Day 43: Arica, Chile

Arica is a border city near Bolivia and Peru. It does have a little bit of the sketchiness you would associate with a border city, but overall its very nice and has a flourishing non-border scene. It lacks the major tourist attractions and therefore was a nice place to get away from the super saturated tourism of San Pedro. I saw a particularly entertaining hand puppet act for children on the main pedestrian street which had everyone, adults and children, in stitches. I was there on a Saturday, and the scene at night was rowdy and rambunctious. There were lots of places to go and I got a couple of drinks near my hotel but didn't stray too far because it was clearly not the safest place to be drunk and because I had a long journey to Peru the next day.

This church was designed by the same Eiffel who designed the tower.

I had originally been planning to go to Bolivia for a 4-7 days, but when I learned they charge all Americans (and only Americans) $130+ to enter I decided I would rather spend that money in Peru. It just didn't seem right to spend that kind of money just to cross the border into a country I was planning on spending less than a week in. Fortunately, this turn of events led me to the great Machu Picchu.

SPdA day 3: Altiplanic Lakes, Salares

By far the highlight of my visit to San Pedro de Atacama, and one of the highlights of the trip overall, the "Red Rocks" tour of the altiplanic lakes and salt flats was incredible, with one remarkable vista after another, in full panoramic beauty. We traveled in a small group of about 8 people, and surprisingly had all of the sites we visited completely to ourselves. By the end of the journey it was as if we were old friends. Every other tour I had done in the area was overloaded with other tourists ogling the same sights, but here we were just solitary specks in the vast landscapes. The tour guide was very enthusiastic, and you could tell that both him and the driver were genuinely interested in the tour, and not just completing a routine task for their paychecks. In fact, it seemed like the particular route of the trip was somewhat flexible and would change from day to day according to new spots they learned about etc. 

It was another early morning, preparing for an 11+ hour tour:

Our first stop was towards the beginning of the Inca Trail, an infamous historic route which the Inca traveled to arrive to Machu Picchu. The route extends all the way down into Northern Chile:

Next we would visit some spectacular high-altitude lakes, and see some wild flamingos:

Interesting rock formations overlooking an expansive valley:

A person in the next photo gives an idea of the scale:

More vast high-altitude lakes:

Salt flats with interesting reflections and more flamingos:

It looked to me like these nuns in the middle of nowhere were about to walk right into a Monty Python skit:

Hey you llamas get out of the general store!!

I returned to San Pedro de Atacama with just enough time to grab a bite to eat before a long bus trip to Arica, my last destination in Chile.

SPdA day 2: Geysers

We arrived before the break of dawn to see the geysers:

There were dozens if not hundreds of steaming & sputtering geysers throughout the valley:

Hot springs nearby for a quick swim:

Vicunas:

On the way back we stopped in a little village.
Alpaca skewers, yum!

Goat cheese empanadas and coca leaf tea: