Chile to Mexico

A two year overland journey across South and Central America

Chile to Mexico
Chile 

Pukará de Quitor

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Being in San Pedro de Atacama… and having no tour to go on – as it was full 🙁 … we headed to the Pukará de Quitor.

The Pukará de Quitor is an old Pre-Colombian fort about 3kms from the town of San Pedro… there is no public transport to the pukará… so we headed out on foot…

It was quite a scenic walk, but it was very hot and dusty – although I guess this was inevitable as we were in the desert… 🙂

A cute traditional-styled adobe house that we passed on the way.
It’s very dry in the desert! BUT we were on our way to the Pukará.

It wasn’t long before the pukará was in sight… well the signpost to the pukará at least!

When we finally arrived we made an executive decision to climb up to the mirador before exploring the ruins… we could feel the sun getting hotter and were hoping to complete the steep upward climb before it got REALLY hot! The climb was hard… I’m blaming the altitude… but the views were spectacular, with photo opportunities all around…

PB is ready to start the upward ascent to the mirador (viewpoint).
A view of the ruins of the pukará from the trail to the mirador…
As we start to gain some height, we get a view back on the valley and the bend in the river.
PB stops to admire the view…
The official viewpoint is in sight…
PB near the top!
A view over La Valle de Marte.
Another view of the Valle de Marte… check out the big sand dune just below the top ridge… people are allowed to run down this sand dune – how cool is that!
A final glimpse of the valley below us…
PB starts the descent!

After the mirador it was time to explore the ruins of the pukará…

And we’re off!
The ruins…

Our final stop was the the entrance to the cave… the signs at the entrance were confusing… one said be careful and enter at your own risk… while another said it was prohibited to enter the cave…

We decided to take in the scenery instead and not go in… we were torchless and were getting hungry, and decided getting back to San Pedro for lunch was more important than going into a cave that we might not have been supposed to go in anyway!!! 🙂

The entrance to the cave. Check out the head on the left!
A second head statue is carved into the side of the hill.
It’s time for the hot walk home… but the view of Volcano Licancabur makes it all alright!

We got back in time for a nice lunch and mote con huesillos! 🙂 A very enjoyable morning out…

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