Atacama Desert

After crossing the border from Bolivia our first stop in Chile was San Pedro de Atacama.

The town itself looked like something out of an old Western movie, so we enjoyed wandering around the town (though we didn’t enjoy the prices compared to our time in Bolivia!).

From San Pedro de Atacama we did several tours to explore the surrounding Atacama desert. The first was Laguna Baltinache, a series of seven lagoons. You can swim in one of the lagoons, and because it has a high salt content you float easily in the water. The salt content is even higher than the Dead Sea!

The following day we did a hike to Purilibre, natural hot springs located in a canyon. The hike and thermal pools were beautiful! Although the area is popular, the springs have remained mostly unaltered, with no man made pools.

Our longest tour was a full day tour to Piedras Rojas, or red rocks. The tour started early, and we had a cooked breakfast in the desert at the start of the tour! We visited a lagoon within the flamingo conversation reserve and saw more flamingos. Our next stop was the namesake of the tour, Piedras Rojas, with distinctive red rocks, a lagoon and stunning views of the surrounding volcanoes. Finally, we visited Lagunas Miscanti and Miñiques, two high altitude lagoons which were once combined but are now separated following a volcanic eruption.