Valle de la Luna

El Valle de la Luna and the Laguna Cejar in the Atacama

As was recommended to me, I booked tours with a local agency from San Pedro de Atacama. I certainly love driving myself around but this was a trip I am glad I didn’t do that in. Perhaps on a future trip I would drive but the area is not consistently well labeled and some of the places to go are quite remote. Our first day took us to the Valle de la Luna and the Laguna Cejar.

A short drive from San Pedro, it was an ideal place to watch the sun set. The mountains in the distance, anchored by Volcan Licancabur, changed colors as the sun set. We also had a small amount of clouds which “wore” spectacular colors as the sun set. We hiked up to a sort-of ridge and sat there until the sun went down. It was a bit cold but we had coats and hunkered down against some rocks. There was also a large sand dune next to the ridge and it provided me some good photo opps! It was indeed a majestic sunset…

View of Volcan Licancabur

Sand. Footsteps.

Laguna Cejar

This laguna is a spot to enjoy the salty water by jumping in. Of course, it was cold when we were there but apparently, it was tolerable. I didn’t go prepared to jump in so I observed as others dipped in and floated in the salty water. Of course, photo opps kept me entertained…

The sun and clouds above

Observing tourists observe the ever-present Volcan Licancabur

Of the two places, I could have missed the Laguna Cejar and not have missed tons but that could be because I didn’t jump in. However, the Valle de la Luna is a must for sure! I did not get to see the Valle de la Muerte or the Valle del Arco Iris but now I would look forward to visiting them should I ever return…

Why I Chose to Visit the World’s Driest Desert – the Atacama

Visiting a desert? Isn’t it all just like dry and sandy? Why? I had been to the Sahara desert but mainly in the vicinity of the Nile River in Egypt. And while it is likely not representative of the rest of the Sahara (opinions, readers?), I thought how different can they all be from each other?

Since I had the opportunity to spend a holiday weekend away from Santiago late in June, I decided to explore the Atacama. There are 3 main areas of Chile that I want to see. One I saw partially in 1991, the other 2 I had not seen. The lake district down south near Puerto Montt I visited in 1991 but not fully. In fact, I probably only “sampled” a fraction of the area. But it is winter now and not the best time to go (I was set to go in March but the earthquake happened and killed the trip…). The other area I am wanting to go to is Tierra del Fuego and las Torres del Paine. But, again, it is winter… So the third area on my top 3 was the Atacama and this seemed a great time to go.

Flying to Calama in the north requires flying over almost half of Chile’s length, abt 2 hrs (photo: http://www.finetravel.co.nz)

I heard it would be cold since some of the places to visit are in altitude (over 12,000 ft above sea level) but, at least, down in San Pedro de Atacama, things would not be so bad. In another entry I cover the details of my “getting there”.

I didn’t have a strong notion what it was I was going to see prior to doing some research but it sounded different. I was up for different. I figured that seeing the desert at different times of day would offer great colors and images. I also knew there were “salares” (salt lakes of sorts) that could offer great photo opps for a creative type with a brand new camera based on the pictures hanging on the wall of my hotel in Santiago.

Research, including talking to other visitors in Chile who had been there and locals as well as Internet research, showed me there was indeed quite a good bit to see and do. My mind was more made up than it had been. Among the key recommendations were:

– Valle de la Luna

– Valle de la Muerte

– Valle del Arco Iris

– Geysers del Tatio

– Salar de Atacama

– Lagunas Altiplanicas

– Laguna Cejar

– Night sky watching

So, the trip was born…

Other entries cover some of these (links above) and some learnings acquired along the way…

Any other suggestions for places to see in the Atacama?