Last Day in Atacama Desert, Chile
Rainbow Valley and Salt Water Laguna
February 21, 2018
Daniel and Mariano picked us up early and drove us to the trailhead of Rainbow Valley. It was another crystal clear day in the Atacama Desert.
Our hike was filled with ancient pictographs and amazing views. The best part was how the intense light of the Atacama played on the multicolored rocks in the canyon and the aptly named Rainbow Valley.
It was a hot morning when we started.
Our guide, Mariano, showed us ancient pictographs that quite frankly, had he not shown us where they were hidden, we would have walked right past.
Rainbow Valley is massive as are the rocky mounds. To give you a sense of height, Jeff and Mariano are standing at the base of this mound, looking up.
It was up and over and then at the top we had beautiful views.
We hiked down the other side to the Rainbow Valley.
These colorful hills give the impression of a rainbow. This phenomenon is attributed to the composition of minerals.
The intensity of colors against the cloudless, vibrant blue sky was stunning.
We spent all morning to early afternoon hiking this magnificent area. After we returned to our casa for lunch, Daniel and Mariano said they would pick us up at 4 for our next adventure, floating in the salt lagoon named Cejar Lagoon.
This gorgeous lagoon is composed of 28 percent salt concentration. By comparison, the Dead Sea is 34 percent saline.
We walked into the water and we absolutely floated. It was a surreal experience to not be able to turn around and swim. Our bodies were buoyant and the water was warm since it was the late afternoon. We have had crystal clear blue skies every day we have been in the Atacama Desert and just as we were in the lagoon, grey clouds which had built up from Bolivia's Amazon jungle's moisture and humidity started to blow in. We didn't care for I couldn't get enough of this experience. Floating with no effort whatsoever! The hardest part was trying to leave the lagoon! It was deep until the shore and because of the buoyancy, it was very challenging to put our legs down (this took effort) in order to walk out of the lagoon. In the photo below, it is actually fairly deep where we are floating, even though we're giving the impression we're sitting on invisible lawn chairs. We're actually a good distance from shore. As this silly photo can attest, it was great fun!
This gorgeous lagoon is composed of 28 percent salt concentration. By comparison, the Dead Sea is 34 percent saline.
We walked into the water and we absolutely floated. It was a surreal experience to not be able to turn around and swim. Our bodies were buoyant and the water was warm since it was the late afternoon. We have had crystal clear blue skies every day we have been in the Atacama Desert and just as we were in the lagoon, grey clouds which had built up from Bolivia's Amazon jungle's moisture and humidity started to blow in. We didn't care for I couldn't get enough of this experience. Floating with no effort whatsoever! The hardest part was trying to leave the lagoon! It was deep until the shore and because of the buoyancy, it was very challenging to put our legs down (this took effort) in order to walk out of the lagoon. In the photo below, it is actually fairly deep where we are floating, even though we're giving the impression we're sitting on invisible lawn chairs. We're actually a good distance from shore. As this silly photo can attest, it was great fun!
The Atacama's great salt flats are the 3rd largest in the world! Uyuni, Bolivia (where we've been on a previous trip) is the largest; the Great Salt Lake in Utah is the 2nd largest and then Atacama's great salt flats are the third largest.
When we finally got out of the salt lagoon, we walked back to the jeep and discovered that Daniel and Mariano had prepared a lovely party for us with wine, cheese, and some delicious goodies! It was another wonderful adventurous day with them and we'll miss them greatly for tomorrow we leave the incredible Atacama.
Tomorrow we'll take a van to Calama and will spend the night. Very early the following morning we fly out to Santiago on a domestic flight and then hustle over to Santiago's International Airport for our flight to Argentina. We'll be staying in beautiful San Carlos Bariloche, Argentina for 5 days.
Tomorrow we'll take a van to Calama and will spend the night. Very early the following morning we fly out to Santiago on a domestic flight and then hustle over to Santiago's International Airport for our flight to Argentina. We'll be staying in beautiful San Carlos Bariloche, Argentina for 5 days.