How to Succesfully Enter Bolivia
As we had heard that La Paz was paralyzed by a general strike, we thought it would be a good idea to take a night bust straight across the Andes into the Altiplano city of Oruro. We headed out of Iquique at around 9pm, ready for a long night, but looking forward to getting to Bolivia in the morning. At 1am, we got to the border, but our joy at getting there relatively early soon turned into bafflement. Now, the bus driver's assistant told us, we were all going to sleep on the bus until the immigration office opened at 8 in the morning! Shocked and mildly frustrated by this incomprehensible waste of time, which seemed to be a perfectly sensible routine to our fellow Bolivian travelers, we curled up under the sleeping bag we'd had the rare foresight to bring, and tried to sleep among snores, floating bits of conversation, and the periodic (and vain) attempts of a couple of ladies to get reception on a portable TV.
Returning to Iquique
After three short days in the Lauca park, it was time for us to head on (our car rental contract was running out). We used the opportunity to stop by a few northern Chilean sites that we had missed on the way up to Lauca.
Climbing the Cerro Guaneguane
For our last day in Lauca, we thought it would be nice to take it a little easier and climb the Guaneguane hill. We took our rental back to the same place that we had parked it the day before and headed up the relatively close and relatively small mountain whose peak was just a thousand meters above us, at 5,050 meters (16,500 feet).
Hiking the Altiplano
After spending a day moving around Lauca in car and taking relatively easy day hikes, we moved on to a method of transport that allowed us to commune with nature a little better: hiking. We parked our car a couple of miles from the highway and set off across the wide valley that is the center peace of the Lauca park, our eventual goal a high hilltop some ten miles distant.
A Safari on the Altiplano
On our first day in Lauca, the 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) of altitude was taking a pretty hard toll on us. Everything, including just crossing the street, sent our hearts racing and our lungs screaming. So we took it easy and took a self-guided auto-safari through the park, taking pictures of the scenery and, more importantly, the animals!
At the gate of Lauca: Putre
For exploring the national park of Lauca, we based ourselves at a small village called Putre. At 3,500 meters (11,500 feet) over sea level, Putre is a perfect place to acclimatize for more strenous activities in the slightly higher park. Otherwise, there is about nothing there... except, of course, llamas.
The trip to Lauca
From Iquique we took our rented vehicle up to one of Chile's undoubted highlights: the Lauca National Park. It turns out, however, that the drive up to the park is a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with some more of Chile's pre-columbian history.
The Pukara of Mamiña
Our second stop on our little tour of the Iquique region was the remote mountain village of Mamiña, 150 kilometers east of Iquique and well into the Andes mountains. Maniña is known for its thermal springs, but we had an entirely different goal in mind: the 12th century fortress built by a pre-columbian people to defend these life-giving sources of water in the middle of the Atacama desert.
Ghost towns:Humberstone and Santa Laura
After a couple of days in Iquique, we decided that the best way to see this remote part of Chile would be a rental car. The first thing we decided to do with our shiny new wheels was take a little day trip to the sights that we wanted to see around Iquique. The first of these were the ghost towns of Humberstone and Santa Laura, nitrate mines that once helped fuel Chile's late 19th to early 20th century mineral boom. They were both abandoned in the 1960s, after the invention of cheap, artificial nitrate manufacturing had made the mines obsolete, and simply left to the dust of the dry desert air.
Welcome to Iquique
After our time in San Pedro, we headed down to the coast for a couple of days in the beach-town/port of Iquique. If it seems to some of you that we have been bouncing from the mountains to the beach for the last month, that is because we have been. In Chile, there is not really another way to do it, which is actually kind of nice.
Biking the Valle de la Luna
The day after our hike through the Catarpe, we rented a couple of bikes and headed off into the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) for a nice day on the road. We got a nice early start on the day, but unfortunately a pack of feral hounds adopted us on the way out of town. At first, they were amusing, but as the ride progressed, it became apparent that we could not outrun these panting, humping (one of the females was in heat), car-chasing beasts.
La Leguna Cejas
For our last day in San Pedro, we decided that we could not leave the world's driest desert without swimming. So we took a last day trip into the salt flats to bathe in some of the best swimming holes in northern Chile.
The Pukara de Quitor
As I mentioned yesterday, part of our hike took us past the ruins of the Pukara (fortress) of Quitor. Speaking of this fortress is a good time to take an aside to speak a bit of the fascinating history of the Atacama Desert and its peoples, which I am going to do now.
Hiking the Catarpe
After two days of fairly relaxed trekking by hydrocarbon, we decided to take a couple of days to enjoy the desert the way the gods and goddesses intended: by muscle power. Our first day we took off on foot to the Catarpe, a series of canyons carved by the flow of the small river that feeds San Pedro.
The Lagoons of the Altiplano (Flamingos!)
The day after our trip to the Geysers, we took a day trip up to some of the famous lakes around San Pedro. The first destination was Laguna Chaxa in the Salar de Atacama, a salt flat that stretches south of San Pedro and measures 100x60 km (60x40 miles) and is over 2000m (6,500 feet) deep in some places. The salar is located in a large bowl with no outlet, meaning that whatever water falls within hundreds of miles eventually makes its way there, creating pools of salt brine.
The Geysers of El Tatio
Since San Pedro is located at a high altitude and anything to do around it is at a very high altitude, we decided to take it easy for the first couple of days and book a couple of guided tours while we waited for our bodies to acclimatize. The first of these was to the Geysers of El Tatio.
San Pedro de Atacama
From La Serena we headed north to San Pedro de Atacama, in the Atacama desert. This desert is, in fact, the driest place on earth and, I can assure you after taking a 17 hour bus ride through it, also one of the deadest. San Pedro is on an oasis on the eastern side of the Atacama, near the Argentine and Bolivian borders and just north of the great salt flat of Atacama.
Petroglyphs of Valle del Encanto
Our last little trip from La Serena was to the archeological site of Valle del Encanto, or the Enchanted Valley. The "valley" is in fact a small ravine where an underground river comes to the surface and which was in bygone times an important oasis in this sub-desert region. It was inhabited, notably, from the 2nd to the 7th century CE by La Cultura Molle (apres la culture Moche, voici la culture Molle...).
Dolphins and Penguins!
Dolphins and Penguins! That's right, we saw dolphins and penguins. In the wild and close up. Hah, aren't you jealous?
La Serena
After our time in Tricahue, we took a 14 hour bus ride north to the coastal city of La Serena. This particular town is known among Chileans as a beach resort, but as it is getting to be winter here, the city is thankfully calm. It was also quite nice to finally see a Chilean city that was actually intact!