read it is difficult to reach and the winds are unbelievable there. During our stay in Southern Patagonia, we spent three full days in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chile's most famous national park, and arguably its most well-known attraction. We flew into Punta Arenas, spent a night there, and then drove our rental car North for about 2 1/2 hours to reach Puerto Natales, the "gateway" to the park. We liked Puerto Natales - it has a beautiful ocean view, the obligatory town square, and some good restaurants. From Puerto Nortales we drove another 2 hours, about half the time on a dirt road, to reach the park.

Spending time in Torres del Paine was an amazing experience. The scenery is breathtaking (photos don't seem to capture it - but we're posting some anyway!). The park is named after three rock towers ("torres") and surrounding dramatic, jagged peaks seemingly constantly engulfed by wispy clouds. Photos of this landscape are often featured in the media because it is so fantastic. In addition, there are stunning lagoons and lakes, some a brilliant teal color, as well as glaciers, some of which are a radiant blue. We wanted to visit Glacier Grey, the most famous glacier that includes a massive blue field of ice, but unfortunately were unable due to poor planning (on Nikki's part) and logistical concerns. Torres del Paine had massive forest fires right before we came. They occurred around Glacier Grey, so some of the ways to access it were closed. We will have to return some day to see it.

View of the Towers on our Way into the Park

Llamas

Ostriches

The wind that was whipping through the park during our first night there, and shaking everything in its path, unfortunately followed us on our first hike. We hiked to the base of the towers. This consisted of a lot of upward climbing, and the beginning was against an incredibly strong headwind (Nikki did NOT enjoy this part!). At one point, a woman in front of us was blown about five feet to the left by a big gust of wind! (Thankfully, there was relatively little wind the next two days. We probably could not have expected better weather in general because we had clear or partly cloudy skies and perfect temperatures - probably about 60-70 degrees Farenheit - all three days.) The view of the towers from the lagoon at the end of the hike is overpowering in its beauty. While the Grand Canyon may be the most beautiful place we have seen, it had a size advantage: the lagoon under the towers is perhaps the most beautiful (relatively) small spot we have ever seen.

The next day we had a  pleasant four-hour hike along a couple of beautiful lakes, with the view ahead always framed by mountains. This brought us to a cabin at Los Cuernos where we spent two nights. We had spectacular scenery, looking at a lake below a snow capped mountain from one window, and a towering peak in the other, all while hearing the nearby waterfall where we got our water. The mountains showed off their power by letting out a few loud rumbles. After one of the rumbles we were able to see snow falling over a cliff - the result of the small avalanche making the noise. The restraint of these mountains made the atmosphere all the more peaceful.

Sitting on the Deck of Our Cabin at Sunset (around 10pm!)

After leaving Torres del Paine, we spent a night in Puerto Natales and then returned to the Punta Arenas area. We visited a penguin colony in the Otway Sound, about an hour away from the city. It was so much fun because we got to walk on a long, winding bridge over land where the penguins burrow. We saw dozens of pinguinos on the walk, and at one point came within two feet of a small family. Penguins only live in the Southern Hemisphere, so we are glad we had this opportunity to see them up close in nature.

We also decided to visit another national park in the area called Pali Aike. The only way to describe the landscape is bleak, forlorn, and as Greg repeated over and over again, "desolate." Driving within the park we watched hundreds of llamas, as well as ostriches and foxes (see the photo of the baby fox below!) eat and frolic on the steppe. This park was called home 9,000 years ago by inhabitants of a cave formed by a volcanic lava flow. We visited the cave, which was excavated in the 1930s when they discovered paintings. This was one of Nikki's favorite destinations because she loves history and historical artifacts. We stood in the cave and attempted to see traces of the 9,000 year-old paintings, but time seemed to have worn them away. Although we couldn't make out any definite images, it was so exciting to be there and imagine what it would be like as an ancient people living in that harsh but beautiful environment. Also while in this park we hiked over fields of lava to reach three very large, volcanic craters. The inside of one was red and inspired it's name, Devil's Crater. The largest one seemed to have its own little world down inside, complete with a group of llamas grazing! Greg enjoyed bounding about giant rocks and lava flows, and we both enjoyed the solitude. The entire time hiking in the park the only evidence of humans was trail markers and signs, one back-packer, and one van.

Baby Fox

9,000 Year-Old Cave

One of the Craters

Lava Field We Had to Cross

Traveling to Pali Aike by rental car was a somewhat nervous experience. Google maps showed a few small locations along the way, one of which was called San Gregorio. This town actually consists of about five (no exaggeration) abandoned buildings near the ocean, with one "cafe" (that served basically nothing). We were hoping we might be able to get a meal there but the old building with a "cocina" sign was of course abandoned! The town we ended up spending the night in near the park was frequented by truckers alone, which was reflected in our accommodations. We were surprised to find out there were no gas stations in town, and we weren't sure if we would have enough gas to make it back. We knew of only one other gas station along the way back to Punta Arenas that we had stopped at briefly before. At that time, the attendant had tried the pump and concluded there was no more gas left. In the town near the park we were told there was a gas station 50 kilometers away in the direction of Punta Arenas, and were able to find it on our way back. It was the smallest gas station we have ever seen, with two pumps and a small shelter from the sun for the attendant - very easy to miss!

