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