THE ATACAMA DESERT - why should you visit? | 5 days itinerary

hey guys and welcome to this week's video where I have traveled 12,000 km to show you guys the dest place on [Music] Earth as you Traverse to the atak desert be prepared to be mesmerized by its Ro Beauty Enchanted by its mystical Allure and inspired by the resilience of life in the seemingly in hospitable environment come with me on this adventure and discover the magic that awaits in the driest desert on Earth you will arrive to C airport which is approximately an hour drive away from San Pedro if you have the chance book a window seat as this will be probably one of the most beautiful flights of your life if you are flying from San Diego as the atak desert has some of the harshest conditions on this planet even clouds stay away from this region giving you an paralleled view of the Endless desert landscape now as you plan your trip you have two choices you either do tours or rent your own car which gives you freedom to roam around in your own pace San Pedro is the epicenter of the Chilean ataka desert and it's vibrant town with a great location near all the Region's top attractions San Pedro has plenty of dining opportunities you will find grocery stores and a gas station here as well it's important to fill up before each Adventure as there are no other options in the nearby towns most days throughout our visit we had lunch in Hardy Mari which offers delicious food and smoothies another option could be adub just a few meters away also a good coffee shop we found is emperio Andino as my first Adventure I have come up to more than 4,000 M that's 13,000 ft for my American viewers to witness one of the best land landscapes in our bur spinning over 3,000 square kilm the atak flat also known as the salar the atakama is one of the largest Soul Flats in the world your first stop of the day is Sak which is an hour away from Sedro you should look for a brown container where you will get your tickets for the day without these you cannot enter the attractions make sure that you arrive at least an hour earlier than your entry time on your ticket as a first stop you should go to to Lake which gives you an a inspiring view of the sword flats and the Andes as soon as you reach the gogou pin you should turn back since if you continue on this road you will end up at the Argentinian border just a couple kilometers [Music] away as you venture across the anti Plano keep an eye out for Bas as they are pretty common above 3,500 M and photographing them with the NS in the background gives some National Geographic wibes [Music] the C stop of the day is beas roas which in direct translation means Red Rocks the redness or the color comes from the iron near these Soul flats and it provides a gorgeous view might be too windy to hear me but it provides a gorgeous view over the salt flats for the hike itself basically you park at P address Ras you can type it in Google maps and there is a one way Trail down and one way up uh make sure that you don't go go off the trail because they seem to care about it a lot uh but other than that you have your own space to walk around at the very end here where you see the Red Rocks as well I would recommend buying the same ticket as we did as you would start from the furthest points away and slowly making your way back in the direction of s Pedro at an elevation of over 4,000 M the Lakes Mis and minz are Treasures hidden within the resera naal Los flamingos and circled by The Towering peaks of the Andes these azur Jewels are a testament to the star yet breathtaking beauty that defines the High Altitude Landscapes of the atakama desert begin your journey at miscanti Lake the Lake's Stillness creates a mirrorlike effect capturing the essence of the endian Splendor Minas lake is equally captivating with its safire depths the Symphony of of colors from the intense blue of the lake to the Peaks and Golden grasslands create a visual Panorama that is both a inspiring and hbling and we are finishing our day of here at lagona minias which is approximately H 5 minutes from the other s fat and it's equally as stunning with the endes in the background and we even down there we even have some wiess uh laying just a few met from the lagona itself so it's just a perfect ending for a perfect day buos di we are starting another beautiful day here at a very special oh look at that as I started recording this part of the Vlog uh bnch of flamingos just flew past us so it's it's a mesmerizing experience already and we have come to Laguna Chaka today which is a sanctuary for flamingos it has a container where you register your car and another building where you have toilets and you pay the price which is 8,000 chilian pesos for an adult Laguna Chaka is a sanctuary for three types of flamingos the Indian the chillian and the James's flamingos witness these elegant Birds waiting gracefully through the shallow Waters their vibrant plummage casting a seral pink Hue against the Stark backdrop of the sword flat leguna cha is in the same direction as the anti Planet clay but you actually take a right turn approximately 30 minutes from San Pedro flamingos love these saats as they are home to the brine shrimp which they eat and also flamingos are one of the only animals that can drink this very salty water which which makes them very special and well they are just hanging around here uh eating and you just get so close to it it is supposed to be a oneway trail where first you will learn more about the area and the wilife around and finally you will arrive to an open area from where you see the flamingos although when we were there they didn't seem to care which way you do this Trail approximately an hour drive away from San Pedro de atakama you get to the rainbow Wy which is just a boom of colors everywhere you look you just see these beautiful rock formation that formed during millions of years the rainbow Wy is a geological Masterpiece this Hidden Gem captures the imagination with its vibrant raw formations and colors sculpted by wind and water over millions of years on the way here we even saw some llamas just wandering around which was definitely on my bucket list arriving here is similar to the other attractions at the entrance there will be a lady who you pay the fee and then she lets you in you can easily go around with a car