Atacama's last adventure

I know you might start to get bored with all those pictures of the desert, but bear with me, this is the last Atacama post: a 5h horseback ride through a Canyon and then up a cattle path, the one the cattle used to take to walk from Argentina to Calama and Antofagasta, that's up a very steep climb to a plateau, and then back down through a sand dune to the local Death Valley, a bliss!!!

Pukara de Quitor, 

ancient indian fortress before the Inca conquest

through the Valley to Catarpe: my guide looks like a real cow-boy

and through the Canyon:

 I look like a real tourist..

Some scenes of "The motorcycle diaries" telling the story of Che Guevara, were filmed in that Canyon

and up the cattle trail,  the pics don't really show how steep this path was, even more impressive when being at riders' heigth.

On top of the plateau

and looking at the sand dune to Valle de la Muerte

So, I don't know if it's the Valley's name that inspired them, but I think that at this point our horses were whispering something I didn't ear in each other's ear, like "I'll race you down" or "the first one down gets a free beer", as a few minutes later, going down the dune, my horse who had been pretty relaxed until then suddenly took off like a rocket and over passed the guide without showing any signs of slowing down......Thank god my very ancient riding skills came back to me at that point to save me and my camera from landing in the sand!

managed to take a couple of pics before loosing control of my cheeky beast

That's it for Chile, see you back in Europe!

PS: in case you are travelling to San Pedro and are looking to horseback ride, I do recommend Rancho Cactus, they are nice and have very good horses for all levels: http://www.rancho-cactus.cl/

Adventure in the Atacama: madmen in action

Awesome landscape wasn't the only draw for this trip. It actually all started with a conversation about what to do next, i.e. after the Mont Ventoux climb, and the Alpes d'Huez etape (of the tour the France for those who don't bike nor have a biking freak in the family). So my husband Christophe came up with this idea of biking up the Paso de Jama, the road that links the Chilean to the Argentinian Altiplano through the Cordillera de los Andes, and culminates at 4250m (the road, not the mountains, they peak nearer 5500)...

So here they are training @ Taltal, at sea level..

...and after a few days of training at 2600 m on the Altiplano, here's the D day:

on departure, just outside San Pedro

...just a bit to go..

...and about 25km  up the road...

..getting very close...

...and there...

...the cheering crowd:

... bravo to our happy madmen...

 don't even try to imagine what's going to be next.....

Traveling Northern Chile, Chap2: Atacama desert

We discovered the Atacama desert in 94, during our honeymoon trip, and liked it so much, that this is our fourth visit. The fascination with the variety of light, texture and colors of the landscape, and it's uniqueness remains intact, the roads keep getting better, the maps more precise, making exploring easier and safer

Valle de la Luna

Laguna Cejar (Salar de Atacama)

Laguna Verde (Bolivia)

Lagunas Miscanti y Miniques

Domesticated Llamas, on the way up to paso de Jama

Mixed herd of donkeys, llamas and goats on the Salar

Vicuñas near Machuca

Toconao

Machuca

Caspana

Chiu Chiu

Hotel Altiplanico

San Pedro de Atacama now has an enormous choice of hotels, ranging from the youth hostel, to the 5* all inclusive resorts. Fortunately, most of them are constructed respecting the local colonial or indigen style. They are generally build with adobe, and rendered in sandy earth or painted with white lime wash, giving to the village ot's airs of mini hippie-metropolis of the desert. 

The hotel Altiplanico aims to reproduce a traditional indian village, with it's integrated colonial influences, it is made of earth-sand rendered adobe. It's very carefully planned with a circular path running along the 29 huts that each house a room. The decoration is quite restrained and includes localy manufactured fabrics, wood carving and sand carved symbols on the exterior walls. The central area is landscaped with local plants needing very little water, and several path run through them and to the central hut which contains the restaurant, lounging area, and reception. It's size, it's peace and the very nice attending crowd, makes it a perfect spot to relax after a day of exploration. 

Special thanks to Nick and Fiona for their contibution with the pictures, specialy the posy llamas...