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If you’re going to stay in the desert, you have to do it right, as in choosing a hotel that effortlessly blends into the landscape, embraces the local culture, and is as remote as possible. Alto Atacama couldn’t have been more fitting. Alto Atacama is completely removed from San Pedro village (where most the other hotels exist), and flanked by two rock outcrops (known as Cordillera de la Sal), with unbroken views of the Andes. In fact, anywhere you stand, you’re subject to fine views, whether it’s the canyons, the vast sky, or the plain ol’ desert.

There’s only 32 ground-level rooms, creating an intimate environment where seeing another guest is actually quite rare, due to the oval shape of the building, with its outward-looking terraces. The design mimics the natural surroundings of the Catarpe Valley— where the resort is located—and is seemingly imperceptible from the distance. Also, in general a resort’s swimming pool is traditionally the social center, but at Alto Atacama there are six pools, spread out in their own little nooks, as well as a jacuzzi facing the canyon, so you truly feel like you’re the only ones there.

The Puri spa is an oasis from this oasis, and the hotel has its own nighttime sky observatory (because Alto is so removed from the village, there is zero light pollution here, so there’s no need to really book with the astronomy tours in town). Every evening, the in-house excursion’s guide sat with us to explain the various excursions offered the following day, and she was completely prepared to set up any trips we may have been interested in, not on the agenda. For instance, I requested to visit a shaman who would tell me my future, but a desert storm the likes of which the locals had not seen in years destroyed the roads, preventing this meeting. Bummer.

The restaurant is casual and the meals hearty, leaning more on traditional Chilean cuisine.

Our spacious room had direct views of the Andes, a large terrace, a generously-sized bathroom with a rainshower, and a rustic design using local stones, dark adobe, and woods. We also loved the heated floors, free mini-bar, and traditional music that piped through the rooms. Oh, and the spirits here were super-friendly in that Casper kind of way, just in case you were wondering.

World-renowned American photographers Chris Makos and Paul Solberg visited Alto Atacama in late October and took a series of photos of the lodge and the beautiful landscapes of the Atacama region. Chris and Paul work together as a duo known as “The Hilton Brothers,” and have been traveling to exotic destinations around the world for 7 years working on collaborative photo projects.

Chris Makos was a close friend of Andy Warhol and spent part of the 1970s photographing famous celebrities and artists. Warhol called Chris “the most modern photographer in America.” His photographs have been exhibited in hundreds of galleries and museums around the world, including the Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum, and the Guggenheim Museum. Paul Solberg’s recently published collection of photographs “Bloom” was well received by critics, and many of his photos were used in the Hilton Brothers’ photographic exhibition “Andy Dandy.” Paul often contributes to major publications such as Conde Nast Traveller Spain, Elle, and Marie Claire.

Chris Makos had this to say about his recent visit to the Atacama Desert:

“(It’s) like being on another planet, like being in a Dadaist movie, like forgetting who you are, like nothing that has ever happened to you… “

He also offered great praise for the Alto Atacama Desert Lodge:

“Being a photographer, it’s really hard to describe in words how magnificent being at the Alto Atacama resort is. To keep your doors open on the front and terrace side of your room and feel the desert breeze wash through your room is like no other feeling an urban dweller can experience.”

“The Alto is like staying in heaven, it’s so perfect, often I would just get lost in my mind, not know what day it was, what time it was, and not caring. The staff is invisible, yet they are always there to help, and the guides are perfection. I can’t wait to go back and just stare at the beauty all around, it is a feast for the eyes, a do-not-miss in one’s life.”

“I cannot say enough about the experience that I had there. Run, don’t walk, to the Alto Atacama.”

Extractes from Quepasa.cl

Hiking and searching for locations or ideas for new projects, Jeffrey Katzenberg visited the Alto atacama Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama. Katzenberg is one of the DreamWorks founders, the studio behind blockbuster movies like Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.

Steven Spielberg and David Geffen’s partner reserved rooms in the Alto Atacama, where he stayed with two other heavyweights of American film industry: Andrew Cripps, president of Paramount Pictures International, and Ian George, senior vice president of that company.

Katzenberg, who is vacationing in Latin America, arrived in his private plane to Calama and stayed a couple of days in San Pedro. After his stay in Alto Atacama, he will be travelling with his friends from Paramount to other countries in Southamerica.

Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen formed DreamWorks in 1994, making it one of the most successful independent film production companies, with Oscar-winning like American Beauty and Gladiator. In 2005, Paramount Pictures bought Dreamworks for U.S. $ 1,600 million.

This February, San Pedro has a special show of Chilean handicraft, one awarded in 2009 by the UNESCO “Seal of Excellence” and “First Crafts and Design Competition CREA”.
ARTEMINGA and NGO TSA opens tomorrow Thursday February 11 the exhibition “Multiple Parallel ” in Caracoles 183, which I consider one of the most interesting shops in the area, the perfect place to go if you look for special pieces that combine  design with materials and traditions.
On my vacations I had the privilege of meeting  Silvana Martinez, manager of this initiative, a young law student who carries the art in her veins, which was motivated by her atacaman ancestors, and has developed a career as a goldsmith reusing old atacaman  tissues, combined with work in copper, which works in creating jewelry crudely carrying the history of its previous owners, in this case the Zutar family, (her paternal grandmother).

Everything on their collars emulates the desert, the red and earth colors of the tissues, the metal she uses, which together with the reuse of materials earned merits enough to be one of the winners of CREA.
The installation “Multiple Parallel” evokes in its structure the way our long country is transversally divided by parallels, imaginary lines that create divisions within our territory, where locations are also different and unique cultural expressions, which are part of a larger agenda: our idiosyncrasy

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The pieces presented in this exhibition are Loza Rings by Carolina Contreras Collao who presented framed fragments of pottery belonging to the ancient northern Chile saltpeter, wooden rings by Marcel Pinilla Cancino, native objects made with wood from old fallen buildings of Valparaíso, Loom Necklace by Nicolas Hernandez Meza and Juan Pinochet Acosta a pectoral ornament with saddlery and goldsmith techniques with ancient materials used in handicrafts; Manto Intervenido by Irene Vacaro Cuevas made from felt and multiple techniques; Kallwe Necklace by Valeria Martinez Nahuel a creation of silver, sheep and alpaca wool hand-dyed with natural products; Jewels of native wood and silver by Pauline Aranguiz Montesi inspired in Mapuche traditional ornamentation.