Our Atacama Desert Road Trip

After spending our first day in Iquique exploring the sights of the city, we decided to make the most of the SUV we had rented, and take a trip deeper into the Atacama Desert on our second day. 

In general, people think of the Atacama Desert as being the area around San Pedro de Atacama (where we went in 2019), because that's the part most people visit, but in fact, the desert covers the whole of the far north of Chile, and by some definitions, the entire north of Chile, as well as parts of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. So there's a lot to discover there!

One of the places in my guidebook that intrigued us the most was the Atacama Giant, or Tarapacá Giant, a prehistoric geoglyph drawn on a mountain. So that's where we decided to go first.

It took us about an hour to get there, first driving up the steep mountain roads of Iquique, and then through the vast, remote desert. When we finally arrived at Cerro Unitas, the mountain where the giant is located, we were disappointed at first - there was a sign giving information about the giant, but we could only see some random lines etched into the earth, rather than an actual figure. For a minute, we thought that perhaps that was all that could be seen of the giant from ground level, and we wondered why it was so different from the picture in the book.

But then we saw another car going round the corner, and we decided to follow it - and there we found the giant! Although it's hard to believe it's really 119 metres long (the largest prehistoric anthropomorphic figure in the world), as perspective makes it look a lot smaller, it was still incredible to see it. The part of the desert where it's located is completely silent - the most silent place I've ever been to - which added to the mysterious atmosphere. It was amazing to think that this figure was created so many thousands of years ago, and it was also amazing to be so many miles from England, but to still be reminded of places closer to home, like the Uffington White Horse and the Cerne Abbas Giant, which are somewhat similar despite being on the other side of the world.

Claudio and I both believed that the giant was a representation of some kind of alien because of its antennae. However, we found out later that it was actually an astronomical calendar, which I suppose is a more logical explanation!

The Atacama Giant is certainly not the most popular attraction in the Atacama Desert (only a couple of other cars arrived during the hour or so we were there) but I would highly recommend visiting it. Seeing it in person felt like a very special experience.

Next we went to visit another historical place, the Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, which is one of only seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Chile. This is not such an ancient place as the Atacama Giant, as the mines were operational in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it gives you an interesting insight into what life was like for people living in this part of the world at that time.

Humberstone is like a ghost town, that has been preserved exactly how it was in the past. It was really a complete community, with a school, church and theatre, as well as houses. There you can find lots of artefacts, such as toys and tools used by the people who lived there.

Santa Laura is a few minutes away by car and receives much fewer visitors than Humberstone. It also looks far more derelict and abandoned.

Neither site is exactly beautiful, and it's a little hard to see why they have this UNESCO status, whereas places like San Pedro de Atacama, Torres del Paine, and some of the other stunning national parks in Chile do not. But I suppose they are significant because of the role they played in one of the most important industries in the history of the country. In any case, they're definitely worth a visit if you're travelling around the Iquique area.

Afterwards, it was time to return to the city, give back the SUV, and head for the airport. It had been a truly amazing couple of days, filled with even more adventures than we had expected to be able to fit in. I would say it was one of the best trips we've been on together, even better than our trip to San Pedro, because we could relax a bit more and take things at our own pace.

After such a brilliant time away, being back in Santiago has really felt like coming back down to earth with a bump. Although I love this city and am really happy living here, the last two weeks have been filled with bureaucracy and various little stresses.

So it's a good thing we've already got another trip booked - next week we're going to be visiting Parque Nacional Conguillío in the south of Chile. During my recent visits to Chile, we've seen quite a lot of the north of the country, so we feel like exploring some more of the south, which has completely different landscapes. I really loved my previous trip to the south in 2018, and the photos I've seen of Conguillío look incredible, so I'm sure that we're going to have a great time there. I'm looking forward to writing about it shortly!