Puna Salt Flats - Full Day Tour - San Pedro de Atacama - Must Visit

Legend has it that, long time ago, the Licancabur volcano had a relationship with Quimal, the hill that was next to him in those days. However, his brother, Jurique, also wanted to be with her, so Licancabur cut his head, which justifies its form. This fight caught the attention of the Láscar volcano, who decided to stop the conflict moving Quimal to the other side of the Atacama valley, taking her away from her lover forever.

Nonetheless, once a year the sun comes out from behind the Licancabur, and its shadow touches the Quimal’s slope, letting them meet one more time, meanwhile the Atacama valley, remembering this legend, watches the two lovers connect again.

Licancabur is the most impressive volcano in San Pedro de Atacama, with 5900 meters high. Its name in Kunza means “the people’s mountain” and every day, almost everywhere in the Atacama valley, can be seen. And he will see you.

Quepiaco Viewpoint. There are different places near San Pedro de Atacama where you feel the peace, silence and patience that nature has used to make its own space to build, destroy and rebuild itself. Aguada de Quepiaco is a wetland on the way to Paso de Jama, where you feel the calm and silence that reflect the magic of this area.

Stopping for a moment in this place after travels, tours and schedules; leaning in this viewpoint and watching the flamencos and some other birds rest in the water, just like vicuñas, are experiences worth living, especially when you feel your own breathing getting softer and softer, and the fresh air filling every inch of your lungs.

In the background, the landscape is completed by the hills of the Atacama valley that make you remember that there is still road ahead, and when you turn you see the impressive Licancabur, that will accompany and guide you during your visit.

One of the biggest secrets of the Atacama paradise is inside Los Flamencos National Reserve, protected by the impressive Tara Cathedrals and guarded by the mysterious Pecana Monks: it is the Tara Salt Flat.

The erosion through the years and the result of previous volcanic activity compound a landscape unique in stories, colors, geological faults and cracks that give life to this true oasis at 4400 meters high.

The reflection of the sunlight and the many meters of plateau show the kilometers of extension of this salt flat, its opaque water lagoon with white borders from the salt, and the brown and yellow hills that show how its sediments have fallen since many years ago.

Wind and cold temperatures in this basin are a subtle touch that invite you to be a part of this altiplanic valley surrounded by hills, water and animals in San Pedro de Atacama.

Settling to observe this set of wonders invites you to make a stop not only in your journey, but also in your life. Extrapolate from doubts, insecurities, unresolved paths, to return to the basics. Remember the land that gives us, but it also takes us away. See the combination of colors that decorate the skirts of the hills and also the edges of the lagoons surrounded by salt. Feel the cold present more than 4 thousand meters high that gives you the invitation to stay longer in this Mystical place, in this watercolor painting on the desert made over millions of years by nature and its delicate brushes.

Stopping at the viewpoint on the side of the road is one of the great visual experiences that, being full of emotions, involve those who visit this place. This energetic charge that strikes from one minute to the next is the ideal to understand how nature does wonders greater than any man has done.

Hidden after the Caldera de la Pacana and before reaching the Jama Pass, there is the Quisquiro salt flat, a place that goes unnoticed by the tourists that travel through San Pedro, until they run into it. It is part of the more incredible landscapes with their details that add up and form a great landscape to travel.

The hills that surround the salt flat, that great piece of land with small lagoons that form in between while the sun shines with an intense light but a weak heat a few hours after appearing. The undulating lands that rise and fall, along the edges of the sector and through which the wind passes with such force that more than one hat can be flown.

One of the hidden treasures of the Chilean desert, but that is saved with a unique warmth that is seen from the side of the road, but that remains forever.

The vigilantes of the desert are attentive to the salt of Tara day and night. These red giants rise in the middle of the dry land day and night, without losing sight of the volcanoes. They were formed based on the erosion by the almost freezing wind that runs in the height of the desert and that hugs these stone guardians that are split on one.

Being at your feet is not easy. It is an encounter that confronts the man with the rock. Looking up and noting that they have much more history than that registered by each family, also the greatness of these stone figures causes that whoever admires it from below is disconcerted, and even questions the greatness of modernity, by See the monks who reach 40 meters high, still standing on the stone and the earth of the basin.

Although they have been eroded by the wind that gave them humanoid form for millions of years, they will rise for millions of years, monitoring Tara's salt and the heights of the Atacama Valley.