Chile - Iquique Calama, Atacama desert

We blasted off for our flight to Chile, with planned customs clearance and fuel stop in Iquique, then off to Calama for ground transfer to our destination for the next three days, the Explora Larache at San Pedro de Atacama. For those accustomed to private aircraft border crossings in the US and Canada, it's quite a different experience in other parts of the world. We were met in Iquique by a pre-arranged handler, , who was our communication conduit with the customs official who met us and inspected the aircraft, and the assistnat who sprayed the inside with some deadly pesticide. We were required to unload all the baggage, then take it into the terminal for inspection by the regular customs folks, obtain the necessary arrival permission and stamps from immigration, and then pass through security to take our own stuff back to our own aircraft. Having the handler did allow us to bypass some line-ups. Back out to the aircraft to negotiate the refueling, which also is normally pre-arranged. While it is possible to arrange ad-hoc in most places, payment must be in cash. By pre-arranging through a contracting agency, a better price is negotiated, and the bill is sent to the agency and re-billed to us.

In any case, after an hour and a half or so of the preceding, we were taxiing out on the 140 nm. flight to Calama, whose airport is at 7500 ft. ASL. We were met by personnel with a van from the hotel, about an hour's dirve away through a mountain range which helps keep the Atacama desrt the "driest place on earth". There are parts that have not seen a drop of rain in recorded history, and it is spectacularly bleak. Most areas have absolutely no vegetation, and terrrain is a combination of sand, lava flows, and tilted,  eroded, and metamorphosed sediments. As old sea bottom, there is lots of salt and gypsum in the rock, with the gypsum being most resistant to wind erosion.

We arrived at the village of San Pedro de Atacama, which had the appearance of a desert oasis, with trees and greenery, due to a small river fed by run-off from the higher peaks of the Andes to the east. We were privileged to see snow on the volcanic mountain tops (elevation 17-20,000 feet), which is apparently not usual, and resulted from an unusually rainy summer. Our accomodation is in the Explora Larache, part of a Chilean chain which operates in ecologically sensitive areas and dedicates its profits to a parallel foundation which works to study, preserve, and protect. The place is all-inclusive, including tours (hiking, horse, biking, overnight treks) and lectures. Each guest is issued on arrival with a metal water bottle, refillable in the main building. No TV's in the rooms, WIFI only in the lobby and bar, to discourage hibernating. Place has a chain of four infinity pools, each close to 20m in length. Rooms have all the normal amenities of a high-end hostelry, and the meals are first class, with a variety of choices focussing on Chilean food.

The day's activities are booked the night before. Brenda chose a morning hike. Our air tour "facilitator" is a young French man, who in his school years was a competitive mountain biker. He was itching to get out on the desert/mountain trails. When the guides gave a   choice among "easy, moderate, or challenging" routes, the decision was apparently easy, so next morning we saddled up and headed for the hills. Our route took us up a heart pounding climb of about 500 ft. initially, then down the other side and into a basalt rock-strewn desert flat. The morning heat wasn't too bad, although the missing oxygen was noticeable. We had a following vehicle that joined up with  us after the first deser tportion of the journey for a re-stocking of water bottles and some sustenance. We continued along a gravel road that climbed through another pass. Along the road we encountered some folks marking out the last stage of the 265k Atacama Desert Ultramarathon. This is a six stage, six day race, one of a series including the Gobi and Sahara events. The last stage is 70 km. and was being run that day. Our bike route was 60km., and that was quite enough for me. The Frenchman impressed our guide and me with tricks like kicking a rock down the road with his front wheel, long distances on the back wheel, techniques for pushing a competitor off the road, and various unnatural riding positions. We did see more at the beginning of the ride than the end.

In the p.m. Brenda and I went together on a guided hike in the Valley of the Moon, where NASA has  tested a number of extra-terristrial vehicles and probes. Spectacularly bleak, and covered some of the same territory we biked through. It was late afternoon. so we saw some of the race competitors. The first two were about 1km. apart and looked to be in pretty good shape, actually running with perhaps 10 km. to go. Later runners were moving more slowly, but did respond to encouragement from an admirer.

Japanese desert ultra competitor

 The walk continued across hill, desert, and dune, and an old lake bottom that last saw water about 12,000 years ago during the most recent glacial period. It looked about like what some of our shallow Alberta lakes are trending toward.

Brenda and guide hiking across the lake

Near the end of the hike, we stopped on a dune to watch the sunset and enjoy snacks and juice brought by our guide. This is a fine Explora tradition.

Fellow pilot chanting to the setting sun

The next morning's activity was a horseback ride in the desert for a couple of hours. The saddles were Chilean style, a well-padded cross between a western and English style, and english style snaffle bits. (Thank-you Brenda. I know a bit about bike saddles.) Nice horses, but missing their trot-shock absorbers. The ride was fairly gentle, desert and draws. Some of the country would have fit nicely into an old duster.

Desert dune with incongruously snow-capped volcanoes behind

Brenda on her trusty well-padded steed

The Spanish name of my horse translated loosely as farts-a-lot, which gave unnacountable giggles to the woman I live with. We were told later that it also had a reputation for laziness, and during a training exercise with the guides actually fell asleep under its rider. Regardless, the horses are treated very well. After our ride, which would be their only one of the day, they are washed down and placed in luxurious individual box stalls. No scarred nags, these.

Our afternoon hike was the "Cactus Walk" down a canyon with a flowing stream with vegetation. It was a favoured walking route for llama herders in past days, and still showed remains of stone corrals and shelters, as well as some pertroglyphs.

Cactus Walk. The spiny critters can be up to 150 years old and used to be used for lumber.

The end of the walk was again marked with juice and snacks. Our fellow hikers were a mother and daughter from Sao Paulo, Brazil, on an annual vacation away from Carnaval.

After supper in the evening we attended an astronomy presentation, including mapping the southern constellations, and viewing in the hotel's observatory with their 16" reflector telescope. The most memorable part of that event was seeing Saturn's rings in a quartering side view, in exceptionally sharp focus. The sky in the desert region is beautifully dark, the air thin and dry. The area has always been a favourite of astronomers, and is home to a number of international observatorys, including the newest, Llano de Chajnantor Observatory, which when commissioned in 2012 will be the world's largest radio telescope.

Our visit to the Atacama was a signature experience. Our young guides were knowledgeable and attentive, and the region is another of the unique places we are privileged to have visited on this trip. The snow on the peaks was a reminder of what you poor saps folks are suffering through back home.

In the morning, our transfer back to Calama for the flight south to Santiago.