and park at these little stops to take some pictures estimated to spend an hour hour and a half here and go in the afternoon for better lights I can't believe places like this exist welcome to a tao the largest gazer field on this other hemisphere so we had a very early 4:00 a.m. wakeup call and drove 1 and 1 half hours to this beautiful place to catch sunrise here rise early to witness the spectacle of the G that at you the geothermal field is one of the highest in the world providing an unforgettable Sunrise experience this region is a bridge between the dry atakama desert and the high altiplano and it offers a unique landscape wildlife and vegetations you can't find anywhere else it's definitely a challenge going up here as it lays well above 4,000 M and the drive up here is definitely not the most relaxing and smooth ride of your life but trust me the end result will the struggles because you can see the gers the best from here and currently we are on 4,300 M all the tours have arrived as well um but it's such a huge place that you can easily get away from the crowds and have most of the guers to yourself we have arrived at 6:20 and finished by 8:00 a.m. um which gave us enough time to [Music] [Music] explore [Music] after our morning Adventures I have decided to head back to S Pedro and grab some breakfast and also I took a nap because well 4:00 a.m. is very early to do anything but it was definitely worth the experience and after that well deserved nap uh I came to well one of the highlights of the atak desert Giants sandunes dramatic bedlands are the perfect scenery to capture stunning desert images welcome to W De La Luna carved by the forces of wind and water over a millennia the celestial Wy is a testament to the real beauty of our planet's geological history begin your exploration at dunam mahor the tower in sanun that stands as a sentinel at the entrance of vadela Luna Ascend its golden slopes to witness a breathtaking panoramic view over the valley below where the terrain unfolds like a surreal lunar Dreamscape vadela Luna is estimated to be 33 million years old and has striking similarities to Mars's surface which also LED NASA test the durability of its Mars rovers here so I'm about to get to the top of this second hike it was a bit more challenging as you walk upwards in theend and it just feels like you're are going nowhere but look at this I'm not sure if you can hear me because of the wind but this is gorgeous all the way so this hike is uh consists of three viewpoints this is the first one uh I'm just showing you on the other side it's gorgeous as well the whole Trail is supposed to take you around an hour the first Viewpoint took us 15 minutes if you're having doubts of coming to the ataka desert in December in the middle of the summer don't because to my surprise it's hot but it's not too hot it's like 30 Celsius and it's windy so you don't really feel the heat so if you're looking for having this whole desert to yourself then consider coming here in December [Music] I would lie if I say that this was the easiest cycle of my life definitely coming up or climbing up is the hardest part especially in the sand so if you are not an experienced hiker or you don't really have the stamina I would rather say the dunam mahor hike is way better for that this one the first view point is fine you can do it the second and third even though they're beautiful and you go along the ridge uh they are a bit more challenging so just keep that in mind so your ticket to wad De La Luna also gives you access to the two prime Sunset spots here near San Pedro which which is Mirador de and VRA de coyot and we choose Mirra de because you see more of the rock formations here and you see the whole volley and with the other one you mostly see sandunes and a bit of the rock formation so you can decide which one you go for uh I would recommend coming up here at least 40 minutes earlier than the sunset is so you have your spot for a free Sunset option go to Mirador anai as it's only couple of minutes away it was my goto Sunset location it provides similar views just from a different Vantage [Music] [Applause] [Music] Point let's start my last day here in the beautiful atakama desert and as one of my last Adventures I have come out to Laguna batine which are basically seven s Flats approximately an hour away from San Pedro de atak well first of all the road here even though is just an hour it's almost all the way gr Road and it's rubbling so just be prepared that the road here isn't as good as to the other attractions anyway the special thing about as baa is that you can actually swim in two out of the seven legs but unfortunately I won't do it uh as I have a flight in a few hours to catch and nowhere to shower and all that people describe the experience as floating in the Dead Sea as my last hike I have come to Canyon de gutin which is a can filled with these beautiful and very large cactuses and this is a lesser known spot here in the atak desert but nonetheless it's still gorgeous with the river flowing to here alternatively you can do this after the at tatio gazers because it's the same direction approximately half an hour away from San Pedro but well as you guys know I took a nap afterwards so I had to come back here the only problems at this place is since it's relatively new it's not a wmark trail and also the river not only boost vegetation around but also insects so just prepare there will be a lot of bugs around even though my ataka desert Adventures have come to an end my South Americans certainly did not as I still have some very exciting destinations coming up so stay tuned for that and see you guys in the next one [Music] o

Channel: RistyPics

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Keywords: travel guide, things to do, places to visit, best places to visit, chile, travel chile, atacama, atacama desert, san pedro de atacama, san pedro, atacama travel guide, valle de la luna, Lagunas Baltinache, Lagunas Escondidas de Baltinache, chile atacama, salt pool, things to do in chile, travel atacama, Deserto de Atacama, travel vlog, RistyPics, Piedras Rojas, Altiplanic Lakes, Travel guide 2024, Chile 2024, Canon de Gautin, South America, flamingo, El Tatio Geysers

Id: FYfIRuPrIyk

Length: 17min 5sec (1025 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 21 2024