Arriving in San Pedro de Atacama

Just hanging out. No biggie.

Before and shortly after my vacation got approved in the fall, Brian and I were brainstorming ideas of places we could visit in one week. Visiting Macchu Pichu in Peru, Mendoza in Argentina, and San Pedro de Atacama in good old Chile were high on our list. With mere days to decide on where to go and two weeks after that to sort out all our bookings, we decided to leave Peru and Argentina for another trip and check out the hidden gem that is San Pedro de Atacama. 

-------

San Pedro de Atacama is a desert town south of the Chile-Bolivia border. From what Brian and I had gathered during the planning stages of our short getaway, the town is known primarily for the rocky valleys that surround it and clear night skies for stargazing.

To get to San Pedro de Atacama, we flew two hours from Santiago to Calama, a mining town in the Antofogasta region of Chile. From there we took a cab to a bus station in town. Our cab driver recommended Ktur among the other bus companies not only because we could make the next scheduled trip but also because it took safer routes to San Pedro de Atacama. We bought our tickets and waited for the bus while munching on some snacks (ie, chocolate-covered Mexican corn from Soma).

Brian and I slept for the majority of the 90-minute bus ride, though what we saw in our waking minutes was picturesque to say the least: There was sand as far as the eye could see with the odd smattering of wind mills on the desert terrain. As we got closer to town, the topography of Chile changed from flat to rocky red land. It truly felt like we were driving on Mars then.

Wind mills

Are we in outer space? 

We were a little impressed by San Pedro de Atacama's infrastructure as we drove in: There were some tiled roads, shaded bus areas, and even wifi all over town. After we got off the bus, we made a beeline for the Space Observatory office to confirm our reservations for that night's stargazing tour, a tour we had booked before I flew out to Santiago. Along the way we passed by adobe storefronts and stalls upon stalls of tour offices. In some respects it felt as if we were on the set of some old Western. Haha. It could have been overwhelming for a first time visitor, but we had read enough blogs and Web sites to expect it. With very little difficulty, we just happened upon the office and had a lovely chat with the office guy. He had been to Canada, he was telling us. It was pretty cool.

We made it!

The ease at which we found the Space office was quickly contrasted by the physical strain we felt from finding our hostel. We had booked our accommodations at Hostal Candelaria, which was on the other side of town. As you can imagine, San Pedro de Atacama was very hot, and coupled with our limited knowledge of the lay of the land and the weight of my backpack, I grew weary very quickly.

We finally found our hostel 15 minutes (and 1 mistaken home) later and checked into our private room. It was pretty cozy by the way: It came with two beds, heavy with linens for the cold desert nights, and opened up to a courtyard of hammocks and desert plants. We dropped off our stuff, picked up some water from a corner store, and got some R&R for a few hours (and believe me, we needed it, especially after an hour of sleep and a 6AM flight!).

Relaxing

Meu querido in front of our hostel

The church inside town

At around 4 in the afternoon, we retraced our steps back into town to get our tours in order for our second day in San Pedro de Atacama. Surprisingly, we were able to book not just 1 but 2 tours that afternoon, the first being an excursion to Salar de Atacama and Las Lagunas Altiplánicas and the second being horseback riding through Valle de la Muerte. Then it was time to eat: We found a local outdoor restaurant complete with a fire pit. There I got to try the famous Chilean terremoto; it was muy delicioso.

Can't say no to a fire pit!

C'est moi

After dinner we made our way to the pick-up point for the stargazing tour (aka the tour that had the power to make us move around our plans just so that we could get an unobstructed view of the night sky! Lol. I'm not even kidding ;)). While waiting–in the cold if I might add–we reveled in the company of... Stray dogs. Yes, the strays. In any other country, strays would scare me, but in Chile, they are often pretty tame. In fact, they are tame 99.9% of the time unless they see a bike. Then they make you pedal to the metal. Brian had a favourite among the strays of San Pedro de Atacama: a dog so big that he must not have been native to the desert. It was definitely love at first sight and so much so that Brian even wanted to take him home. :)

Look at how massive that is!

We got picked up close to 9:30PM and were driven to the remote observatory where it was certainly devoid of light. The ill-dressed such as myself were provided blankets for that very cold evening, which was an almost perfect setup for stargazing where it not for one big little problem: the moon.

Hi moon! 

We were barely even able to book this tour because of the impending full moon, and already, it shone so bright that we had some difficulty stargazing. With that said our guide (who happened to be Canadian of all nationalities) did an expert job of pointing out visible planets and some famous constellations. We got to see Mars, Venus, and Saturn. We also saw Sagittarius, some new stars, and some dying stars. It was pretty neat. After the short lecture, we were free to roam around and view some telescopes on our own, and I got a closer look at Saturn. It was a pretty surreal and special moment. At first it looked like an oblong-shaped button, and I had no idea what I was looking at. It was only after I strained my eyes that I could distinguish the distant planet and its rings.

Brian checking out some stars

The night ended with a short Q and A indoors and a cup of hot chocolate or Coca tea. Then we were driven back to town and dropped off close to our place...  Not a bad first day in San Pedro, that is for sure. :)