The long drive to San Pedro de Atacama

We start our long drive from Iquique to San Pedro De Atacama fairly early, which is pretty good because it’s not as hot in the car for most of the ride. Even with A/C the sun through the windows is still roasting.

What is funny on this desert ride is that at times you feel like in an old video game. Because of the heat and reverberation, the landscape is “generated” as you drive and appears slowly. It’s not so good for evaluating distances though. Even if you are on a straight road portion and need to overtake a truck, it’s not so easy to gauge if you have a safe distance to do it.

We felt like this drive was shorter than it actually was, we thought we would arrive around 3pm in San Pedro, instead just by 1pm we were in Calama. Time for a refuel of the car before the last 1h plus to our final destination.

15min before arriving in town, there was a view point on the right side ( later we learned it’s called Ckari viewpoint ), we stopped for our first good view of the Cordillera del Sal.

We have found a very nice AirBnB which is 15min walk from downtown, quiet and very comfortable. The check in is easy and we relax for an hour. 

We drag ourselves to town a little before 5pm to get our bearings and groceries for the next days. San Pedro De Atacama is exactly like we would imagine an oasis in the desert to be. Everything is mud, white or red washed, walls. In the shades of the trees and shrubs, it’s pretty cool. There is a nice breeze. Most of the streets are non-paved and just packed earth. It has nice vibe to it. And of course it is very touristy, we find all the souvenir shops and tours.

We haven’t decided yet if we were going to Uyuni from San Pedro or if we were doing it from Calama. We check out a few tour agencies to be left feeling “meh” with most of them. We also don’t know how to choose the right one. All prices are the same.

We sit down at a café to do some online research before continuing wandering the main street. Altitude is catching up. Indeed, San Pedro is 2,500m and Iquique is … well: zero. Our heads are a little sore and we feel very tired all of a sudden. 

We just decide to call it a day, get the groceries we need and find shelter back in our room. We cooked some simple pasta and went to sleep early.