Since early January Alto Atacama has a new expeditions guide. Paula Saint-Jean is a multifacetic woman, with 24 years as a business manager specializing in marketing and a passionate sportswoman who has been actively practice swimming, volleyball, hockey, longboarding, riding and has worked as a diving, ski and snowboard instructor with seasons in the United States.
A girl who definitely likes challenges and to be in constant contact with people of which she says she learns a lot. Cheerful and energetic Paula is in charge of registry, she will meet you at your arrival at the Hotel and make you aware of the many tours which you may be provided with and also is part of the youth group who will accompany and instruct your tours of San Pedro and its attractive surroundings.

On November 30th, the Leave No Trace training, the number one program in the U.S. company National Outdoors Leadership School. was carried out in San Pedro de Atacama. The students of third-year from Sequitor School of San Pedro de Atacama participated, as a way to encourage them to study Responsible Tourism as a career, that now a days is the main income of the town, which attracts 150 thousand tourists a year.
Alto Atacama participated actively, led by our chief guide Matias Alamo and in this experience, 15 students were instructed in the gorge of the sector Cardones in Guatin, an oasis 28 kilometers from San Pedro, on the way to the Tatio Geysers.
Matias gave a spectacular training, showing the kids how to assemble a full trekking pack including sleeping bag, first aid kit, books on flora & fauna, GPS, flashlight, water, food and satellite phone and the importance of each of these items. Then, through demonstrative examples, he taught the 7 principles of the program as they walked along the ravine.
The event was a success, especially the power to convey young students in San Pedro de Atacama and enjoy the generosity of caring for their fragile landscape without leaving a trace.

When you leave the Tatio Geysers and start your way back down, one of the less transited roads will take you through Altiplanic lakes with many birds and one of  them might be the Tagua, in the picture.

The privilege of travelling with the Alto Atacama team is that either the guides are local, or passionate about the place. The guides and drivers together make the perfect match, with both you can be sure you´ll experience the desert like a local.

There is so much wildlife, so much abundnace of little creatures and plants in all sizes, once your eye gets used to the vastness of the desert you can be sure to see life wherever you look. The plants and animals have addapted to extreme conditions, like cold and height or the heat at times in the day. On your trips around the place, you´ll probably see the Tagua, and even more excentric creatures, like the flamenco, with its pink feathers. All are amazing and there is an animal for any time of the day, like the foxes, which you are more likely to view in the night or early morning.

As a recommendation: you might be inklined to take your binoculars and a good plant and animal guide to the Altiplano. You´ll have an even more enriching experience with these. And just so you know the hotel vans always have binoculars in them!

When you travel to far places and, with the best will in the world, climb to 4000 masl to meet places that are unique and their people, the reward is just to be there and to later on share the stories and the images of your adventure. But if you add to that a smiling host, a splendid lunch and a glass of wine, being in an altiplanic village like Río Grande in the altiplano, is like an image from a dream.

In the picture we choose, you can see passengers from the hotel, being cared for by the intense smile of one of the guides: Carola Coria and in all the expeditions the situation occurs with the same quality. All the guides and drivers work as a team to set up the perfect situation, with tables and meals to remember and the toast that such a landscape deserves.

To all this attention we must add, without rest, that all of the  Alto Atacama team is trained to leave no trace on their outings in Nature, and to then arrive back at the hotel and separate the garbage to be recycled. The wellness effect is therefore total.

The most amazing thing about the desert is the constant diversity, there isn´t a place where the miracle of  Nature doesn´t leave you in awe: rivers that appear in the  middle of the sand, wild vicuñas with their young, colourful volcanoes set against the infinite horizon of the Atacama, and in all the towns the flirtatious smiles of the people of the desert. Not even the most accomplished photos can give a faithful portrait of what the Atacama desert experience is like.