Descriptions of the Terrantai Excursions of San
Pedro de Atacama
SAN PEDRO –ATACAMA SALT FLAT
09:00 to 13:30 hrs
Road conditions : International highway: paved road
(asfalt)/ National Reserve detour: compacted salt road .
Distance: San Pedro/Salt Flat/San Pedro, 120 kms.
Visit to Toconao, the liparita stone craftsmen village,
impressive view of the Jeri valley, hike along this landscape. Next, visit
to the Chaxa lagoon, in the middle of the salt flat, pink flamingos’ habitat
and nesting area.
MOON VALLEY
16:00 to 19:30 hrs
Road conditions : Calama main road : paved / National
Reserve detour: bumpy & dusty.
Distance: San Pedro/moon Valley/San Pedro, 41 kms.
Located in the salt mountain range, 90% salt and 10%
other minerals, an unusual landscape are treasured at the bottom. Made
up by attractive and impressive geological formations of diverse shapes
and colors, moon valley has attracted the attention not only of frequent
travellers but also from scientists. Giant dunes and beautiful salt crystals
on the crouching ground make you feel like in another planet or the moon
itself. This stage turns more attractive during sunset.
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA ARCHAEOLOGICAL WALKING TOUR,
16:00 to 19.00 hrs
Road conditions : n/a
Special visit that overcomes to 12,000 years of prehistory
time in which the first human groups inhabit the desert of Atacama developing
a form of life fused in the respect and gratefulness to the Mother Earth
(Pachamama).This visit will be guided the Archaeological Museum of San
Pedro de Atacama, possessor of an important anthropological collection
of the Atacama culture, we will continue this visit towards the Market
with samples of local and international crafts, the municipal large house,
Church, House of Pedro de Valdivia, among others
YERBAS BUENAS PETROGLYPHS
08:30 to 15:30 hrs
Road conditions: Main road to Calama : Paved / detour
to the spot : gravel and clay, bumpy & dusty.
Distance: San Pedro/Rio Grande/San Pedro, 140 kms.
Going back to the main road back to Calama, we take
a detour to get the surroundings of the Yerbas buenas gorge.
Impressive collection of carved rock designs that let us know about the
former social groups in Atacama.
ATACAMA’S RUINS
16:00 to 18:00 hrs
Road conditions: ground and clay road/ some gravel
on it.
Visit to the indigenous Pukara de Quitor.
TATIO GEYSERS
05:00 to 13:00 hrs
Road conditions: Not paved. Bumpy and dusty.
Distance: San Pedro/Tatio Geysers/San Pedro, 192 kms.
Short hike around the geothermal field with boiling
mud and steam clumps that make a geological stage of enormous beauty.
Return through the overwhelming landscape of the Andes. On the way,
Tocorpuri and Sairecahur volcanoes.
MISCANTI & MEÑIQUE LAGOONS
08:00 to 15:30 hrs
Road conditions: International Highway: Mostly paved
/ Detour to Lagoons : bumpy and slow on the slope.
Distance: San Pedro/Lagoons/San Pedro, 234 kms.
At 4500 mts. these lagoons are surrounded by impressive
volcanoes originated by the rising of the Andes in ancient geological times,
they get their underground water from thaws. On the way, we will also visit
Socaire, a town of the Atacama basin.
PAKANA´S CENTINELS
08:30 to 15:30 hrs
Road conditions: Paved road / Detour to the spot:
steepy. Graveled but safe.
Distance: San Pedro/Pakana/San Pedro, 290 kms.
At about 135 kms. southeast of San Pedro, Pakana is
a group of rocky structures in columns that have remained since geological
times, as the result of volcanic eruptions, which took place during the
tertiary era. Wonderful
landscape with extraordinary ecosystem of the Tara
salt flat as background, at 4500 mts.
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