Walking On The Moon

Saturday 3 February

We were treated to a bit of a lie in again, as our tour didn’t leave until 09.00. Breakfast was served in the dining room, with a good selection of fruits, including fresh strawberries and cherries, meats, cheeses, a variety of eggs and an array of different breads. I found one containing lots of dried fruits and nuts which was delicious.

We met Matthais, another young Chilean guide, for our “Cultural tour’ of the area, along with Peter and Jane, who we met yesterday and an American lady from New York, mid 40’s and traveling on her own, named Anna. Our first stop was at Tulor Village, about 10 kms outside San Pedro, situated in the sand dunes. Tulor dates from 800 BC and was originally situated beside a large river. The village was made of a series of interconnecting circular structures, each of which had a different function – sleeping, eating, grinding grains for flour, slaughtering animals, birds and fish, etc. This was one of the first permanent settlements in the northern Chilean Altiplano region, as previously the inhabitants of this area had moved around in small groups, leading a nomadic style of life, going wherever food sources seemed most prolific. The hunters began to herd animals and raise them domestically, so that larger groups could settle together in one place, with a constant food source. They learnt to farm the staple food crops such as grains, beans, and herbs, and the river provided a good source of fish and water. At this time everyone was peaceful, and there was no inter-tribal fighting. Tulor thrived, partly due to a trade route passing close by, going to the coast and what is now Peru in one direction, and Bolivia and even northern Argentina in the other. This civilization became a resting place for traders the long overland journeys, and the settlers soon began trading bones, leather, wood and textiles for other precious commodities such as metals, silver and gold. As a consequence of the trade route, there were definite cultural links with the Tawanaku civilization in Bolivia and the coastal regions of Chile and Peru and the people learnt more about making pottery and household utensils as well as tools and farming equipment, ceramics and jewellery, some of which incorporated pearls from the Pacific ocean. Today the area has only been minimally explored as the local people believe that the spirits will be destroyed if digging continues. The civilization was forced to move away around 500 AD due to the severe drought conditions that dried up the river – never to return - and made farming impossible. The people went to new areas to establish more communities and “tribes”.

During the next few centuries, many new settlements became established near the rivers and trade routes, and more and more peoples from Peru and Bolivia came to settle in the area. Resources of food and natural products such as wood and metals became more and more scare, so the indigenous tribes banded together to find safer places to settle and protect their supplies. One of these was Coyo, a hillside fort, overlooking a major river valley. By 1200 AD, some of the population had become “soldiers”, charged with protecting members of their villages against other marauding tribes. The fort was built on a steep sided mount, with the guards’ quarters on the lower level, followed by the storage chambers for animals, crops and basic foods, and the living quarters at the top – the higher you lived up the hill, the more important your position in the community. Life in these hillside settlements again flourished, although there was by now, a lot of inter-tribal fighting for food and materials, and only the strongest survived, such as Coyo – that was until the Incas arrived in 1500 and overthrew the local leaders and thrust a new culture and traditions upon the settlements. But even this new way of life was only short-lived, as 40 years later the Spanish arrived, their numbers swelled by peoples they had already conquered, and after a “war” lasting five days, Coyo was overthrown. Living on hillsides in forts was not the Spanish style, and just four years later, San Pedro de Atacama was established as the major town of the area, in the middle of an green oasis formed by the confluence of two separate rivers flowing from the Andes.

Whilst we were visiting Coyo, we could hear loud music, similar to that we had heard in San Pedro yesterday, and Matthias confirmed that today families would continue to celebrate “Candelara” in their own homes and small communities. After clambering over the ruins – from the top there was a sheer drop to the valley below,which ran around two sides of the fort, and a splendid view of the countryside all around - we were intrigued by the sounds of the celebration, so we followed Matthais along sandy lanes, past isolated adobe houses (most with satellite dishes in their gardens), and came out further down the river. Along the bank on both sides, were a collection of tents, each set up in close proximity to the next, with lots of vehicles of all shapes and sizes - from motor bikes to huge lorries and mobile homes. Matthias obtained permission for us to enter the camp – shut off by a barbed wire fence - and as we wandered through the encampment, many faces appeared at the entrances to the tents – young through to old – guardedly watching the strangers encroaching on their space. Many of the locals were dressed in costumes such as we had seen yesterday – girls in dresses heavily decorated with sequins and baubles, men in fur suits representing furry white bears – this clan all had large sparkly ants attached to their backs – and some older women were dressed in traditional dress, with long ‘ra-ra’ skirts and colourful shawls and head dresses. They were all moving down the camp and round the corner, where the sound of a brass band was coming from. We followed, only a few paces behind, and saw numerous men playing trumpets, trombones, drums and cymbals, looking like a traditional jazz band from home. They all had the same costumes – white shirts, decorated dark waistcoats and black felt hats – and despite the warmth of the day, they were jigging to the music as they played really fast stomping rhythms. The other performers lined up on the bare earth “parade-ground” – just a fenced off area with a barn serving as a refectory area – where many men were already partaking of the local alcohol – and on the whistle of one of the girls at the front, all started dancing. Matthais told us that throughout the year these groups practiced regularly, as it was important to be “perfect” for the festival. We continued watching for about twenty minutes, as the performers - between the ages of about eight and eighty - went though a complicated programme of steps, moving up and down the lines – in similar fashion to our “barn dances”.

