Laguna Cejar, Ojos del Salar and Laguna Tebinquinche

The third and final tour we did in Atacama was to Laguna Cejar, and as I mentioned in my last post, it really did turn out to be the highlight of the trip.

There are two lagoons in the Laguna Cejar park: Laguna Cejar and Laguna Piedra. Laguna Cejar is just for looking at and taking pictures.

However, Laguna Piedra is for swimming - or rather floating! The high concentration of salt in the water means that it's hard to swim normally and really easy to float. It was an incredible experience and so much fun. It was definitely one of the best moments of my life, and I often wish I was back there!

Afterwards we went to two more lagoons called Ojos del Salar (eyes of the salt flat). Here we had the opportunity to take some fun perspective photos!

Like Laguna Cejar and Laguna Piedra, one of the lagoons was just for taking photos.

But we could swim in the other one. It was very cold and muddy, but fun!

After that, we went to a lagoon on the salt flats. I didn't know the name of it at the time, but a bit of research tells me it was Laguna Tebinquinche. It was quite similar to Laguna Chaxa, and I did spot a few more flamingos in the distance!

At Laguna Tebinquinche, we watched the sunset and had Pisco Sours! It was the perfect end to an amazing day.

I'm really glad that we went to the Atacama desert. We were deciding between Atacama and Torres del Paine, but as I'd been to the south of Chile during my Year Abroad, I wanted to go to the north this time. 

I'd actually reserved my place on two tours to the north of Chile, one to Atacama and one to La Serena, when I was living in Santiago. However, the travel company was extremely inefficient, and I was never able to finish booking those trips. There was also another occasion when I was going to go to La Serena which ended up not happening. So it was great to finally see northern Chile! As a side note on the subject of tour companies, I went to the Maule region and Mendoza, Argentina with Chile Extreme and to Huilo Huilo with Emotion Tour Chile, and I would highly recommend both.

Atacama was like a different country to Santiago, both in terms of scenery and culture. It felt much more like "typical" South America than the other places I'd been to in Chile and Argentina. My boyfriend said that even the language there is very different, and much more similar to Bolivian Spanish than to the Spanish spoken in Santiago.

It was an incredible week and a half in Chile, and it was great to visit so many fantastic places, see amazing wildlife, and of course spend time with my boyfriend. Atacama was the first time either of us had been on a "couple's holiday" and we really enjoyed it. We want to go away together again when possible, perhaps to Torres del Paine or maybe in Europe! We both quite like the idea of doing a road trip all the way down through Chile from Santiago, or taking the Eurostar from London to Paris...

For now, we have to complete our degrees! There are no real opportunities for taking big trips away at the moment, but I've decided to see some more of the area around Nottingham while I'm still living here. Yesterday I visited Wollaton Hall for the first time, which was really nice. There'll be a blog post about it coming soon!

Salar de Atacama, the Altiplano and Other Exciting Places!

On our second day in Atacama, we got up early to go on a tour at 7am to Salar de Atacama, the salt flats of the desert, along with some other places of interest. One thing I want to mention that is a bit strange about the area is that it's really hot during the day, and very cold and windy at night and in the early morning. It's also quite cold on the Altiplano. We only took hand luggage with us, so I was struggling at times to decide which items out of the small amount of clothes I'd brought would be best for the climate! (This gave me a good opportunity to buy a new skort from one of the shops selling colourful clothing in San Pedro on our last day. 😄 ) So at times, during the Salar de Atacama tour (and during the trip as a whole), I was feeling quite cold, and at other times quite hot. If I go back, I will be better prepared!

The first place we went to on the tour was a very charming village called Toconao.

It is most famous for its bell tower, which is separate from the church.

It is also famous for the two big cacti in the village square, known as Señor and Señorita Cactus. I won't say why they have those names, but it's quite obvious! 😂

Then we headed off to the salt flats, specifically Laguna Chaxa. This was a beautiful place, and very different to anywhere I'd been before. But there was another reason why I liked it so much... The lagoon is the habitat of three types of flamingo, which we were able to see fairly closely!

I'm a big animal lover, so I was really happy to have seen the birds in such an amazing setting. The only downside to the salt flats is that they don't smell very nice!

The next place we went was a town called Socaire, which is known for its ancient agricultural terraces as well as its Catholic church, demonstrating the history of the area. It reminded me a little bit of Machu Picchu, somewhere I'd like to go in the future.

Next we made a quick stop by a river which is interesting because it flows upwards and it's unclear why it does so. Maybe it's magic...

Shortly after that, we arrived in the Altiplano! We visited two lagoons that lie next to each other, Laguna Miñiques and Laguna Miscanti. They were an amazing sight, with the Andes mountains and the Miñiques volcano in the background.

But it gets better! We spotted some creatures moving about in the distance, which turned out to be vicuñas, animals that are similar to llamas and alpacas! When I went to Huilo Huilo in June, I had hoped to see guanacos, another similar type of animal, but there weren't any in sight. So I was really pleased to be luckier with my wildlife spotting this time.

(In the following picture, there are two vicuñas on the right which are extremely tiny as they were so far away.)

Then as we were driving to the next stop on the tour, we came across a group of them who were much closer! I was able to take a couple of photos through the minibus window.

The next stop on the tour was really interesting, as it was part of the desert where you can find both a marker along the Inca trail, as well as a marker of the Tropic of Capricorn.

                                                 

The tour was amazing; the places we visited were beautiful and I was so happy to see both flamingos and vicuñas! The salt flats, lagoons and Altiplano were so different to Valle de la Luna. I really liked both tours, but I found the places we saw on this one just a bit more scenic and impressive.

We got back to San Pedro at two o'clock in the afternoon, and had just a couple of hours before our next tour, which turned out to be the highlight of the entire trip!

Valle de la Luna

Valle de la Luna, a valley with various unique rock formations, is probably the place in the Atacama desert I'd heard most about before going. It's a must see because, as the name suggests, it looks more like the moon than a place on earth.

We went on a tour there on our first afternoon in Atacama. Although I was feeling quite ill that day, I still was able to appreciate the strange beauty of this dry, dusty place.

Valle de la Luna is just a few kilometres outside of San Pedro de Atacama, so it's easy to get there. Once we arrived, there was a short tour through a cave, which my boyfriend and the majority of people on the tour did. However, the guide said it wasn't a good idea for people who don't like small spaces, so me and a couple of others explored the surrounding area instead. It was fun to look around and see a cave (without going too far inside!), some interesting rock formations, and some rocks with crystals on them.

The next place we went to in the valley was Las Tres Marías (the three Marys). These are three rocks that sort of look like people praying. However, at some point in the past, the head fell off one of them!

During the final part of the tour, we climbed up three peaks to be able to see great expanses of the valley. It wasn't easy as I was feeling so rough, but it was worth it for the views! 

The big rock at the back of the first picture is known as "the amphitheatre".

Valle de la Luna was completely different to anywhere I've been before. The scenery was really impressive, and I'm glad I managed to see it, despite being ill. I felt awful that night, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do anything the next day. Thankfully, I woke up feeling alright and could completely enjoy our tour to Salar de Atacama; another very unique and fascinating place that I will write about next!