Another popular excursion from San Pedro is to the
high-altitude geyser field located at 4,320m within the Andes at El Tatio (55 miles, though allegedly 3 hours away)
It doesn't sound like it's for us though (not least the 4am start!) but the scenery up there is reputed to be worth the trip alone, even if you're not up early enough to see the 80 active geysers. And so it proves:
We climb through rockfaces topped with tall cacti,
It doesn't sound like it's for us though (not least the 4am start!) but the scenery up there is reputed to be worth the trip alone, even if you're not up early enough to see the 80 active geysers. And so it proves:
We climb through rockfaces topped with tall cacti,
volcanoes - we cross the barren terrain by Volcan
Putana,
sweeping panoramic views,
flora,
and fauna
including more flamingos
backed with herds of vicuña,
Some flamingos are, unusually, swimming where the water is too deep to stand up
And, in a gully, we come across llama
Super-woolly!
As we rise, the fertile waterflow at 4,015m sees the village of Machuca
with steps leading up to its pretty adobe church
Lastly, through the vado [ford] Putana
surrounded by the volcanoes
Back in San Pedro, the Valle de la Luna really lives up to its name
Our drive takes us past dramatic wind-eroded hills,
beautiful canyons and dunes
sand dunes, and, at sunset (when of course it's heaving with tour-vans!) a heavenly palette of browns and reds and golds.
We drive the full length, parking at Mira de Sol viewpoint, then visit Tres Marias, strange rock formation
D climbs us v steep bank to Mirador Achaches
for superb views across to Anfiteatro
and salt rock formations
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