San Pedro de Atacama is a small adobe town in the driest desert on Earth, and the contradiction is the attraction. It lies at 2,400 metres on the edge of the Salar de Atacama, a vast salt flat, in an oasis fed by streams from the Andes. The streets are dusty and low, the walls are the colour of dry mud, and behind the town the Licancabur volcano, nearly 5,920 metres, stands as a perfect cone on the border with Bolivia. Everything here seems to lean towards the sky.
The Lickanantay people have lived in this oasis for thousands of years, and the town's church, built in the eighteenth century of adobe, with a roof of cardón cactus wood, is still the centre of local life. Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, and the village was a stop on the old routes between the Andes and the coast. Today its small main streets are lined with adobe restaurants, tour offices and hostels, and the evening air is full of guitar music and the smell of wood fire.
The surroundings are dramatic. To the south-west the Valle de la Luna, a landscape of salt-crusted ridges and sand dunes, glows orange at sunset, and further out, the El Tatio geysers steam in the cold dawn at 4,300 metres. Flamingos feed in the lagoons of the salar. The air is so dry and clear that it is one of the best places on Earth for stargazing, and the big astronomical observatories of the high desert are nearby. Nights are cold even after hot days.
Riding here is a thrill, but it demands preparation. The road to Argentina over the Paso de Jama climbs onto the altiplano at over 4,200 metres, through some of the emptiest, most beautiful country in South America, and altitude sickness is a real risk, so take it slowly and carry water. Distances are huge, and winds blow hard in the afternoon. The nearest big town, Calama, is about a hundred kilometres away. San Pedro has a fuel station, but supplies can run short, so fill up whenever you can, and carry a spare container if you are heading out of town. Spring and autumn are the best seasons.