Everything is well organised for the tourists in this area. The closest airport is in Calama, just 100 km away. Right after exiting the airport there are lots of transfer companies that drive the tourists from the airport directly to San Pedro. It's super convinient, but once again a minimum knowledge of spanish is necessary to establish with the company where exactly do you want to go.

 

I always wanted to see a real desert. Just like the sea, the spacious masses of the desert seemed to hypnotize me from the very first sight during the transfer to San Pedro. I already knew that this part of the trip will be really memorable when it comes to the sights.

Our hostel, just like most of them, was kept in an ethnic, rural style what we loved. During the day it was very hot outside, people hung around playing instruments that were the property of the hostel, chatted.

There is really not that much to talk about, it is more about showing the pictures. 

San Pedro is insanely aesthetic, every building is the same low height, in the same colour scheme (brown, white, grey, blue, red) in the same rustic/mapuchan style. Everything was so consistent, it was a real pleasure to walk around. Apparently the government put a lot of effort of maintaining the herritage of San Pedro and to keep it as traditional as possible - even as a tourist attraction. Not mentioning that from most places in town there is a volcano Licancabur visible, among other andean peaks.

Speaking of tourists, I bet that at least 95% of inhabitants of San Pedro are living off tourism. It is a very touristic place, very, but it had such an atmosphere that... suprisingly it did not bother me. There were all the necessary facilities like shops, restaurants, pharmacies, card payment was widely accepted... all good! San Pedro is the main hub for all the excursions around Atacama. All the companies offer the same tours in the same minibuses departing either in the morning or in the afternoon. The trips last for a half-day, a day or three days when it's the one to Salar De Uyuni in Bolivia. The system works very well and it's very convinient.

The centre of San Pedro concentrates around the main square and the main walking street. We never cared to check their names, but once you are there you have no doubts that you are in the right spot. Everything happens here. By the main square there is a lovely old church and the city hall, and also some green areas providing some nice shade.

We bought a bunch of souvenirs including sweaters and ponchos that had some percentage of alpaca wool. It was funny because there were so many people walking around in the same clothes, everybody loved their new llama-sweaters, hats, gloves etc.

Chilenos love dogs! Dogs are everywhere. You actually never know are they strays or not. But nevertheless, all of them are suprisingly friendly and would approach you happily asking for food or pats.