Road Travel

A Gorgeous Road Trip in the Atacama Desert, Chile

The northern tip of Chile, the Atacama Desert and its surroundings, offers a fantastic setting for a road trip, particularly off-road. The Pan American Highway crosses the region from north to south with tarmac roads dissecting the Atacama Desert, the Pampa del Tamarugo and Chile’s Altiplano.

But what better way to experience the overpowering landscapes and to meet Aymara indigenous people in their ancient villages than by leaving the beaten track. Whether you travel by your own vehicle, rent a 4WD or an all-terrain vehicle, enjoy this beautiful road trip.

San Pedro Volcano, San Pedro de Atacama,Chile

The 2000-square-km Atacama Desert in northern Chile is one of the most arid in the world. Each year thousands of tourists flock to San Pedro de Atacama, from where they set out to explore some of Chile’s surreal landscapes of the Atacama Desert with natural phenomena and ancient settlements.

Here 5 recommended places to visit in the surrounding Atacama Desert, but first let’s get an impression of this colonial town itself.

Chile is a country of extremes. It measures 4300 kilometers from Peru to the Strait of Magellan and averages 177 kilometers from east to west. The country is entirely closed off from its neighbors by the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world and Nevada Ojos del Salado is the world’s highest volcano.

When it comes to open, wide, and overwhelming landscapes, here are 5 of my favorite slow-travel destinations.

From the Peru-Ecuador border of Huaquillas to Guayaquil it is a couple of hours’ drive; I reckon the distance is some 250 kilometers. I had checked my guidebooks and it seemed that the first part of our travels in Ecuador wouldn’t be the most interesting.

I was wrong.

Slow travel, a cattle drive through the Amazon, Brazil

Even we can’t beat this slow pace in our Land Cruiser: 1300 kilometers in 7 months; an average of 6 kms/day. Yet, even if they wanted to, these people couldn’t travel any faster, for you see, these 9 tropeiros and 1 woman have to lead 1376 cows from the breeder to their new owner.

Here, slow living isn’t a modern concept; it’s an age-old way of life.

Slow Travel Destination - driving and camping on Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Hexagonal tiles of salt stretch to the horizon hemmed in by bluish mountains. The crunching of salt crystals beneath my feet sounds like stepping on fresh snow. I’m encompassed by total silence in an otherworldly spectacle that is largely devoid of life.

Salar de Uyuni is beyond magic!

They laugh when Coen sign languages if he can join them. Their faces are skeptical.

“A foreigner? Playing mahjong?”

Two men with furrowed faces under wide sombreros enter the arena. Callused hands leisurely hold the reins of the horses and short ponchos striped in natural colors fall around the cowboys’ shoulders. A gate is opened, a young bull set loose.

Let the game begin!

I follow a winding trail along the slopes, which demands a bit of clambering over slippery rocks. I pick another handful of those juicy blackberries along the path, which constitute my breakfast. At a stream, I strip and lower myself into one of the shallow pools sheltered by rocks.

I sigh deeply, and relax.

Slow Travel Camping - Alone on Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Wherever we look we see white. It looks like a world of fresh snow that has not yet been disturbed by footsteps. The silence is intense. When we step out of the Land Cruiser there is nothing except the crunching of salt crystals beneath our shoes.

We are at Salar de Uyuni!

“You’re lucky. Normally I don’t answer the phone if I don’t recognize the phone number,” Luis Jaime said.

We were lucky indeed.

One moment we were driving through green, lush vegetation; the next we were on the moon. Kind of. We were entering a miniature version of the Bryce Canyon (US): a red-brown, eroded landscape sculptured into gullies.

We had entered the Tatacoa Desert.

When we returned from the Galápagos Islands and I looked back on a trip full of magic and wonder, my eye was drawn to a sticker above my seat in the Land Cruiser.

“The Journey is the Destination“

And I realized, once more, how true that is.

It’s weird, it’s funny, it’s incredible. We’ve been camping here for close to four weeks and I’m still somewhat in awe of us being here. In a workshop…

Slow Travel has gotten a whole new meaning

I love exploring villages, towns and cities on foot. In South America, La Paz is one of my favorite destinations, which center is a hive of activity but still has the amiable feel of a town. I lived there with great pleasure for some six months.

However, going on foot is not a matter of course as streets are steep and at an altitude of 3800 meters it is easy to get out of breath.

Taking a taxi or bus is a cheap and often easy way to move around.

A Gorgeous Road Trip in the Atacama Desert, Chile

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile – 5x Landscapes & Ruins the Atacama Desert

5 Slow Travel Destinations in Chile – Wild & Empty Landscapes

Slow Travel in Ecuador – 3 Days – 3 Sites

Slow Living – a New Invention or an Age-old Tradition?

Driving on Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Cycling in Yunnan’s Countryside Around Lijang, China

Driving the Carretera Austral in Chile

Why we Love the Lake District in Argentina

Camping on Salar de Uyuni – the World’s Largest Salt Flats (Bolivia)

Exploring Colombia’s Coffee Culture

Unplugged in the Tatacoa Desert (Colombia) – Overland Camping at its Best

The Journey IS the Destination – Going to the Galápagos Islands

Forms of Public Transportation in La Paz, Bolivia