Norte Grande Travel Guide

if you take Chile 11 highway from the coastal city of Arica to the village of Putre near Parque Nacional Lauca, you will pass the village of Copaquilla. stop there, because nearby Posada Pueblo de Mallku at 3167m above the sea level (mallku - condor), a New Age wind- and solar-powered spot, is worth visiting for freshly baked bread, hot drinks and a chat with its resident couple, Alexis and Andrea, and their kids.we got all of that, plus an educating lecture from Alexis about child rearing, proper breathing in high altitutes, how to see a difference between fool's gold (iron pyrite) and real gold, and other equally fascinating subjects. Alexis (a physicist) measured the oxigen level in our blood, expressed his opinion about vomi-tours (unbelievably popular tours where poor unsuspecting people are taken early in the morning from the city of Arica on the sea level, to Lauca National Park, which is about 4500m above sea level), and showed us all the experiments he conducts for various universities about wind and solar power. when asked about his origin, Alexis responded that he is de cielo (from the sky).

Calama is a city that you should visit ONLY if you are on your way to San Pedro de Atacama and you need to book a bus trip to it or some lodging. If you can arrange all that travel stuff (hotels, buses, tours, etc) by internet, PLEASE DO. Calama has absolutely nothing to offer in terms of sightseeing, plus it is a really, really ugly city, full of decadent nightclubs (no kidding. Hideous nightclubs. But if your stomach is hard......be my guest). If you do have to go to Calama, be very minded of your stuff, or you will regret it! And please don´t you ever go around walking at night!! The place is full of drunks, ho´s and other strange people. I may seem a little bitter about this city but I am not. This stuff is just plain true. If you do what I say, you will have a really great time in San Pedro de Atacama......wich is an unveliebable place!!!!

if you have enough time and courage, you can try a road trip from San Pedro de Atacama to elusive Laguna Tuyajto almost by the Argentinian border. the trip itself is a nightmare - empty washboard roads go on for hours (your consolation is the view outside the window), you speculate that you actually are in Argentina by now and try to guess if you have passed the point of no return and would have no gas for return trip. the maps are very approximate, meaning useless. it took us about 5 hours to find the Laguna, but I still say the trip was worth it, there's something Zen-like in the place. if you try this road trip, bring food, water, extra gas.