Day 3 - Reserva Nacional 'Los Flamencos' (Flamingos)

Day 3 is about to be the most jam-packed day of all, with a plethera of activities and stops so get ready! Today you awake, well rested after a nice sleep without interruption, in your own queen size bed.

You leave Antofagasta, and once again head back into the desert, leaving the beautiful coast. The first stop is the coolest place ever! It's basically a big kid playground. The stop is called 'Baquedano' and is an abandoned train station. The lack of basically any humidity has made it possible for the engines to resist corrosion along with the turntable that resides there as well. You have loads of fun climbing all over the trains, taking lots of fun pictures, and dreaming about what it would have been like to find this place with your friends as a child.

The next stop is a short one at the Tropic of Capricorn line.

Eventually, after driving through desert, desert, and more desert you arrive on the edge of the desert where there is an awesome panoramic view of the whole entire desert. From here you can see 15 volcanoes which range from young active volcanoes to old retired volcanoes. You are also able to see the hills where they mine copper, as well as the salt flats. Continuing the journey, you arrive on the Atacama salt flats within the desert. You then climb a hill that has mounds and mounds of salt built up on top, and take some cool pictures of the mining operation of lithium going on nearby. There are huge saltwater pools that are used to wash the lithium - or something like that.

Mmm...tasty salt

It's lunchtime... you pull up to a quaint little town on the edge of the desert called Peine. The town has nothing touristy and actually is very genuine (which you don't find much anymore - it's sad how much these countries are becoming globalized). The people living there don't even speak Spanish - they speak Atacameno. Anyway this town lies within an oasis at the base of the Andes. After and during the Inca period, it was one of the most important stops on the Inca Road. The road stretched from Cuzco, Peru to 200km south of Santiago. It was also one of the first stops of the first Spanish 'Conquistadores' when they first came to Chile from Peru. You set up lunch nearby some small pools with the running sound of the stream. After eating, you decide to go visit the ruins of the oldtown as well as some of the rock art. In the top of the town, there is their 'new' church which is 100 years old that you decide to take a look at as well. A game of soccer is beginning with all the volunteers on a small cement court, so you join in, and the whole town comes to watch the first 'international game' they've probably ever had.

The next stop consists of a detour back into the salt flats, but this time to visit the Natural Reserve Los Flamencos (Flamingos), sector Laguna Chaxa. This reserve was created in 1992 to protect the habitat of the pink flamingos, called Parina by the Atacamenos. This ecosystem is extremely fragile, and three different types of flamingos live there - the Andean Flamingo, Chilean Flamingo, and the James Flamingo. You spend quite a bit of time here, just admiring the beautiful birds, and eventually watching the most beautiful sunset of the trip.

A little karate kid...

Finally, you arrive in your final destination for the day - San Pedro de Atacama. It is the archaeological capital of Chile, and the most hippy and touristy town you've ever been to. Your accomodation at the hostal called 'La Casa del Sol Naciente' is what some would call 'primitive' to say the least. Upon immediate arrival, you are offered a shot of pisco sour by the owner which you kindly refuse and then once again are promptly asked by all your tourmates why you don't want some. You explain for the 100th time that you don't drink anything with any alcohol in it. But once again, they just can't understand the concept of not drinking alcohol, and brush it aside. This evening you have picked up groceries to make soup and fries, so you and your good friend start making dinner in the kitchen. There are a few hippy guys in the kitchen with dreads making mate, they offer you some, you drink a glass - it's pretty good (one of your tour guides just explained to you that it is tradition for the person serving mate to serve everyone a whole glass full, then they will drink it themselves after). Many different guys are making mate and you end up having 3 glasses full. Then in the midst of cooking, a guy walks in who looks like he just stuck his finger in an electric socket. His hair was standing on end and looked like a broomstick. First, he takes the knife from your good friend and proceeds to peel all of your potatoes for you - random. Then he leaves, comes back in a few minutes with a leaf and flower in a little bag. He has you smell it and asks you if you know what it is. You say you don't, he keeps smelling it going 'mmm...mmm'. He then tells you it is the natural marijuana leaf, continues to keep smelling it for a while, then wraps it up and starts smoking it right there in the kitchen. You and your friend look at each other with eyes of unbelief, then leave the kitchen as to not get high from the second-hand smoke. Your now thinking that it was maybe not the best idea to have shared mate with those other guys - because who knows what they put in it. Once returned to the kitchen, you serve up your soup bowls and keep an eye on them making sure this crazy marijuana guy doesn't sneak anything into them. Your good friend leaves to go to the bathroom, so you leave the bowl-watching duty for a moment to stir the potatoes on the stove. You turn back around and what do you know - the marijuana guy has a fork and is stabbing potatoes and noodles out of your friends bowl and eating them! Your not sure what to do, but then he stops, smiles at you, and exits the kitchen. Bizarre! You finish the night off with some delicious cookies bundled up because it's freezing cold and head to bed getting ready to prepare for the next day.