Four-day trek around San Pedro de Atacama. Camping in tents.

Day by day...

Day 1 : SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA – SAN BARTOLO

Transfer to Catarpe valley where our trek begins. We follow the San Bartolo River until its source. We can find petroglyphs there. Then we continue our trek to reach an altitude of 8,900 feet where we set up our camp. First night under the starry sky of San Pedro de Atacama Desert, after an easy walking day. Sleeping in tents. Meals included. 1h Climbing time: 3h30

Day 2 : SAN BARTOLO – RIO GRANDE

Today, after one day of acclimation, we start gaining altitude. Once again we follow the bed of a river where we find rare rocky formations and giant cactus.We keep on walking until 11,800 feet of altitude to reach the small village of Rio Grande where we set up our second camp.
Sleeping in tents. Meals included.
Climbing time: 6h

Day 3 : RIO GRANDE – MACHUCA

After breakfast, we head to a zone irrigated by small rivers that make fertile valleys. We continue to gain altitude to go over 13,000 feet. The town of Machuga offers a spectacular view of the Licancabur volcano. We set up there our third camp. Sleeping in tents. Meals included.
Climbing time: 5h

Day 4 : MACHUCA – GEYSERS DEL TATIO – SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA

This morning, we leave at dawn and reach 13,800 feet quickly to visit the Geysers of El-Tatio. This incredible region has an impressive vapor activity in early hours. We have breakfast there. This is a good opportunity to take our warm clothes off and put our swimsuit on to have a bath there. Retun to San Pedro at noon. Night at the hotel. Meals not included.
Route: 2h30 Climbing time: 1h
Optional: At nightfall, we follow an astronomer to a semi-professional astronomical observatory in San Pedro for a discovering session of the Austral sky, the clearest sky in the world. After 2 hours of observation, we finish by listening to the explanations of our guide while drinking a hot drink, before going back to the village.
Note: Excursion open to others participants (15 people maximum in total). Impossible during harvest moon.