San Pedro de Atacama

dogs and tourists, main street of San Pedro de Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama is the major town in this part of the Atacama, the only place where you can fill your car with gas and the only town with a significant tourist infrastructure.  There are dozens of restaurants and nearly 80 hotels, guesthouses and hostels.  Among them are several high-end luxury hotels, but most are geared towards the traveler needing cheaper places to sleep.

San Pedro's adobe church

This is a dusty desert town with unpaved, rutted streets, high adobe walls protecting the pretty homes, hotels and courtyards behind, hiding them from the noise, dust and people on the streets.  It reminds me of Taos years ago, a poorer version, but with the same charm of old adobe houses leaning slightly to one side, narrow alleys with shops and homes, and artisans filling the galleries with their creations.  It is an Andean Indian village that attracts people from all over the Andes countries and Chile to work for a time before moving on.  Many of the locals wear traditional dress, not for the tourists, but because it's what they prefer.

San Pedro homes

The place is filled with tourists.  It’s mostly a backpacker town, but the luxury hotels and the magnificence of the area attract high end tourists as well.  The streets are filled with young people, properly adorned with tattoos and piercings, wild hair atop sunburned faces, probably finding a good dose of drugs as well as alcohol readily available.  Like us, they are here to enjoy the astonishing beauty of the Atacama Desert and the high Andes to the east, towering over the village and the altiplano.

adobe wall protecting a hotel

The main street is a pedestrian street, unpaved, filled with tourists, locals, storekeepers, dogs.  The dogs that are wearing scarves or ribbons or yarn around their necks have owners and are the fortunate ones.  Most of the dogs are on their own and hang out next to the restaurants where they get lots of scraps.  They are in pretty good shape and are very gentle, loving any pet they can get.  Some of the strays clearly have patrons whom they greet with licks and jumps when they appear on the street.  I’m sure they would love to go home with them also.

wall outside hostel

San Pedro plaza

I love the adobe walls with their varied designs and warm colors.  Most are in need of maintenance, but the influx of tourist money is enabling some property owners to repair and upgrade their buildings.  One person who works at our hotel told me it is very expensive to live in San Pedro.  The more tourist demand there is, the more this will be a problem.  And, there just isn’t any place around the town for a workforce to live.