Day 7: Tara Salar Tour from San Pedro de Atacama
After the most complete day we spent yesterday, in the Altiplanic Lagoons, Piedras Rojas and Salar de Atacama Tour and having rested for a few hours that we had a wonderful time, we got up at 7:30 to have breakfast in the hostel's lounge Pablito around 7:45, with quite fair time, although we took the opportunity to take our usual coca tea and something solid, trying to keep adapting to the height since today we will be over 4200 meters, in the Tara Salar Tour from San Pedro de Atacama.
Also the staff of the accommodation, when we comment as we feel for the altitude sickness they tell us that they can re-prepare another bottle of coca tea, as they did yesterday and as we did in Arequipa when we did the Tour by the Colca Valley, who accompanied us throughout the trip to be able to drink and alleviate the symptoms.
Punctual at 8:15 in the morning comes to look for Desert Adventure at Pablito Hostel where we are staying these days and inform us that today in the Tara Salar Tour from San Pedro de Atacama We will reach 4800 meters and we will be at an average of 4600 meters throughout the day, so the day you have to take it easy, breathing deeply without noticing that we lack the air, in addition to following the recommendations for altitude sickness.
Tara Salar Tour from San Pedro de Atacama
This is the tour in San Pedro de Atacama that is made of greater height so it is advisable to do it on the last day or when the body is already slightly adapted to the height.
The landscape as soon as you leave San Pedro de Atacama, as we ascend it is really spectacular, a true wonder, something for that reason alone it is worth doing this tour.
Landscapes of the Salar de Tara Tour from San Pedro de Atacama
The first stop is when we take an hour or so to get closer to the Quepiaco Lagoon, where we have spectacular views of a unique ecosystem, in which we can even see flamingos.
Quepiaco Lagoon
Quepiaco Lagoon
This stop in the Laguna de Quepiaco is the moment in which Paula, our guide today and the driver, take the opportunity to prepare an incredible breakfast with which we charge ourselves with energy to continue with this Tara Salar Tour from San Pedro de Atacama that is presented as complete and incredible.
As an anecdote we will tell you that in this stop we find a group that travels by bicycle, imagine the strength that must be had with the changes in altitude that are in this area, and they have camped here, so when we have finished breakfast, we we offer what we have left over: fruit, bread, cheese, cookies ... what you can not imagine as they appreciate, since they travel with just about a weight issue.
Quepiaco Lagoon
It's almost 11 in the morning when we continue our journey to the Monks of the Pecan, another of the stops of this Tara Salar Tour from San Pedro de Atacama, where we arrive in about 20 minutes, making a stop before at a viewpoint that shows us part of what awaits us in the next few minutes.
Views of the Pecan Monks
The Monks of the Pecan, located on the road to the Jama Pass that leads to Bolivia and where we must also go to the Salar de Tara, are part of the Los Flamencos National Reserve and they are impressive stone pillars, with volcanic characteristics that were molded for millions of years by the erosion of the wind, which were then positioned vertically in the plain, giving us a really impressive image.
These formations are called Monks of the Pecan, among others, for their thin and slender forms, reminiscent of the silhouette of the monks.
Landscape Monks of the Pecan
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Monks of the Pecan
Although as usual, the names that receive some wonders of nature are wrapped in various legends, as in this case, in which they are also called Pacana Sentinels, attributing this name to the formations by the walkers who saw in them erect sentries that protected this place, and from a distance, because of their large size, they looked like human figures.
And if that wasn't enough, the Pecan Monks also have another name: the Moais de Tara, because of their resemblance to some of the Easter Island formations.
Monks of the Pecan
Keep in mind that although all the tours we are doing these days from San Pedro de Atacama can be done for free, by rental car, both the Monks of the Pacana and the Salar de Tara, are in a location where It is more than advisable to arrive with an indication of a guide or a good GPS, since there is no type of signaling or path, in addition to being the terrain so same that it is practically impossible to orient.
Book the best rated Spanish tours and excursions in San Pedro de Atacama by travelers:
- Excursion to the Moon Valley
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Salar de Aguascalientes from the Monks of La Pacana
After spending in these incredible formations just over 30 minutes enjoying stunning views we continue the Tara Salar Tour from San Pedro de Atacama, 30 kilometers along a dirt road, making a brief stop at the Cathedrals, before continuing to the Salar de Tara, which is our icing point of the tour
Tara salt
Once we are in the Salar de Tara, they leave us in the upper part, from where they tell us that we can go down, always along the marked path, until we reach the lower part, where the guide with the driver will be waiting for us, with Lunch prepared
As you can imagine, although we are at a quite considerable height, the incredible views we have and the wonderfulness of the place, makes us forget at times of tiredness or small discomfort that we are noticing at some times of the day.
Panoramic Salar de Tara
Tara salt
As we get closer to the lower part, we begin to see more clearly the flamingos that are in the area, as well as the change of vegetation, in which the green color that we had not seen so far contrasts.
Tara salt
Flamingos on the Salar de Tara
Once in the lower part, we enjoy a delicious lunch, with which we recover our energies losses during the day and with which we finished the day of the day and from where we headed back to San Pedro de Atacama, two hours from here.
You have to keep in mind that throughout the Tara Salar Tour from San Pedro de Atacama There are no bathrooms in any of the areas that are visited, so if you need to go to the bathroom you must opt for nature. Normally all tours stop in the area of the Cathedrals, which is a place where the rocks are quite large and you can take them as hiding place.
After these two hours of return trip, which we do again marveling at the landscape, we arrive when it is just after 5 in the afternoon again to San Pedro de Atacama, where as soon as we reach Hostal Pablito, we take a shower , we drank a mate of coca and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying "Il dolce far niente" or "the sweet pleasure of doing nothing", a phrase that is widely used in Italy, in which you enjoy rest and moments of doing nothing and that we put into practice the rest of the day, serving to fully recover from the altitude sickness that we have been dragging these days behind.
Day 8: Tatio Geysers Tour from San Pedro de Atacama
