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Atacama Desert

A no sleeping experience.

By Javi Lorbada

January 8^th, 2018

CHILE 🇨🇱

The Atacama Desert

The last trip of 2017 for me, a journey I was really looking forward to, due to the variety of landscapes and adventures along the way.

Although I planned less than I would have liked to, in the end, this trip in Chile went incredibly smooth, with nothing but joy and fulfillment.

Atacama Desert is the first chapter of this four episodes story, that I will be unveiling over the course of the next couple of months, subscribe to be the first to get the stories.

Coming next 👇

Carretera Austral ＆ Bits of Argentinian Patagonia ＆Torres del Paine.

As usual, you can follow the daily stories at Polarsteps.

Or keep reading for the photo memories 👇

San Pedro de Atacama - Valle del Arcoiris - Guatin Canyon

Very excited for this desert first day I woke up for the sunrise, I was alone walking through San Pedro, but didn’t find the view. The morning until noon went away pretty fast doing all car rental formalities and groceries. We rented a 4WD at Wicked Campers with a rooftop tent for the coming 4 days / 3 nights.

Around 1 pm, we start heading towards the Rainbow Valley (Valle del Arcoiris), at arrival light in't great but the valley insane, the colours on those rocks are truly a rainbow, reds, whites, greens… never before seen something similar, and here, just the 3 of us, were totally amazed by it, our time flies and we spend more than 3h walking around and taking a look at the valley from above, again, my amazement goes beyond belief.

Sunset goes on the road, and we had some pretty pictures with llamas and fire on the sky, we have to move on towards the Guatin Canyon, looking for the place to overnight, found one pretty easy, pitch the tent, prepare dinner, campfire and enjoy the stars.

I would say, the first day went terrific!

Guatin Canyon - Tatio Geyser - Moon Valley - Ojos del Salar

I don’t have adjectives for this day, I had an incredible night at Guatin, Milky Way included, I woke up for sunrise, and then headed to Tatio Geyser. Even though we arrived rather late, this place at more than 3500 meters high it’s quite impressive, and the road to reach it as well.

At midday we went back to San Pedro to refuel and buy lunch, afterward to the Moon Valley. I must admit my expectations were high for this place, but it did surpass them all. Reminds me of Wadi Rum. Moon Valley a majestic place which has many sites to visit, but the sunset was spectacular, hiking up to the main dune and see, both, the sun going down and the valley.

Our second day in a row ended up dark, and headed for the overnight, to a place called “Ojos del Salar”, two circular small lakes where the stars reflect. I did set my alarm at 4 am when there where no moon interference and I said:

"Oh boy! This is gonna be my night!"

Ojos del Salar - Cejar Lagoon - Miñiques & Miscanti Lagoons

Woke up at 4:15 am, it was about the right time! Clearest sky I've ever seen, the Atacama desert is very well known for this and I feel very lucky to have seen it, especially the milky way from one side to the other. Dawn started 5:30, another wonder as well. The two circular lagoons showing incredible reflections. Such an amazing place, and very well conserved.

Our need for a shower took us to Cejar Lagoon, a saltwater lagoon where we could try our buoyancy like the Dead Sea.

Then we did the regular stop at San Pedro de Atacama, refuel and get some lunch. Towards the afternoon we drove south looking for Miscanti & Miñiques lagoons at 4000 m altitude.

I must admit, this is sick, the volcanos, the water-colour, the scenery... totally mind blown.

Driving some altitude meters down we decided to sleep at 3700m. My predictions for a bad sleeping night went right.

Piedras Rojas - Tuyajto Lake-

San Pedro de Atacama - Santiago

As predicted, terrible night sleep, constantly waking up from freezing cold and probably altitude sickness symptoms. Nevertheless, at 4 am I went out for some stargazing, cold, windy, I'm alone at 3700m, it feels frightening, but my pleasure and joy to see this sky is above anything else.

Terrific Milky Way, I'm totally in love with the landscape, I have no words to describe this feeling, I can't recommend enough to anyone in here to go out when total darkness, believe me, the sky looks like in the movies, but it's real.

On the other hand, at sunrise I'm totally frozen, I don't feel my feet and I just want the sun to rise enough to warm me up, I had a hard time in this cold, I guess that's the price I had to pay.

After sunrise, finally warmed up with coffee, we headed to our last site here in the Atacama, Piedras Rojas & Laguna Tuyajto. As a final touch for this episode of the trip, the desert amazed me again, the color of the water for this salty lagoon surrounded by volcanoes and mountains it's a dreamy landscape.

The rest of the day it's just about drop off the car, and flight to Santiago for a night.

For anyone traveling to the Atacama, if you like landscapes and nature as much as I do, I promise, you will be impressed. Among one of the most stunning places I've visited, always sad that comes to an end, but excited to share with you what's next, Patagonia!

Please share your thoughts in the comments, or contact me at my email for any question.

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And if you made until here, thank you! ❤️

Let me share with you, something very special to me.

At the end of this trip in Chile I received the unfortunate call that my dad passed away, here to your left he is pushing forward as always he taught me, in this moment, life moves on, very fast and you've got make the most out of it!