We always thought the Latin American custom of eating dinner late at night was strange. However, it made a lot of sense when we were leaving a restaurant, realising it was finally starting to get dark and that it was past 11 pm! Due to its location, there are only roughly five or six hours of darkness in the summer in Punta Arenas. Travelling through southern Patagonia was a little exhausting, probably in part because it can be difficult to get enough sleep with the long daylight. Overall, however, it definitely made travelling nicer because we never had to worry about reaching a destination before dark! We hope to come back again here someday and visit the Argentinean side of Patagonia.

Northern Patagonia: La Isla de Chiloe and Puerto Montt

Chiloe Island was our next stop after the Lake District. It's very large and located right off the coast of Chile in Northern Patagonia. We flew into the city of Puerto Montt and drove to the small ferry to the island. You can take your car on the ferry and it takes half an hour.

During our three days on Chiloe we stayed in the northern city of Ancud at the Hostal Mundo Nuevo. This hostal has a lot of character. It is right on the waterfront, is very clean and tidy with wood floors throughout and a sun room off the front (which overlooks the bay), and has a laundry service (that we took advantage of). Below you can see that our room had a nautical theme with a boat-shaped bed. However, Ancud is not the best location if you want to travel around the island. If we returned, we would probably stay in the central city of Castro.

Possibly the best description of Chiloe is that it is dramatic and a little bit surreal, which Nikki really enjoyed. The weather on the island is unpredictable - there may be light rain, torrential storms, or beautiful clear skies - and that is just a description of several hours of our second day! A nice side effect of the weather patterns was a lot of rainbows - including a full double rainbow we saw! The island has many rolling hills and wild, lush greenery everywhere, as well as farmland with a lot of sheep. The wind can be wicked, giving us a taste of what was to come during our first day in the national park Torres del Paine (more to come on that).

Chiloe is Known for its Many Old Churches

The seafood we had on the island was amazing, especially for the price. A common traditional dish in Chiloe is curanto, which is a huge bowl filled with shellfish and topped with a piece of smoked pork, chicken, sausage, 2 large lumps of milcaos (potato bread), plus sometimes an actual potato, plus a broth or salsa liquid to dip your shellfish in (see photo below). It is SO good, and so filling! We had this for the first time when we stumbled upon what would be called a "clam bake" in the US. This was on the beach, and we paid $11 USD for two bowls of Curanto and a bottle of wine (this is a lot of food!). This was all while taking shelter from the most ferocious wind we have experienced while in Chile. At the "clam bake" Greg pointed to the food that we wanted. On our second day for lunch we ordered two curantos, not realising what they were! Although Greg polished off all the seafood and milcaos, we had some leftover meat that we fed to some stray dogs. That evening and the next, we ate at a restaurant called Kuranton. They have great seafood, and the price is very reasonable. Between the two nights we had:

• Carapacho (a dish consisting of crab and cheese, kind of like a really great tuna melt, but not a sandwich)
• Salmon stuffed with sausage, mushrooms, peppers, and cheese
• Shellfish including crab, all in mussel or clamshells, cooked in lemon, garlic, and wine
• Paila marina, a traditional fish stew

The paila marina was good, but all of the others were amazing! Greg is already missing eating the seafood in Chiloe.

Curanto

We drove around, exploring Chiloe, including taking a ferry to a nearby smaller island called Quinchao. We soaked in the beautiful country side, stopped along the ocean, and shopped for handicrafts. On Quinchao, we basically stepped back in time to a culture of farming and raising sheep and other animals. We got (too) close to pigs that had escaped from their pen (this seemed to be a common occurrence!).

Pigs Exploring a Ship on Quinchao

The next day we visited the Parque Nacional Chiloe. There we followed a trail that led us to the beach, right through a herd of grazing cows! Chilean national parks aren't managed as well as parks in the U.S. The entry fees are often just $2 USD per person, and there are not a lot of visitors to most parks. This park was the only one where we could drive a paved road almost all the way to the entrance. We got caught in the rain during our hike, but were prepared with our ponchos. It is always wonderful to be out in nature, although we didn't find our hike as exciting as our others in Chile.

After Chiloe, we drove back to Puerto Montt, driving past the city into the Parque Nacional Alerces. This was an amazing temperate rain forest, with dense vegetation, water running all around, and a muddy trail. A few parts of the trail were made of fallen trees that steps had been cut into. This was much preferable to the mud or worse: water with leeches. The hike featured a beautiful lagoon and old growth Alerce trees. An Alerce can live for more than three thousand years, making them the second-oldest tree, to the Bristlecone Pine, which can be seen in our home state of California. The trees were great, although we have now been spoiled by old-growth redwood forests in California that we find more majestic. The Alerce grove was small and surrounded by other vegetation, whereas we have seen huge redwood groves containing individual redwood trees multiple times larger than an Alerce, and the groves block out all direct sunlight, limiting other vegetation to just ferns.

We drove back to Puerto Mont and stayed at a nice aparthotel, awaiting our flight to Southern Patagonia the next day.