Day 1: Picking up Wicked Van, Laguna Chaxa
We arrived at the Wicked offices to pick up our van at 10:30am. There were a few people ahead of us in line finishing up their paperwork, so it took us a little while to get on the road. After signing the documents, verifying the condition of our camper, double checking the checklist, and snagging a few essential free items: sleeping bag, pillow cutting board, extra dishwater, we were off. Our first stop was the grocery store to stock up on food for at least the next day. The second stop was the gas station to fill up the camper and the 20-liter jerrycan we had been given just in case. There is only one gas station in the desert, in San Pedro, so you have to come back to town to get gas, and we definitely did not want to run out. With that, we were off on our adventure heading towards Laguna Chaxa.
Laguna Chaxa (cost: 2,500 Chilean pesos [$3.84] per person) is part of the Los Flamencos National Reserve in the Salar de Atacama located about 65km from San Pedro. It is a beautiful salt-encrusted lake with flamingos. There are three different varieties of flamingos with distinct features. There are also tons of lizards and other wildlife, and the landscape is stunning.
After visiting Laguna Chaxa, we wanted to drive south to be closer to the Lagunas Miñiques and Miscanti, so we could visit them first thing the next morning. Laguna Chaxa is located off an access road from the main highway, 23. There are a number of connector roads that link 23 and the access road, and we decided to take the middle one to get back to 23 more quickly. The first quarter mile was pretty sandy, and since we had strict instructions not to drive in the sand lest the van get stuck, we were pretty nervous about this road, but we pressed on and the road became firmer. Then, about half way across to 23, the road disappeared entirely! Up to that point, it had been lined with rocks, but here the rocks were all scattered, and it was impossible to tell where the road should have been. Nearby there were some large tire tracks that were quite deep, evidence that at some point this area had been very wet. Luckily it wasn’t wet now, but we definitely couldn’t continue. The map showed there was a perpendicular connector that went down towards another horizontal connector road between the access road and 23, so we decided to drive back and turn left onto the perpendicular connector. Since we knew driving all the way back to the access road was potentially treacherous given the sand, we wanted to avoid that unless absolutely necessary. We made the left turn and things seemed good until about half way down we hit another set of deep tire tracks, this time ones we had to drive through. Eric shifted into a lower gear and we bounced into and out of the tire tracks and then found ourselves once again staring at a place where the road had disappeared. This time, we realized we had missed a detour about 300 feet back which was now on the other side of the deep tire tracks and we really didn’t want to risk going back through them. We could see the detour road about 20 feet to the left; however, there were seven medium-to-large rocks in the way between us and the way forward. 
Not wanting to go back out of fear of the deep tire tracks and the sand, we set about moving the rocks. This went well in the beginning as we moved the smaller rocks, but then we got to the largest rock…. We are resourceful people, so we tried lots of things: we dug in the sand with our hands and smaller rocks, 
we tried creating a lever with a table leg, we threw a smaller rock at the big rock to try to dislodge it, we tried using a tow rope to pull it out, we tried using the camper van’s jack to push it up. 
Nothing we tried made any difference, and after 45 minutes we started to wonder what we should do. We were pretty sure forward was our best bet, and Eric thought maybe the car was just narrow enough that having moved the first six rocks, we could fit between the big rock and the one-foot drop on the other side to connect with the detour. It worked! This connector was definitely not a short cut, and we wished someone had informed us these roads were closed (even a sign or a barrier at the road entrance would have worked). At 6:45pm, we were finally on our way again and in search of a camping spot near Socaire, a small village. Around 7:30pm, we found a place we could pull off the road and tuck our van away. We made hamburgers and a quick pickle and watched the sunset. Once the sun set, it quickly got cold, so we converted the inside of our van to a bed and climbed inside to play cards and gaze at the stars. There is almost no light pollution in Atacama and you can see almost all of the sky, so the stars are absolutely incredible.
Day 2: Lagunas Miñiques y Miscanti, and Guatin
The next morning we woke up and made scrambled eggs before driving to the Lagunas Miñiques y Miscanti which are about 12 miles south of Socaire and located at 13,500 feet above sea level.
The Lagunas Miñiques y Miscanti (cost: 3,000 Chilean pesos [$4.60] per person) are brackish lakes below the mountain peaks of the same name. They are some of the largest bodies of water in the Atacama desert.
At the lagunas, we met another couple who was driving a Wicked camper van. We swapped stories with them and they told us that Piedras Rojas, which is very popular and our next destination, was closed. They told us there were lots of emus and a viewpoint but otherwise not much to see. The emus were motivation enough for us, so we headed south. We did not see any emus, and we do not think we saw Piedras Rojas, but we did find a beautiful lookout point. At that point we turned around because our goal was to be near Machuca in the north for the night and we had a long drive ahead.
