Chile's Atacama Desert Day 4

Day 04 - Saturday, March 14, 2015 - Walking Tour of San Pedro; Travel to Toconao; Continue to Salar de Atacama; Visit the Chaxa Lagoon

Happy Pi Day! Today is the Pi Day of the century, 3.14.15. the first five digits of Pi.

We had a late morning, sleeping in and then breakfast at the lodge. We met Krasna at 9:45 am to talk about our trip to the Geysers early tomorrow morning.

At 10:15 we started on our walking tour of the village of San Pedro de Atacama. The small town has very narrow streets; most are pedestrian-only but there are many bicycles.

The streets are lined with 12 foot adobe walls, some topped with shards of glass, others with cactus, or thorny bushes. The adobe homes have beautiful courtyards; many are now hostels, inns, or restaurants.

Considered the archaeological center of Chile, San Pedro has many tour companies competing for business to take people to the prehistoric sites. We made a few stops at several small artisan shops where clay sculptures, copper jewelry, and metal castings are popular. There were also weavings and tapestries, many original, but most looked exactly like we had seen in Peru.

We visited the famous Padre Le Paige Archaeological Museum begun in 1957 by the Belgian Jesuit Priest, Gustavo Le Paige. Displaying artifacts including pre Hispanic pieces (ceramics, textiles, and metals) used in the days of the "atacameños" (people from Atacama).

Mummies were also found but are not displayed in respect of the culture of the descendants of Atacama Desert residents. The displays are well done, many giving the narratives in English as well as Spanish and covering artifacts from nearly 11,000 years.

We had lunch in a wonderful quiet adobe house called Restaurante Baltinache. The big meal of the day is served at noon and after the starter of salad or stuffed mushrooms we barely had room for the main courses of brochette of Angus or grilled snapper. Tres Leches cake was served for dessert.

During the heat of the day, the early afternoon temperatures were up to 82 degrees. We walked back to the hotel and caught up on the journal and our photos and rested until the sun went down a bit.

At 5:00 we all met again at the lodge for a drive to Toconao. The drive was about an hour but we got to see fantastic views of the Andes, especially Licancabur. As high as it is at 19,420 feet, this volcano has its own weather system and is usually covered with clouds. The range also includes another peak called Colorado. We were able to stop to take photos of the whole panorama.

We made a brief stop at Observatorio Astronomico Alma so Mary could have her photo taken. This area is famous for minimal light pollution allowing scientists to study the skies and the universes beyond at 16,400 feet above sea level.

When we arrived in Toconao it was 6:00 and 86 degrees. The altitude was 8,160 feet above sea level, the typical altiplano. We had about 30 minutes to explore the tiny village.

Krasna told us about the unique building materials, a volcanic stone called liparita mined in this local area. We visited the famous bell tower and chapel built by the Spanish in the 17th century.

Before leaving Toconao, we shared an ice cream bar and bought a few bags of chips. We drove another 40 minutes to Salar de Atacama, the third largest salt flats in the world.

The Reserva Nacional "Los Flamingos" at the Chaxa Lagoon is a protected habitat of birds, especially the Andean and Chilean flamingos. We hiked the observation trail out to the end of the approved path and watched the sunset at about 7:45. We were able to get some spectacular photos of this flat landscape.

At 8:00 we got back to the van and patient Ricardo took us back to our San Pedro lodge. We got back to our room at 9:00 and finished the journal and looked at the 200 more photos taken this afternoon.

We have a 5:00 am wake up call so we tried to get ourselves showered and organized for tomorrow.

Accommodations: Hotel La Casa de Don Tomas- - - Meal: B & L

Love tres leches cake, scenery pretty special too. Wish I was there with you.

GREAT PHOTOS...those flamingos are especially beautiful...look like multi-colored tundra swans!

Is Licancabur near Villarrica? Just saw pics of Villarrica erupting on CNN.

Beautiful pictures. I associated flamingos with water...these out in the desert?

What a great fight of the Flamingos in-flight! Vic I want to see the beautiful sunset pics you took. That is one thing I miss in traveling, besides the different foods, the gorgeous sunrise and sunset!! The terrain is as I pictured it would be. Beautiful!!! Sleep tight (or sober) - sounds like you have an early rise for tomorrow.

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