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A journey through the Atacama Desert Part I


One of the driest places on earth!

I spent four days in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. This desert is known to be one of the driest places on earth. The nearest towns are San Pedro de Atacama where all the hostels and tour agencies are located at and Calama where the nearest airport and bus station is located. 

How to get to San Pedro de Atacama?

First, you can either take a bus or a plane from Santiago to Calama which is the nearest town from San Pedro. A bus ride should be more or less 14 hours while a plane ride is just about 2 hours. 
Then, from the airport or the bus station the cheapest way to get to San Pedro is to take a shuttle bus which cost around $17 USD. The bus ride is about an hour and a half from Calama. 

San Pedro de Atacama is a little town in the north of Chile with around 4,000 locals. But it is a highly visited place by tourists from all over the world. If you plan to visit the Atacama Desert, make this your home base since you can book cheap hostels and tours as well. 
  Let me tell you about my experience traveling through one of the driest places on earth. I took a very early flight that departed at 6:00 in the morning from Santiago to Calama. Since it was very early in the morning, I took a power nap because I didn’t have enough sleep the night before. 

As soon as you touch down in the airport, you feel the change in the atmosphere that surrounds you. The Calama Airport is a very small airport, it has only three arrival and departure gates. Your mouth, lips, and skin start to dry out because you’re literally in the middle of nowhere. It becomes harder to breathe. 

Water, sunscreen, a moisturizer cream, and Chapstick are essentials if you plan to visit the Atacama Desert. 




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