Mar 17 - Santiago to the Atacama Desert

Santiago to Atacama 17 March 2017

We left Matetic in this morning in the cloud that usually prevails in this valley for our flight from Santiago to Calama airport which is the gateway to the Atacama Desert. 

Goodbye to Matetic and a little haven of peace

As usual, miles and miles have to be covered to get anywhere

2 Hour flight all the way up the Andes

This flight takes us over the Andes at a very low level and we can see all the volcano peaks clearly from the window. Mandy was checking the pilot's height to make sure we had enough clearance !! 

Calamar itself is not our ultimate destination but the reason that we noted a lot of flights to Calamar from Santiago – was Copper.  

Calamar is a town that is created for  copper workers of the largest open cast copper mine in the world and as usual, not without regular environmental accidents.

We transferred over to our hotel which is in San Pedro de Atacama. The route takes us through Dinosaur valley and the end of Moon valley on a road that was used by Jaguar Cars for a TV advert.

Dinosaur Valley - a small taste of what was to come

The altitude now starts to kick in from here on, San Pedro de Atacama is at 2600m so we started feeling the effects slightly (heady) but once checked in we headed off for sunset view from Moon Valley on the edge of the salt flats. 

The hotel drivers provided drinks and canapes in front of a lake with a larger than life sunset and our first views of the many volcanoes (active and inactive) that were to dominate our stay here.

Back to the hotel for dinner, minimal alcohol on this leg as it accentuates the effects of altitude sickness and we have to stay really hydrated all the time here. 

The UV is off the scale and dehydration is a major cause of problems for visitors and we will have another week or so at altitudes gradually moving towards 5000m plus, so everyone is being careful.

Fireside setting outside in the hotel - nice and restful