Tocopilla to San Pedro De Atacama

Arrived in San Pedro after a long drive, coming through Calama and the valley De Luna. Awe-inspiring geology with our stop for the night a welcome sight. The place is writhing with first world tourists lugging their over packed suitcases across the hard, stony earth on little dolly wheels like stilettos on cobbles(sorry, could not resist). Found a tourist info office where no one spoke English, then went on to book a tour of the area. In true predictable tour company style we were offered accommodation and we knew that we were going to be separated from our money. Well we bargained and came up with what we thought was a fair deal and found ourselves in the Incahuasi just outside the main town centre.
As we unpacked, a woman came over to introduce herself called Sabine, who is German. She soon struck up a conversation with us with offers of chicken and beer. This definitely was going in the right direction. We were then joined by an Irish couple, Liam and Hannah with us all sharing opinions about travel and solving the world’s problems. The big thing here is the climate and altitude and we were getting a crash course in surviving the tours that we were about to follow. It was interesting to get the viewpoints of these international tourists who are very much aware of the human impact on the environment and more so on the sustainability of communities. Cohesion of people and tolerance of others seem to be top of their minds.

We booked a tour with the same company as other people resident at the hostel which included a Chilean couple and a Brazilian called Fernando. Our tour took us to an oasis village called Toconao with a walk through a river gorge. What a surprise to see the amount of water carving its way through this gorge with lush gardens of figs, quince and wild roses and with sheep grazing . The water, which was drinkable, incidentally is snow run-off from the Andes which made it more spectacular. The tour continued through the village to the town square where we saw the tower Companero de Neustra Inglesia and an  old church with wood work and balustrades sourced from cactus wood.
From here the tour continued onto the Pueblo of Socare where we stopped for lunch and had a taste of the local cuisine consisting of a soup (mainly veggies), main course quinoa rice, purple potatoes and meat, and for dessert oranges.
 After freshening up we continued with our tour which took us to Lugano Muiscanti at a height of 4200m above sea level.  This was the highlight of the tour for us. The lake was an emerald blue with a volcano as a backdrop. We were encouraged to walk to the second lake along a path. We spotted vicuña on the slopes nearby. The lagoon of Muscanti is a protected site and tours in this area are regulated. The vegetation in this area consists of grass tufts which are endemic. After our tour of the lagoons, we had a long drive to the Salar de Atacama (salt flats) which left the occupants of our tour bus bobbing from side to side with sleep. They say its the altitude. 
The geology of the Atacama is intriguing to say the least and the 50+volcanoes in the area have had a major impact in shaping this environment. I have seen vast landscapes - but this takes the cake. These salt flats run for miles and miles with the flamingos creating the highlight of the tour. Three species live on the Salar De Atacama - The Andean, Chilian, and The James. It is here that one can make sense of the Atacama and understand how it evolved, but its ginormity cannot be explained. The group disembarked and by now most had had 40 winks after the rocking motion of the bus. Eugene and I found this hilarious. Fernando, the Brazilian, constantly pulled snacks from his bag which he eagerly shared. We obliged, after all, who is going to give up honey salted nuts from Brazil, us being on a shoe-string budget. There was a talk about the geology with good sightings of the flamingos.
By now everyone in the group was very comfortable with each other and all having a good time which we did not want to stop. We drove back to the hostel with all agreeing  that it should not end. Beer is what we needed and our guide, Maria, obliged once again as we flooded a local café with thirsty tourists, buying beer, snacks and rolls. Off to the hostel we went to have an international party, all speaking different languages with party tricks which included opening beer bottles without opener - they thought this was totally cool. Good memories and friends were made here!