San Pedro de Atacama – Chile

San Pedro de Atacama is a town set on an arid high plateau in the Andes mountains of northeastern Chile.   It’s a very popular destination among Chilean tourists and international visitors.

The Church of San Pedro de Atacama was constructed during the Spanish colonial period, it is reportedly the second oldest church in Chile. Indigenous adobe material were used in the church’s construction. The church was declared a historical monument in 1951.

Both the interior and exterior are painted white, while the altar is of bright coloring. The walls, roof, and the entrance door are built with algarrobo wood and cardón (cactus wood), and bound together by llama leather, in a technique that is traditional to the altiplano.

The roof is made of large rafters of algarrobo wood that are overlaid with slices of cactus logs.

The town of San Pedro de Atacama is a tourist town. As a personal experience, an important thing to take notice is that everything closes at midday, only restaurants are available. But no pharmacy is open during this time.

VALLE DE LA MUERTE 

Valle de la Muerte  is  a valley where gigantic dunes and rocks abound.

EL TATIO

El Tatio  is a geyser field located in the Andes Mountains of northern Chile at 4,320 metres (14,170 ft) above mean sea level. It is the third-largest geyser field in the world and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere

SALAR DE ATACAMA

Salar de Atacama is the largest salt flat in Chile and  the third largest in the world.

LAGUNA CEJAR

The Laguna Cejar is a sink hole lake in the Salar de Atacama, 18 km from San Pedro, Chile. It has a salt concentration that ranges from 5 to 28% (50 to 280 parts per thousand), producing at the higher end of the range an effect of floating like the Dead Sea.

MACHUCA

The town of Machuca is a small town of no more than 20 houses and a church, is located about 4,000 meters above sea level.

The town at this point is almost just a tourist attraction, at the time of my visit I was able to see some of the natives of the area but none of them were young.  The town is dying very slowly because of migration to larger cities, young people don’t want to stay and raise alpacas and llamas.

Every house in Machuca has a little cross on top, the belief is that by doing this evil spirits will not enter their home.

The main activity are the llamas, currently the few inhabitants of Machuca are beginning to participate in tourism.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *