24th November – To the Atacama Desert

Chris and Mum hardly slept at all and I was lucky to manage about 4 hours sleep.  We staggered over to the airport, dropped our bags off and cleared security.  We noted that our flight was the only one without a gate, but weren’t too perturbed. Eventually, Chris consulted the LAN help desk and they directed us to the right gate.  Phew!

The view from our dining terrace

Landed at Calama as scheduled and were met by our driver.  We had an hour or so drive to our lodge just outside the village of San Pedro de Atacama which is at about 2500 metres above sea level.  Our driver drove rather erratically so we accelerated and then braked rather jerkily the whole way which wasn’t very pleasant.  We passed through some very barren scenery which got more dramatic as we got closer to the lodge as we passed through the Chilean coastal range of mountain range.

The lodge is lovely – but much larger than the one on Easter Island so seems a little less personal.  It’s very modern with huge airy shared areas and then 65 rooms in 3 different buildings.  We went for a wander round the pool complex which is incredible – 4-5 pools and various steam rooms. Saunas and Jacuzzis scattered amongst the native vegetation.  Just hope we get a chance to enjoy it!

We went for our briefing which was rather similar to the one on Easter Island.  A very giggly young girl called Camilla gave us our briefing and then arranged our tours for the next few days.  I do hope she won’t be our guide for those trips!  Initially she tried to persuade us that we wanted to go out on a horse safari as she likes horse riding but we quashed that idea very firmly.   Anyway, having checked out other trips to the Atacama I think we have everything covered:

This afternoon – trip to the salt flats and the chance to see 3 different types of flamingo – James’s, Chilean and Andean

Tomorrow: am = Moon Valley and then Rainbow Valley in the afternoon and start gazing at night. (sounds a lot – perhaps too much?)

Wednesday – all day trip out to the altiplanic lagoons of Meñique and Miscanti. Ringed by volcanoes of the Andes Mountains chain, the vivid blue lakes lie 14,850 feet (4,500 meters) above sea level.

Thursday – our last early start (5am) to see the geysers at sunrise.  These are located at 5000 metres so we can’t do these until last as we have to acclimatise every day to going a bit higher.

The oasis and the desert

I had a lazy afternoon catching up on emails etc. before setting off at 5.30pm for our 1^st trip.  We stopped off at the small village of Tocanao to look at the fruit gardens that grow in a river gorge.  We spotted pomegranates, apricots and fig trees behind the fences and really appreciated what an oasis this is when we finished the short walk.  We also identified some of the native trees that include the Chinar tree with its round green immature fruits that turn orange when ripe, and also the white carob tree or Algarrobo blanco (Prosopis alba), which has a passing resemblance, but is a much more delicate looking, to our carob tree in Portugal.  They are both in the same plant family - Fabaceae.

Mount Lascar

We then drove to Lake Chaxo, a huge saltwater lake and salt flats to see up to 3 species of flamingo.  On our left hand side we were all mesmerised by the various volcanic peaks we could see in the Andes range of mountains, which were a beautiful purple colour.  Lascar was pointed out to us as the most active volcano in the region.  It stands at 5,592 metres and in the last 30 years has erupted over 30 times.  The last big eruption was in April 1993 when it spewed out a huge amount of ash – our guide had an impressive picture of this on his cell phone.

The flamingoes at Lake Chaxa

When we arrived at Lake Chaxa, we walked on a crushed salt path through the very strange landscape that looked like a giant version of cleared slushy snow, but was actually a hard pumice-like rock covered with salt crystals.  We saw the flamingos at a distance and could see just 2 species – the Chilean and Andean.  We also saw the Puna Plover, the Baird’s Sandpiper and the Andean Avocet.  We waited for the sun to set and were duly impressed by the beautiful colours the Andes turned.  At this point, a very strong wind got up and we started to get cold so we headed back to the van for the hour long drive back to the lodge.

The setting sun lighting up Mount Lascar

We got back at about 9pm, so just had time for a cocktail before a rather late dinner.  Based on this experience, we’ve decided that trying to fit in 3 activities tomorrow is probably too ambitious so will probably can the afternoon one.