San Pedro de Atacama Things to Do Tips by swesn

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA : EL TATIO El Tatio geysers Review

San Pedro de Atacama is a tiny town which is a very popular tourist spot because of the nearby amazing natural wonders. As such, I felt the town is a tad pretentious, with many theme restaurants, many hippies and tour agencies everywhere.

El Tatio is a site at around 4500m, of geysers. To visit this fantastic place, tour agencies will pick you up at 4:00am to arrive at around 6:30am. This is the best time to view the geysers as the sun is rising and the geysers are waking up. The performance of the sprays and orchestra of hissing and bubbling has to be experienced.

However, being at such a high altitude at such an early hour means that it is TERRIBLY cold. Wear covered boots (even then, my toes were freezing), bring scarves and hats. Some parts of the ground may be unstable due to the volcanic activities below and thin crusts. The geysers are hot, an egg can be cooked in a few seconds, I was told. Yet, because of the cold, we kept veering near to the sprays to soak in the warmth.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA : SALAR DE ATACAMA Atacama salt flat Review

The Salar de Atacama is the third largest of salt flats in the world. It is a different kind of salt pan from Salinas Grande in Argentina.

In Salinas Grande, the grounds were flat and white with rough crystals forming hexagon shapes all around.

In Salar de Atacama, the salt-pan ground was uneven, dried up and brown, all the crystals and mixture of minerals were huge, jagged, lumpy rocks. It was impossible to walk on them and a path had been flattened out for us to walk across the salar.

This area is also home to flamingoes. I had come to see them but a pity they were slurping up the acidic lake miles away, tiny little dots in the distance.