Chile (San Pedro de Atacama) Wrap-up

The Great : The location of San Pedro de Atacama. San Pedro is a terrific hub with at least a week worth of activities to do around the city. Want to see a salt lake? Just head 40 km south of town. Want to see Pre-Inca ruins? Walk 3 km north of town. Want to hike in the altiplano and climb a volcano (or two)? Yep, you can do all these things from San Pedro. Or maybe you prefer walking in the driest desert in the world and see truly moon-like landscapes? Then visit Valle de la Luna and Valle de la Muerte, just a short distance west of town. I could go on and on. San Pedro is the place to be if you want to enjoy some of the finest desert and altiplano activities in the world.

The Hidden : Santiago Atlas. Who is he? He is a tour guide in San Pedro. We took a tour with him and have been very impressed by his professionalism and knowledge. We spoke with other travelers who took as many as 4 tours with him and everybody was as impressed as we have been. You won’t find his name in any travel guide. It is a shame because he deserves that much publicity. You want take a tour or two in San Pedro? Then you want Santiago as your guide. Period.

The Overrated : Alain Maury’s stargazing tour. To be fair we did not book a tour with Alain. However, plenty of our friends did and they were unanimous: the tour is overpriced and overrated. The tour costs 30$ which gives you two hours at Alain’s house where you’ll be given a general introduction to stargazing. Then you’ll have less than 30 minutes to play with the few telescopes at the disposal (to be shared with the 30+ other enthusiasts). This means very little watching and lots of waiting. Finally you’ll be served with coffee before being transported back to San Pedro. Ania and I initially wanted to book this tour but after all the negative comments, we decided that setting up our own (free) stargazing expedition was the way to go. After all our triple-A stargazing experience in Hawaii cost us 0$, and we had plenty of time to use the telescopes. Sorry Alain, your stargazing offering is overrated.

The Ugly : The dryness. Our lips are cracking and so is our soft, soft skin. There is so much sand in San Pedro that the light afternoon wind makes our lives miserable. Water is scarce so it was impossible for us to take 4-5 showers per day to get rid of the sand. Bring plenty of lipstick.