Atacama chapter one
Arrival and a hike through the Chulackao Canyon.
Augustine meets me just outside the arrivals area. He holds a small sign that I miss. A woman working for a taxi company asks me if I need one. I shake my head and tell her I’m with Explora. She points him out to me.
The flight arrived just before the dawn. I had left Buenos Aires the night before and slept in an airport lounge in Santiago. I had booked a hotel room but after calculating the time it would have taken to leave the hotel, check in, check out, and return to the hotel it didn’t make sense, even though the hotel sat between the nacional and internacional terminals. I decided to save some money and time and make use of my Priority Pass lounge access perk.
As we flew in, the sun was preparing to crest. The Andes appeared to tear open the sky, exposing an angry open wound. From the parking lot, we could see the almost full blue supermoon
We drive southwest from the airport, skirting the city itself. Augustine tells me Calama has a population of around 180,000; almost 45% of them work in the mines. Just outside of town large wind and solar farms spread out over the landscape. The turbines stand like obelisks in the desert. The dawn offers a rosy backdrop against which they fan out their blades.
As we drive further into the desert I am rewarded with my first guanaco sighting. As Augustine calls out the guanaco I am reminded of our drives around Torres del Paine when I would call out each sighting to my cousin at the wheel.
I ask Augustine if he works for the hotel and he tells me no. He’s a freelancer and we’re riding in his private car. He’s done his fare share of driving all across Chile. He seems to love the open road ahead and the freedom that comes with a full tank and a direction.
Nearing San Pedro de Atacama the salt plains spread out below us, past the folded mountain range that marks one side of the desert. We’ve climbed from around 2,200 meters to almost 3,200 meters on our drive and I’ve felt my ears pop once or twice as we’ve made our way on the desert road.
I’m staying at the Explora lodge in San Pedro de Atacama, which proves to be much larger than I had expected. As we pass the main street in San Pedro de Atacama and continue towards the lodge he points out a wall that demarcates the property. It seems to go on forever. It’s all the Explora, he tells me.
I am welcomed at the lodge and taken on a tour of the facilities. I am most interested in lunch time. I had been reading up on the lodge the week before and learned that the consulting chef is none other than Virgilio Martínez Véliz, the head chef of Central in Lima. Immediately, my excitement bloomed.
In the middle of the tour Nacho, one of the senior guides, welcomes me and asks me what excursions I might be interested in. He asks if he can take a minute or two to explain them and the way in which they’ve arranged the options. It’s the de facto end of the tour and he proceeds to give me the full briefing on Explora, its founding, and its philosophy.
He tells me that the excursions are arranged in five zones. The first encompasses the salt flats at the lowest elevation to the mountains at the highest. These encompass zones one through four. The fifth is the sky; the Atacama is one of the darkest regions on earth and the lodge has their own observatory with which to gaze at the stars.
He asks me what I’m interested in doing and I tell him as much as I can. I want to be active, but I’m less interested in the salt flats and lagoons and flamingoes since I had been to the salt flats and lagoons in Bolivia at the end of last year, just on the other side of the mountains.
He tells me that the salt flats in Uyuni are definitely more impressive as they are pristine; in Atacama, the winds cover the flats with dust. He crosses the first zone off the list and proceeds to arrange an itinerary that covers the three other zones, starting with a short canyon hike to an overlook that afternoon and culminating with a moderate hike to the summit of Toco at 5,610 meters on my last full day
Afterwards, I see breakfast is still being served and proceed to stuff myself.
With a few hours between breakfast and lunch, I decide to visit San Pedro de Atacama. It’s only a few minutes walk from the lodge to the main street and I’m not sure I’ll have another opportunity as Nacho has filled my mornings and afternoons with activities.
The main street is lined with low buildings filled with shops and restaurants and tour agencies. Individual groups of tourists collect here and there.
I cross from the main road into the Plaza de Armas and visit the Iglesia San Pedro De Atacama, purported to be the second-oldest church in Chile. It’s a simple adobe building, where the beauty of the structure is harbored in its simplicity.
