La Cultura de Coca

The desert is the one place where you can best feel the extremes in temperature. Throughout the afternoon the sun sinks deep into your skin, turning it red no matter your origins while at night the clear sky sends cold shivers down upon the earth. You don't notice the extreme cold of the early hours of the morning though, unless you wake up at 4am to go 4300 metres above sea level to visit the local El Tatio geysers that is. (It is recommended you chew on coca leaves or sweets to help with altitude adjustment).

When we arrived the temperature was at approximately minus 5 degrees Celsius and we had wrapped ourselves in thick ski jackets, beanies and thermals, having been told to gradually take off each layer as the day progressed. The reason that you visit the geysers so early is because a geyser’s activity is best seen in the cold, so in wintertime when it's minus 20 degrees Celsius a tourist may gain the best view of these strange hot breathing pools. We walked around the geysers and learnt to distinguish them from a normal hole that releases hot steam but no water. Around the edges of each geyser is a nest of bacteria that breed off the exotic minerals.

We also got to test out the thermal pool that was absolutely boiling in some parts and cold in others. If you swim to the cooler side of the pool you cannot see everyone happily relaxing at the other end for all the steam. It was really quite amazing. The hardest part was having to get out into the cold air and get changed out of our swimmers in the open. Well worth it!

We climbed back into the bus and headed back down the mountain, passing vicuña, guanaco and alpacas (llamas aren't seen in the region) along the way. We visited an old deserted mining village that some locals had since decided to return to purely out of tradition. The current population rests at 5 people who depend completely on tourism. We enjoyed the local goat's cheese empanadas but speared trying the guanaco kebabs. On a small hill at the end of the one street of the village you can also find another white church, which looks marvellous juxtaposed against the deep blue of the sky.

Our last destination was to walk through Valle de Cactus before driving back to San Pedro de Atacama. Once back, we ate a very delicious gourmet meal at the plaza and then spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping and relaxing at the hostel. That evening my fellow Australian and her lovely Chilean left to continue their travels elsewhere. After dropping them off at the bus terminal we went to a nearby restaurant/bar and tried out Mojitos de Coca. Note: Coca is the drug of choice for the indigenous Atacama culture, although the coca doesn't really affect you unless you distil it. Natural coca consumption is perfectly legal and very accessible.