Sunday, August 16th - Atacama Desert
This morning I went on a hike through part of the vast desert to the Puritama Hot Springs. The Puritama is one of the two rivers that feed this area. The word Puritama means "warm river." And...the water that runs in this river is quite warm! It is warmed by the many active volcanoes in the area. (There are 150 active volcanoes in the Andes mountain range!) The other river that feeds the area is the Puritanica River. This river is a cold water river. There is almost no water in the region....everywhere you look is dry!!! But...the guide this morning told me that during their summer months it rains quite often and the rivers flood.
The hike was quite rocky...climbing up and down rocks...pushing through foxtails...and navigating around sharp cacti! But...it was well worth it! The scenery was awe inspiring! I have been so incredibly lucky this past month to have seen nature at its finest! The indigenous culture in this area has been here since before 1000 AD. They formed an interesting way of life...that was unfortunately mostly extinguished by Spanish imperialism! They were forbidden from using their native language, and so it no longer exists. Christianity was forced on the inhabitants, but fortunately, they have still hung on to some of their traditions creating a syncretic blend of ideas! The desert people bury their dead in the ground covered by rocks. The bodies are put into the fetal position and then placed in the ground. Some archaeologists have desecrated graves trying to learn more about the people of the past, but that they have been prohibited from doing so now. My guide also told me how the people used to shape the skulls of their babies to mark which tribe they were from. They would do this by placing some type of indentation device on the heads of the infants. Fascinating!
We finally made it to the hot springs... and the warm dip in the water was fabulous!!!
This morning I went on a hike through part of the vast desert to the Puritama Hot Springs. The Puritama is one of the two rivers that feed this area. The word Puritama means "warm river." And...the water that runs in this river is quite warm! It is warmed by the many active volcanoes in the area. (There are 150 active volcanoes in the Andes mountain range!) The other river that feeds the area is the Puritanica River. This river is a cold water river. There is almost no water in the region....everywhere you look is dry!!! But...the guide this morning told me that during their summer months it rains quite often and the rivers flood.
The hike was quite rocky...climbing up and down rocks...pushing through foxtails...and navigating around sharp cacti! But...it was well worth it! The scenery was awe inspiring! I have been so incredibly lucky this past month to have seen nature at its finest! The indigenous culture in this area has been here since before 1000 AD. They formed an interesting way of life...that was unfortunately mostly extinguished by Spanish imperialism! They were forbidden from using their native language, and so it no longer exists. Christianity was forced on the inhabitants, but fortunately, they have still hung on to some of their traditions creating a syncretic blend of ideas! The desert people bury their dead in the ground covered by rocks. The bodies are put into the fetal position and then placed in the ground. Some archaeologists have desecrated graves trying to learn more about the people of the past, but that they have been prohibited from doing so now. My guide also told me how the people used to shape the skulls of their babies to mark which tribe they were from. They would do this by placing some type of indentation device on the heads of the infants. Fascinating!
We finally made it to the hot springs... and the warm dip in the water was fabulous!!!
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| These are the homes that the shepherds would build into the mountains. They would build separate corrals into the mountains for their llama! |
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| Sorry...forgot the specie name...but it's a type of rabbit...interesting...has a squirrel tail! |
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| Close up of the homes in the mountain |
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| common cactus- used for wood...since there are not really many trees around. The bottom of the cactus kind of dies while the upper part remains growing! They grow at a rate of 1 cm per year! This cactus is probably over 100 years! |
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| We hiked along this river...the Puritama! gorgeous! |
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| Lots of vegetation here .... whereas not much in the vast majority of the desert! |
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| Typical home in the mountains |
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| This is the river that provides the main source of water for San Pedro, the main town. As you can see it is pretty much all dried up...but in their summer it rains and the river ends up flooding the town! |
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| View from the fortress...you can see the agriculture! Each little oasis or village has it's own irrigation system. They are little manmade canals that feed the individual farms. |
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| The fortress...from the 1400-1500/s - destroyed by the Spaniards! Gotta love colonization...or not! |
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| Tuvolu - a the remains of a agricultural group from approximately 3000 years ago! Just recently an archaeologist discovered this site! All of the homes are connected! Fascinating! All the adobe walls that you see are original! |
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| fabricated replica of what they believe the homes actually looked like! |
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| Inside the fabricated homes |
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