Andino Circuit: Discovering the true Aymara Culture
8 days / 7 nights
Cusco
Day 1
The first day starts with your airport pick-up in Calama, where your visit to the North of Chile begins. In the afternoon, you will start your first excursion towards the Cordillera of Salt where you will visit one of the most beautiful natural sceneries in the world, the Moon Valley and afterwards explore the neighboring Death Valley. To end the day, you will watch the fascinating desert sunset from the Great Dune in the Moon Valley. The beauty of the rough landscape, the intense colors, the sound of the wind, and the sun setting on the horizon is an unforgettable sight.
Saint Peter
Day 2
Today your destination are the altiplanic lagoons Miñiques and Miscanti, natural lakes of an intense blue color. To get there, you will take the route via Toconao, a colonial village with an unique architecture. All its buildings are made out of stone from volcanoes, so called Liparitas, including its old colonial church with its impressive bell tower. You will reach the biggest treasure of the driest desert in the world, the impressive Salt Lake of the Atacama. Without doubt, this enormous lake covered in salt creates a unique and majestic natural ambience. The intense color contrast and the numerous small canyons in this area create a fascinating setting.
Day 3
San Pedro - Lipez (Bolivia)
You will travel into the mountains to experience one of the most fascinating natural spectacles of the Atacama Desert: the Tatio Geysers. This geothermic field stems from volcanic origin and is located at more than 4.000m above sea level. Here, hot water and steam shoot up into the sky, reaching temperatures of about 85 ºC in the morning hours. Later, after having enjoyed the beauty of this small place, you will make our way to Hito Cajon to enter the country of Bolivia. You will enter the National Reserve of the Andean Fauna Eduardo Abaroa. Here, you will visit Lagoons, see volcanoes, geysers and flamingos. The night you will spend in the desert Los Lipez.
Day 4
Lipez - San Juan
The second day in Bolivia will take you further north to the Stone Tree (Árbol de Piedra), a famous rock formation shaped as a tree. You will cross the region of the lagoons, discovering the lagoon Charkota, Hedionda y Cañapa where we can observe the precious fauna. In the afternoon, you are going to arrive in the village of San Juan, passing the Salt Lake Chiguana, a native site in the desert Los Lipez.
Day 5
Lipez - Uyuni
Today you will get to know the salt lake Uyuni, the biggest salt deposit in the world with an extension of more than 12.000 Km². This salt lake is of an enormous mineralogical richness, for example it contains 50% of the world lithium reserve, a highly valued metal. Also, you will be visiting the islands Incahuasi and Lomo de Pescado, both full of giant cactuses that have been growing here for more than thousand years. Finally, you will move on to the volcano Thunupa. You will spend the night at the foot of the volcano in Jirira or Tahua.
Day 6
Uyuni - Colchane
On your last day in Bolivia, you will visit the Salinas of Garci Mendoza and the salt lake Coipasa. On the route you can learn more about the life in the highlands, until we get to the border Pisiga – Colchane in the afternoon. After crossing the border, we will bring you to the village Colchane.
Day 7
Colchane - Putre
You continue the tour to the National Park Vulcano Isluga, crossing the paths of the highlands, the desert and the pampa. The diversity is impressive and allows you to appreciate different landscapes within the park, such as the lagoon Arabilla, surrounded by small bofedales (wetlands) and forests of Queñua (typical tree of the highlands). The journey continues, reaching the most captivating destination of this tour, the salt lake Surire.The intensely white salt deposits contrast with the pure blue of the water of the lagoons, without doubt a delight to your eyes. The salt lake of Surire also preserves the existence of valuable species such as the ostrich (ñandu), flamingo, vicuña, alpaca and the llama, among others. You cross the National Reserve of the Vicuñas which, as its name implies, was created to preserve the vicuña.Finally, after enjoying captivating landscapes and an rich flora and fauna we will arrive in the village of Putre.
Day 8
Putre - Arica
Your journey continues to the viewing point of Chucuyo, which is located in the center of the National Park Lauca. Take some time to observe and learn about a unique ecosystem and an extraordinary flora and fauna. Afterwards you will be moving on to one of the most beautiful attraction of the National Park Lauca, the Lake Chungara, which is located over 4.500 meters over sea level and is one of the highest lakes in the world. It’s magical beauty and the marvelous reflection of the volcano Parinacota amaze thousands of tourists every year. On the other side of the lake, you can see the famous volcanoes Payachata (twin volcanos), about which many legends are told due to their mystical appearance.
After enjoying all these different landscapes and regaining our strength with a warm thermal bath, you will return to Arica, the city of the eternal spring.