ITINERARY
Santiago flight to Calama > drive to San Pedro de Atacama [3] > back to Calama/Santiago
STAY Awasi Atacama [rustic-chic, all-inclusive hotel in San Pedro de Atacama. Meals, drinks, airport transfers and guided tours are included. Not a cheap place, but the guide we got assigned to was incredible and made our trip with fantastic excursions. The food was also memorable with local and very unique ingredients]
EXCURSIONS these are our favorites:
VALLE DE LA LUNA (VALLEY OF THE MOON) with a magical landscape that as the name says resembles the moon. We hiked into the Kari canyon and went into caves, saw salt formations that look like snow and so much more.
CEJAR POND is actually a set of 3 ponds located in the middle of the Salt Flat and in one of them we could bathe. Given its high salt concentration, you float on the water and cannot sink, a phenomenon similar to the Dead Sea (Israel). There are beautiful birds that live in the Salt Flat and also some great views of the surrounding mountain ranges. We biked there and that was a great way to experience that environment.
MACHUCA is a small town at pretty high altitude in the Altiplano, inhabited by only a few Atacamenian families. The drive there is incredible with yellow hills of tall vegetation that cover wetlands where you see llamas graze in the company of vicunas and different species of wild birds, ducks and flamingos. Always with the Andes mountain range as a backdrop. The colors will blow your mind. On the way back from Machuca we stopped at a valley called Guatin, which means “Valley of the cacti.” We took a short walk along the bank of the Vilama River and a profusion of cacti.
SALAR DE PUJSA (PUJSA SALT FLAT) is almost at the border with Bolivia where the Flamencos National Reserve is located. The landscape is otherwordly with flamingos living in a colorful sulfuric lake & vicunas running around. It’s hard to describe this landscape, you have to experience it!
