The Big North of Chile is dominated by far-stretching deserts: the Desierto de Atacama. The national park Lauca at the border to Bolivia and Peru offers an overwhelming scenery. And all around the oasis San Pedro salt lakes, geysers and highland villages captivate visitors.
ARICA & LAUCA PARK
In Chile's northernmost city, the coastal oasis Arica, the Cathedral de San Marco, designed by Gustav Eiffel, and the city's cliff "El Morro", are particular stunning sights. Palm-fringed beaches benefit from a mild climate that is popular with tourists and locals alike.
In the archaeological museum San Miguel de Azapa you can marvel at 8000-year-old mummies. Huge rock drawings (geoglyphs) line the road to Altipano, a highland region topping 4,000 m and home to the Aymara Indians since the dawn of time.
Putre, a small village in the Andes, is an ideal location to get gradually accustomed to the high altitude. From here we travel on to the Chungará lake, which is 4,570 m high up and literally 'takes one's breath away'. The lake is situated right in the middle of the national park Lauca and sits picturesquely at the feet of two 6,500 m high conical volcanoes. The biosphere reserve hosts a unique variety of flora and fauna, including flamingos, wild geese as well as two different types of llama, Vicuña and Guanaco. On route to the silvery-glistening Surire Salt Lake we pass the remote village Parinacota.
Top
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA
The oasis San Pedro is the perfect starting point for the exploration of the natural wonder that is the Atacama Desert and the Upper Andes. This enchanting village has a sound tourism infrastructure with narrow alleys and clay brick houses. Half-day-excursions lead into the nearby 'Valley of the Moon' - its sand dunes and weathered salt structures are indeed reminiscent of a moon landscape - and also to Salar de Atacama, an area covered by crackling salt crusts.
Every morning at sunrise the geysers of El Tatio, some 4,300 m above sea level, put on an exhilarating show: Huge steam fountains shoot up and one can hear the gurgling geysers. As the morning sun burns the mist away the gigantic peaks of the Andes are revealed in their full glory. Vicuñas (Andean Deer) and Viscachas (large rabbits) repeatedly cross your paths in the extensive Altiplano, dazzling scenes of green-glistening mountain lakes sitting below snow-covered volcanoes appear, while idyllic settlements dating back from before the Spanish invasion, lie hidden away in the valleys.
Finally, in Chuquicamata, the largest open air copper mine in the world, one can watch how red gold is extracted from the desert soil.
Tour Offers Big North
Top
|
|