It was then time to leave them to continue their festivities in private. On the way out, we saw a tent with about six women preparing huge legs of meat – they looked like hams, but could have been llama, sheep or some other animal – which they would later barbeque over open fires. Smaller skewers were already cooking to stave off any hunger pangs before the main feast. These celebrations would continue for several days – five is usually the minimum, up to a month in some areas.

We returned to San Pedro to explore the museum which had excellent displays about the culture of the area, back to the times of Tulor, with lots of models and findings from earlier archeological excavations. It showed how at first the spears and weapons had been very primitive, but continually improved through the centuries to become very fine – such as the arrowheads made of bone that were lethal at a long distance. The pottery started with crude bowls when even spoons were not heard of, but developed into very fine, colourful ceramic tableware. There were also replicas of mummies found in the area (made from others that had disintegrated or been damaged – sand is a great preserver and many mummies had been found in almost the same condition they had been in when interred – and we could see skin and bones and hair, together with their precious possessions, the bodies always foldedrr in the foetal position, with their legs up under the armpits. We wandered around, until Matthais reminded us dinner was served from 13.00 and it was past that time already.

We returned to the hotel, and readied ourselves for another gourmet meal – we were not disappointed – ‘caprese’ salad (tomatoes and goats cheese) for Colin and prawns in lemon and oil for me, followed by delicious rack of lamb chops for us both, and mango sorbet for Colin and a chocolate and raspberry tart for me – my tastes have definitely been undergoing a metamorphosis on this trip – me eating sweet things . . . and chocolate at that! Wine was on tap again and followed by teas. We spent the afternoon snoozing and blogging, before readying ourselves for another evening activity – a walk in Moon Valley.

We congregated in reception and found that a group of six people from Spain and Anna were accompanying us, with Maria as our guide. We had seen the Spanish group in the restaurant and knew they were quite loud and voluble, and spoke only very limited English – compared with our three words of Spanish – Holá, Vamous and Adios or Chou – Hello, Go and Goodbye! We had seen the entrance of the Moon Valley on to the large plain, when we had driven here yesterday, but this time we entered from the opposite end. We passed between the rocky mountains and smooth sand dunes towering over us. Millions of years ago this whole area was part of a huge lake and layers upon layers of sediments were laid down over a long period of time, building up in thin deposits. All around the area are the high volcanic mountains of the Andes, and when these erupted and the tectonic plates moved, this area was uplifted into mountains and valleys of sharp contrasts. Since that time other eruptions have changed the landscape even further and the sands have been continually blown and swept by the winds, so that it is now an area of magnificent disparities – perfectly smooth brown hills of sand with high rocky outcrops, where the layers are tilted in every direction, and often topped by much younger flatter strata looking like a fluted ruff. The rocks are pinky and pearl in colour, and large splodges of white are scattered over the valley floor where salt has come to the surface. It is very difficult to describe adequately this landscape – it was unlike anything we had ever seen before, and we could understand why they call it “Moon Valley”.

We spent two hours wandering through the valley, up through passes between the rocks, and most difficult of all, walking across the sand dunes, where our feet sunk and slipped down the incline, as we tried desperately to reach the top. As we were walking along another part of the valley in an attempt to find the minibus, the sun sank behind the dunes and mountains and turned everything orange. Back at the minibus we drank mango juice and ate a few nuts (some people had a chocolate bar – but I’m not mentioning who!) while watching the final stages of the sunset, becoming pink then violet and eventually blue. It was then time to return to the hotel to sort out our trips for tomorrow and have dinner.

There are two choices of entrée and main course for both lunch and dinner, and five choices of dessert – Colin often has difficulty in making a choice of puddings! Tonight though he chose green soup (a sort of spinach and watercress tasty affair) while I had more prawns, this time with scallops in a balsamic and lemon dressing, and we both chose salmon fillet in a cabbage leaf with roasted vegetables, followed by a fruit salad for Colin. I was just too full up to eat any more.

By the time we returned from the “afternoon trip” and sorted out tomorrow’s activities it was well after 21.00 before we even went to dinner. So afterwards, we just had time to check the emails on the hotel computer and make our way to bed. Tomorrow we have chosen to go to see the geysers, which means getting up at 04.30 for an early breakfast at 05.15 and leaving at 05.45 – why do we arrange these early morning starts?

PS: Colin was very upset when I mentioned that I had included that we only knew three words of Spanish – he also knows “hombres” (men) – seen at the “banios” (toilets) and gin con tonica!