I duck inside to hide from the sun and to admire the altar and the construction of the roof. I hear creaking from within but don’t see any other visitors until he is suddenly before me. He had been visiting an alcove hidden to me and I’m slightly taken aback when he appears. He pays me no heed and walks from the darkened church back into the light.
Back in town I wander through a covered tourist market before making my way back to the lodge. Men are reshoeing a horse in a stable just off of the parking lot and I pause to watch them before retiring to my room. It’s still early and I am tired. The altitude no doubt adds to my lethargy and I let myself take a nap.
I wake up in time for a quick lunch before my afternoon excursion, a hike through the Chulackao canyon. It’s a buffet with three additional options off of a menu. I choose a ceviche and then reach out to ask if I can also add the duck. I’m still stuffed from breakfast but I can’t help myself.
Thankfully, they forget the duck as I’m too full to do it justice, and I am too pressed for time (and too full) for dessert. I meet Fernanda (our guide) and two Brazilian women at reception and she takes us over to a large map to detail our afternoon activity before loading us into a van for the drive to the trailhead.
Nacho had described the canyon as something out of Star Wars, and I see his point as we make our way through. Fernanda points out the veins of gypsum holding the clay together.
Midway through our hike she points up at an owl resting in an alcove. It’s a Tucúquere, the largest owl in Chile, named after the sound it makes. Later she’ll lament how boring the English names of animals are when she looks it up and sees it’s called the Lesser Horned Owl.
We wind our way through the canyon before coming to a path that leads up to a viewpoint. She tells us we needn’t climb to the top if we don’t want and we proceed to climb. I follow Fernanda until she pauses to wait for the others and then continue on, to a curve in the path and then up to the summit, where I am rewarded with views over the plains to the volcanic peaks beyond.
At the top I offer to take a photo for a solo climber. It turns out he’s from Santiago, but living in Calama and working in the minds. He’s a supervisor where his most important job is overseeing the safety of the people under his management. He’s brought his bike and has biked through the canyon; it’s his first time here, even though it’s so close to Calama.
When I reach the base, Fernanda and the two Brazilians are waiting. I apologize for making them wait; Fernanda apologizes for not joining me in the ascent. She’s had a cold and I tell her I’m glad she’s been conserving her strength.
On the hike back I ask her how long she’s been a guide and what her plans are. She said she’s looking for balance in her life. She had woked for two years in Australia and did a trip through Southeast Asia before returning to Chile. She’s open to more travel but she also feels drawn back towards Santaigo. Her brother is now 8 and she wants to be there to watch him grow up.
I ask how easy it is to move around the different Exploras. She says it can be done but it’s not necessarily easy. For example, it’s almost impossible to become a guide on Easter Island. They look only for local guides; there’s no amount of teaching that can replace generations of stories being told you over the course of your life.
At the end of the hike a table has been set up with snacks and drinks. The sun is well on its way towards the other side of the earth and the day has become cool. We eat potatos and fruit and sip our drinks before helping Fernanda and the driver pack up.
Back at the lodge I shower and have dinner. I’ve booked a stargazing excursion for the evening and at the appointed time I find myself back in the lobby. Tian (short for Christian) meets our group and leads us towards the observatory. He asks us not to use our cell phones so as not to destroy our night vision. The moon is just past full, blocking our view of galaxys beyond, but he points out the southern cross; Scorpius, with its red heart glowing in the center; Andromeda, and Saturn before ushering us into the observatory.
He trains the lens on Andromeda and shows us the two stars that make up the brightest star. He then shows us another binary star, one blue and one red before training the telescope on Saturn. It’s a brilliant image of the planet, the rings sharp. One of our group observes that it’s just like in the books.
Finally, Tian aligns the telescope on the moon. He wanrs us not to fall in love with looking at it as the brightness will burn. And he’s right. I can only glance at it before I can feel the light pressing against my retinas. But it’s a glorious view. Looking at the edges of the planet the craters are clearly visible and the mountains and ridges appear in sharp relief against the emptiness of space beyond.
It’s a fitting end to the day, having begun with a spectacle brought by the sun’s rise and ending with the sun’s brightness reflected back upon me. Quite an introduction to the desert.
31 August 2023
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