A lazy day. Set off quite late from Calama. We noticed that all but one of the vehicles parked in the hotel car park were 4WDs. Not surprising as you need one, as we found out yesterday.
Head up another very long, straight road to San Pedro de Atacama. Eventually we wound up a hill, and at the top saw the great salt white flats.
Standing over the valley is the imposing Licancabur volcano.
San Pedro is Chile’s top tourist resort (allegedly) so it was a shock to see narrow streets with cobbled together adobe houses, with hardly any decent roads to speak of. It does now though have a petrol station and an ATM, quite a relief when you consider the next petrol station and bank are 100 km away in Calama.
Our hotel is 300m south of the centre and based around a square. It is single storey.
We walked into the centre of the town, and after 2 minutes realised we had seen all there is to see. Though to be fair you do not stay in San Pedro for the town itself, rather for the stunning surroundings. There were lots of tour operators offering trips to the sites, quite a few cafes and lots of backpackers, sat in the hot square.
We ate lunch on the square and were bothered by flies. This was a first and is most likely explained by San Pedro being an oasis, with quite a lot of green vegetation.
The ubiquitous Chilean dogs were sleeping in the shade, and we noticed that the ones who did trot about stuck to the shaded side of the street.
There was a big nativity set outside of the church, and some sort of children’s ceremony was going on.
The local police station and the council offices.
The church
The main road in to town
It is really hot here and the sun is very intense.
We went out about 8.30 pm in search of dinner and went to a wholefood place. It was very rustic with plain wooden tables and highly uncomfortable benches. Towards the end of our meal there was a power cut, and the waiters had to work by candlelight. Then suddenly a trio of Chilean musicians appeared playing traditional music. One even had a flute, though we were disappointed that he did not play it with his nose! Then a strange figure emerged with a huge white mask and black mane. Kevin likened him to Michael Jackson in Thriller. He coaxed a few ladies to dance with him, but luckily not Joan.
A hat went round and they went away. A few minutes later the power went back on. We then walked back. The skies were very clear, and we could see an upside down Orion, Taurus, and Auriga.
Joanie, your pictures are quite good but many of your landscapes lack "proportions", by adding a figure,such as yourselves,the scale of the pic becomes apparent, hovever watch out for handbags!
ReplyDeleteDad.