At ease in the Atacama Desert

Flamingoes fly low in the Atacama The Atacama Desert in northern Chile may be one of the most inhospitable places on Earth."You would have to be mad to live here," said Fiona Martin of the Tierra Atacama, a hotel in the area. Climatologists call it the driest place in the world, and some areas have not seen rainfall in recorded history. But the sights the region has to offer more than make up for having chapped lips and dry skin.
The town of San Pedro de Atacama is a stepping stone to the vast desert that surrounds it. The dusty streets are lined with day-trip operators who will take you east to the Bolivian border to climb the snow-capped Licancabur Volcano. South to the Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flat in Chile and the second largest in the world, where pink flamingoes graze in clear blue lagoons against a backdrop of volcanoes and the Andes Mountains. Go north to El Tatio, a field of more than 80 active geysers that erupt up to six metres high.
Or turn west to walk through the 23-million-year-old rock formations in the Valley of Death (Valle de la Muerte) and the Valley of the Moon (Valle de la Luna), where it's so quiet you can hear the salt crack from the heat.
Tourism is the main industry of San Pedro, and the town offers everything from hostels to luxury hotels. If you're looking for luxurious accommodation, try the Tierra Atacama Hotel & Spa (www.tierraatacama.com; 00 56 2 263 0606). Located on the outskirts of San Pedro, the Tierra Atacama offers an unadulterated view of the volcanoes and the Andes Mountains. The rooms are simple but comfortable, with free Wi-Fi but no TV, and cost from US$970 (Dh 3,562) per person for two nights, including breakfast, transfers and excursions. (Foreign tourists do not pay tax on accommodation in Chile.) The hotel offers a range of excursions led by guides who are as informative as they are passionate. While visiting the National Flamingo Reserve, my guide explained, with vigorous hand motions and a thick Chilean accent: "The pink flamingoes dip down into the water and go woosh! Woosh! to suck up the algae like a whale!"
If you're looking for less expensive options, try the Lodge Andino Terrantai (www.terrantai.travel; 00 56 2 5814660), where double rooms cost from US$180 (Dh661) per night. Hotel Kimal (www.kimal.cl/en/index.htm; 00 56 55 851 030) has double rooms from $185 (Dh680) per night, including breakfast.
Take a two-hour direct flight from Chile's capital, Santiago, to the El Loa Airport (CJC) in Calama, which is a short car ride from San Pedro. Once you're in San Pedro, amidst adobe dwellings and unpaved streets, you can visit the R P Gustavo Le Paige Archaeological Museum, which houses a collection of 380,000 pre-Hispanic artifacts from the native Atacameño culture. The collection includes mummies that are thousands of years old, preserved in part by the dry climate and the soil's high salt content.
In a town that caters to tourists, most restaurants are filled with foreigners. To meet the locals, go to Las Delicias de Carmen, where you can see the chef, Dona Carmen, juggling frying pans over the stove and piling enormous portions of steak, fried eggs and French fries onto plates. She also makes some of the town's best empanadas, filled with cheese, tomato and basil.
Café Adobe (www.cafeadobe.cl) offers Chilean and international cuisine and a loud, festive atmosphere. The tables are arranged around a bonfire where the chef grills meat (main courses from around 4,000 pesos [Dh31]). For a quieter and more upscale option, go to Ckunna (www.ckunna.cl), housed in the town's first schoolhouse. The restaurant puts a modern twist on typical Chilean ingredients like quinoa and the chanyar berry (main courses cost 7,000 pesos [Dh54]). Wherever you end up dining, try pastel de choclo, the Chilean dish that is a mixture of fresh-ground corn, ground beef, onions and a whole lot of butter.