Chile - San Pedro and the giant copper mine

Full moon over San Pedro.

San Pedro de Atacama 

Now Chile. After 3 months in Peru and Bolivia, quite a strong change. And of course, I ended up in the tourist hell of San Pedro de Atacama. Completely overrun tourist town with numerous expensive cafes, restaurants, hotels and travel agencies. I knew beforehand that it would be much more expensive in Chile. But the fact that it is almost like Germany, was a bit surprising. And the tours offered are even more expensive when you consider that they often only last half a day and actually only include transportation and a guide who tells a little something. Fortunately, I had already seen many things in Bolivia. That's why I saved the tour to the lagoons and the salt flats. Instead, on the first day I chose a good viewpoint and some ruins that I could easily walk to. The next day I explored the Valle de la Luna - the Moon Valley - by bike. It was very pleasant to move around a bit again after all the days in the car. And the temperatures were much more comfortable. San Pedro is located in the middle of the desert. Accordingly, it is hot during the day and does not cool down too much at night. So similar to the salt flats and highlands in Bolivia. Only about 2000 meters lower.  View of San Pedro in the middle of the desert.

The ruins of Pukará de Quitor. The view to the other side of the valley. Yes, it was the time of full moon.

In the Moon Valley we started with a few caves. Then comes the Anfiteatro... With the big dune on the left side. And again and again wide and spectacular landscapes, which really live up to the name Moon Valley. Duna Mayor - The big dune. The track straight through the Anfiteatro to the end of the Moon Valley. There you could enjoy the view. That was the 'highlight' at the end of the Moon Valley. The tres marias. Three small stones that just didn't look like anything. So you really have to be quite faithful. I could have saved the last 4km. The former salt storage site didn't have much to offer besides a few tractor ruins. But at least you could still discover the salt in crystal form.

In the evening I went on an astro tour. I hadn't really dealt with astronomy so far. With a few snacks and good wine by the campfire, there were a few basic explanations about the constellations and planets. It was full moon, so the stars could not be observed as well. But the planets could be observed even better. And so I could admire the moon in all its splendor. And for the first time I could observe the Southern Cross, Scorpio, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus. That was really cool. And in the area there are also the really big telescopes of the international stargazers, because there are no clouds here all year round. At most briefly during the day, but never at night.  The astro tour during full moon was something special. And through the telescope you could take pretty good pictures.

The next morning I continued to the El Tatio Geysers. Well, it was more of a field of geysers. To see the steaming, bubbling, sulfurous volcanic areas well, of course, you had to be there before sunrise again, so departure was at 5 o'clock. Because as soon as the sun comes out, you can't see much of the steam anymore, so the whole thing bubbles relatively unspectacularly. And at 5000 meters height it is damn cold before sunrise.
The good thing about it was that I was back in San Pedro quite early and could immediately head to Calama. We had to get up early to visit the El Tatio Geysers. The seagulls got really close. Maybe to warm up a bit. Steam was bubbling and gushing out of the ground everywhere.

The volcanoes all around are currently not active. Hard to believe with the energy being released here around the clock. And then the sun came out and the steam clouds quickly disappeared.

On the way back we stopped in a settlement where 6 or 7 people live. We don't know exactly...

And the people were different again in Chile. Friendly, helpful faces, interested in a conversation. Where are you from? What are you doing here? What have you seen in Chile, etc? I had never experienced something like this before. The eternal cold of the mountains also seems to be over. Maybe it's similar with people.

Calama and the giant Chuquicamata copper mine

Three hours drive through the desert later, I had arrived. And in Calama there is actually nothing to see and do, so I could recover from the hardships of the past 2 weeks and work on the blog.
The only exception is the currently still largest open-pit copper mine Chuquicamata! In the coming years, they will increasingly also work below ground and somewhere in the world there will probably be an even larger open-pit copper mine.
The company that mines there also offers tours. The whole thing was not quite so easy and professional in terms of organization, so it was good that I had a few days waiting time. The huge machines and the size of the mine, which is basically a giant cone, were extremely impressive.  Those were real monster trucks! They look like toys, but they can transport 350 tons and weigh over 100 tons when empty. And they almost disappear in the vastness of the huge mines. Hard to recognize with the huge dimensions. And if you look very closely, you can also discover the driver. To get an idea of the size ratios.

The excavators were impressive too! The shovel can hold around 40 tons.