The Wicked office had given us a tip that the Guatin cactus valley was a nice place to camp for the night, and had also advised us not to camp at an altitude higher than 11,500 feet because it can be hard to start the van the next day. We arrived at Guatin just after 5pm and decided to hike into the valley. Guatin is also known as the Valley of the Cactus. The cacti were giant; many were more than 23 feet tall, and the valley was pretty with a small river and waterfalls. Around 6:30pm, we were back at the top of the valley and ready to set up camp, but there were three other sets of campers already set up for the night. One of the benefits of escaping into the desert with your own vehicle is you can get away from people, so we decided to find another place to camp. We drove a bit further up the road, checking the altitude at each point, and looking for a more private camping spot. We found one closer to Machuca at 11,150 feet. We set up camp, cooked hamburgers again and settled in to watch the stars. We were planning to get up at 4:40am the next morning to drive to the geysers so we went to bed early. It was a pretty chilly night and we were glad we had borrowed a sleeping bag.
Day 3: El Tatio Geysers, Machuca, Valle de La Luna, Mirador Kari y Valle del Arcoiris
As planned, we woke up at 4:40am and were on the road before 5am. We were still approximately an hour and a half from the geysers and we wanted to arrive around 6ish when the geysers open and when they are most active. The road to the geysers is a curvy road with a crazy washboard texture. Driving up in the dark, you cannot see any of the surrounding scenery, so you have no idea if there is a cliff or a lake or a pile of rocks at the edge.
The El Tatio Geysers (cost: 10,000 Chilean pesos [$15.35] per person) are located at 14,170 feet and comprise the largest geyser field in the Southern Hemisphere. We arrived at the geysers at 6:15am, paid the entrance fee, and drove into the parking lot. From the parking lot, it was hard to tell where the entrance to the geysers was because everything was so dark; we were glad we had brought our headlamps. It was also very cold before the sun came up, so we were wearing all of the warm clothes we have. There are many geysers, some small and some larger. They are marked with painted rocks to indicate where it is not safe to walk. Some of the largest geysers are blocked off with larger walls where accidents have occurred. After visiting the geysers, we went to the hot spring that is located in the same area. There is one area where the water is really warm, but the rest of it is too cool to be enjoyable at 8am, so we left when the pool started to fill with tourists.
The drive south from the geysers is absolutely gorgeous. We stopped a number of times along the way for photographs. Eventually, we arrived at Machuca which is a village with roughly 20 houses and a small church. We stopped in the village and enjoyed empanadas and grilled meat on a stick. The empanadas are expensive but delicious.
After Machuca, we drove to the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). Valle de la Luna (cost: 3,000 Chilean pesos [$4.60] per person, cheaper if you go before noon) has formations of salt and sand that resemble the landscape of the moon. There are multiple viewpoints, including one on top of a massive sand dune, and the remnants of some old salt mines. Some people rent bicycles and ride through the Valle de la Luna. After Valle de la Luna, we drove to the Mirador de Kari (Coyote Lookout) which you can visit with your ticket from Valle de la Luna. It is aptly named because you can easily imagine a coyote looking down from this point for its prey.
Finally, we set out for our final destination of the day: Valle del Arcoiris (Rainbow Valley). The Rainbow Valley is a little bit out of the way and most tours do not make it there. The road towards Rainbow Valley and Rio Grande takes you through a field of llamas with ribbons in their hair. 
After following that road for a while, you turn left onto a dirt road just before the bridge to Rio Grande. The dirt road zig zags back and forth across a small stream (we crossed five times in total) before arriving at the Rainbow Valley. The Rainbow Valley is so named because each of the hills is a different color. We followed the road as far into the Rainbow Valley would go and chose the least windy spot we could find to set up camp.
Day 4: Valle del Arcoiris, Petroglifos de Yerbas Buenas, Rio Grande, Valle de Martes
The next day, we woke up at 6:30am and drove towards the entrance of the valley. We had in mind that we wanted to see the sunrise, but we forgot we were in a valley which in this case meant the sun rose a lot later. We made ourselves breakfast and had maté waiting for the sun to finally make it over the hills. Once the sun came out, we drove out of the valley and continued left towards Rio Grande.
We had read in another blog that Rio Grande was a nice place to visit because the town was quaint and the locals were friendly. We definitely agree with that sentiment, but the town looked a bit deserted when we first drove in. As we were turning around, more and more locals appeared to be stirring, coming out to chat with their neighbors or get water from the drinking water tank. We didn’t have much reason to be in the town, so we drove back out and found a place on the edge of town where we could walk back along the river. We found ourselves walking towards a hill in the distance, and as we got closer we could see there were stairs at the top. We started walking around the base of the hill trying to find our way up and eventually made it to the top. At the top of the hill was a church. From this point, we could see workers repairing the canal system for irrigation which had clearly been flooded with mud in the recent rains. We could also see some lush parts of the valley that had at one time benefited from the canal system.
