Atacama Desert – Oct 2025

Fortunately we had seen geysers, high lakes and flamingos as part of our Bolivian tour as we were in no shape to go see them from San Pedro de Atacama. The photos of this leg should mainly be of our hostal room since we spent most of our time in it trying to recover from respiratory illnesses (dry air of the desert doesn’t help coughing!). I know travel is about new experiences – but I had one I could have done without here. Coughing so much that I ended up vomiting as a result… charming.

After the first couple of days we did manage to get out for a couple of short rides. Our first one we borrowed bikes from our hostal and rode to the entry of Valle de Marte/de la Muerte. Unfortunately we didn’t realise that there were different cut-off entry times for hikers v cyclists v drivers. We arrived 15 minutes too late to be allowed in 😢, but I suspect the 8km ride was about all Tom was capable of at the point so perhaps it was for the best. Plus my bike seat didn’t stay up so it was not the most comfortable riding I’d ever done!

The second trip we hired bikes and headed to Garganta del Diablo. We made sure to get away reasonably early as the temperatures were warm in the afternoon. It was an enjoyable ride along the river and then up the canyon.

At the end of the canyon we carefully stashed our bikes up a shallow gully, before walking past half a dozen that had just been left at the bottom of the hill. What with our respiratory issues and the altitude the hill was a struggle but we enjoyed morning tea and views from the top.

Then it was a lovely flowing ride back down canyon and back into town. I was surprised at the number of people on their way out as we were coming back – they were in for a hot couple of hours!

Unfortunately our flight time out of Calama has been pushed back from when I booked so it was a 3:50am wake-up to get a shuttle to Calama Airport. And when we arrived the queues were horrendous – suspect we could have arrived an hour later and it wouldn’t have mattered! Two flights got us to Puerto Montt – the gateway to the Patagonian leg of our trip.