On our way back towards San Pedro, we stopped at the Petrogliphos de Yerbas Buenas (cost: 3,000 Chilean pesos [$4.60] per person). It turns out we were supposed to stop here and pay before entering the Rainbow Valley which we had not done the day before. The entrance fee for the petroglyphs covers the Rainbow Valley, but we’re not sure if we would have had to pay twice since we visited them on separate days.
The petroglyphs are carvings into the stone from ancient times. The carvings here are representations of animals, mostly llamas and horses, but also some other animals like wolves and monkeys. Since monkeys are not native to the area, it is believed a monkey or monkeys must have been brought here at some point. There is a second area of petroglyphs but we were told they could not be accessed by vehicle. If we wanted to see them, we could leave the parking lot, park by a sign on the side of the road and walk to them. It didn’t make much sense to us to drive over there and then have to walk back in when we could just walk from here, so we started walking down the path and soon discovered why vehicles could not pass. It turns out you can’t pass on foot either because the whole area between the two sets of petroglyphs is flooded. The driest place on earth sure has a lot of unexpected water at the moment. We didn’t have much extra time, so we skipped the second set of petroglyphs and headed back into town to rent sand boards.
We had been mulling whether we should do sand boarding in Atacama or whether we should figure out how to do it in Peru. In the end, the fact that we were already in Atacama and we might not make it to a place in Peru for sand boarding won out. We went to San Pedro and rented sand boards, boots, and helmets from Sandboarding San Pedro for $12,000 Chilean pesos ($18). We would have had the boards for six hours, but we only had two hours to try it out. We drove to Valle de Marte a.k.a. Valle de la Muerte (cost 2,500 Chilean pesos [$3.79] per person) which is not far from San Pedro de Atacama and found the parking lot near the massive sand dune people use for sand boarding. Jess suggested Eric put the van key in his travel wallet, and we gathered up our gear and started the trek up the sand dune.
Having literally never stood on a snowboard (or a sandboard), we were both a bit afraid of what might happen, so we walked about half way up the dune, strapped on our sandboards, and tried to go down the hill. We barely moved. We started to think this was sort of an odd thing for people to get excited about, but then we thought maybe we just needed to be on a steeper part of the dune. We walked 2/3 of the way to the top and tried again, and this time we actually got moving. Realizing that sand is a bit sticky and you don’t move that fast, we decided we could go even higher up to the steepest part of the dune. We started the trek up (it’s surprisingly hard to walk in sand at high altitude carrying a helmet and sandboard), and finally arrived near the top. Jess, feeling brave, went first and started zooming down the mountain. She was doing a good job keeping her balance until she tipped forward and tumbled into the sand. She stood up again, now covered in sand, and continued down the hill. We tried it a few more times and started to get the hang of it by the end despite a few small falls. We think sand boarding would benefit from some sort of lift system to take you to the top, and snow has the advantage of melting and disappearing whereas sand sticks pretty much everywhere it ends up.
We were running low on time as we needed to return our sandboarding equipment, get our van washed, and drop off the van at the Wicked office. We decided to pack up our backpacks so we would be ready when we got to the car wash and then we were ready to go. Eric went to get the key out of his travel wallet and discovered an open zipper and no key! Eric started to panic, looking at his open travel wallet and then at the massive sand dune mentally trying to figure out which falls were his so he would know roughly where to start digging. Jess asked if he was sure he had looked in all of his pockets, and luckily the key was in one of them, not in the middle of a sand dune. That crisis averted we climbed into the van and started the drive back to San Pedro.
The road in the Valle de Marte is very narrow and most of the vehicles were driving in, not out. A very large truck with at least six wheels drove in and Eric politely pulled off to the side. As soon as the truck went by, we tried to drive away and realized we were stuck in the sand! No good deed goes unpunished. We knew we were not supposed to drive in sand, but we’re pretty sure this isn’t really what they had in mind. Eric tried all sorts of things to get us out, but we were well and truly stuck. Luckily at that moment three cyclists came by, realized we were stuck, and asked if we wanted a push. Jess and the three cyclists first tried pushing the van forward but the right rear wheel just dug in more. Next they tried pushing the van backward and managed to push it out (thank goodness!). Those cyclists were our heroes! A few minutes later we met another car driving in and Jess ran over to explain that we really couldn’t drive in the sand and they would either have to brave the sand or reverse. Eventually, we made it out of the Valle de Marte and back to San Pedro where we dropped off the sand boards and then drove to the car wash.
Luckily Wicked had given us a leaflet for a specific car wash with an address because when we pulled up outside it definitely just looked like an ordinary house. It was 5pm and we were supposed to return the car at 5:30pm, but it turns out the car wash takes an hour. Since the car wash was recommended by Wicked, they were able to contact Wicked and let them know we would be returning the car at 6pm (when the office closes) and then they set about doing a rush cleaning job. The car wash cost 10,000 Chilean pesos ($15.35) and we gave them a nice tip.
We returned the van (otherwise) uneventfully at 6:00pm and returned to Desert Mantra hotel for the night before catching the bus back to Argentina the next day.
