day one at Explora Atacama: sand dunes, ceviche, and COVID-19

After our exciting yet brief time in Santiago, it was time to head to our next destination: Explora Atacama, which is an all-inclusive resort in San Pedro de Atacama, a small town in the middle of the Atacama desert. It’s currently closed right now, unfortunately, due to the global pandemic that is happening right now. But anyways, because we had to get to the airport two(?) hours before our flight left, we had to be out of the hotel by 4:15, which mean we got up at 3:45 am. Exciting I know. But on the bright side, the night before, our hotel let us pre-order breakfast boxes to go, which was very nice. After all, there’s nothing like eating a mini chocolate croissant at 4 in the morning. Yum.

Anyways, since I fell asleep pretty much as soon as we got on the plane, before we knew it, we were in Calama, the closest major city to San Pedro, which was an approximately 45 minute drive. And although I was constantly switching between being asleep and being awake, I gotta say, the ride there was absolutely beautiful. At many points, we were the only car in sight, and it literally felt like we were on another planet. Or in one of those fancy car commercials.

Once we got to the hotel, we went straight to our rooms. The room is small, but also makes use of every area. I especially appreciated the handwritten note welcoming us and the hotel-branded water bottles, considering we were very high up and constantly thirsty.

But my favorite part was the window that spanned the entire length of a wall. Just look at those views.

After that much needed stop in the room, we sat on the(equally photogenic) terrace. What you find out quickly once you get here is that everywhere you go looks like something that belongs on a postcard. While enjoying some freshly-squeezed lemonades, we discussed our future travel plans. After our stay at Explora, we initially planned on driving to Argentina, where we would spend another week. But Argentina had closed its borders due to COVID-19, so that wasn’t an option anymore, so we decided to attempt to go to the Bolivian salt flats.

My one issue with the hotel was how structured the mealtimes were. Although you could always order from the bar, the regular restaurant was open from 7-10 am for breakfast, which was a fairly normal time, 1-3 pm for lunch, and 8-10 pm for dinner, which are both later than I’m used to eating.

So since they weren’t serving lunch yet, we ordered lemonades, a ham and cheese plate, and took a bowl of these delicious Chilean potato chips they had at the bar.

Seriously, these chips were absolutely addicting.

And before we knew it, it was time for lunch. The menu, while small, changed at every lunch and dinner, so you could try something a little different every day. But lunch and dinner always began with a tray of warm, crusty, baguette-esque bread, along with better and some tasty, tomato and cilantro-y mixture that I can best describe as a more chopped up version of bruschetta.

As an appetizer, I tried the seaweed ceviche, which I didn’t really like, as the combination of the gelatinous seaweed and acidic marinade was just not for me.

I had much better look with the seared fish of the day, which was tuna, which was tasty yet simple. I also liked how they cooked it medium rare. The fish came with quinoa, which was just fine, albeit slightly bland.

However, my favorite part of the meal was the dessert. I had the honey ice cream, which was creamy and had slight caramelized notes.

I also tried some of my friend’s chocolate mousse with cacao nib crisp, which was also amazing and rich and chocolatey without being too heavy and sweet.

After lunch, we planned out our itinerary for the rest of the day and tomorrow. How it works is that every day, around 2 pm, all the guides congregate in this designated area, and you choose the expeditions you want to go on the next day. You can choose from anything from hiking to horseback riding, and there were day-long, as well as half day expeditions. Since it was our first day there, they first gave us a brief presentation on the area before we chose our adventures for the afternoon and the next day. Also,

I really liked the bowls of dried fruit and nuts the hotel kept in the lobby, so you could make your own trail mix-esque concoction, although they disappeared at some point probably due to health and safety concerns. They also had baskets with mini granola and chocolate bars that were pretty tasty too, along with infused water. 

After another brief rest in the hotel room, it was time for our first expedition, a trip to the Mars valley, and the sand dunes nearby. We drove there in a van, then walked about 20-30 minutes before we descended down the sand dunes. Again, this entire place is out-of-this-world beautiful, but the Mars valley is especially breathtaking. You could’ve told me were on Mars and I would undoubtedly have believed you.

When we got to the sand dunes, the guide revealed to us that there are exactly three ways to get down: either butt-scoot down, roll down, or walk/run in a zig-zag pattern praying you don’t topple over. Apparently you can also sandboard down the sand dunes, which we saw other people doing, but seemed a little to risky for me. Thankfully there was only two other people on our expedition, so very few people watched me struggle to get down these surprisingly steep sand dunes.

After our adventure with the sand dunes, it was a quick trek, albeit extremely windy and sandy trek back to where the van was to meet us. Luckily, once we made it back to the van, it turns out the driver had set up a table with ice cold beverages and a some snacks, such as fruit, cheese, a dip, and bread. Later we discovered they did this at the end of every expedition, which I loved. They really feed you well at this hotel.

After our adventure with the sand dunes, it was a quick trek, albeit extremely windy and sandy trek back to where the van was to meet us. Luckily, once we made it back to the van, it turns out the driver had set up a table with ice cold beverages and a some snacks, such as fruit, cheese, a dip, and bread. Later we discovered they did this at the end of every expedition, which I loved. They really feed you well at this hotel.

One final look at the valley.

They must’ve known I was coming.

A quick drive later, and we were back at the hotel, where we did a bit of exploring before dinner. Again, in awe with just how beautiful everything is.

Finally it was time for dinner. To start, I had the Chilean crab pie, which I actually really enjoyed. It turned out to be more of dip-like consistency, but I mean, you can’t really go wrong with creamy, cheesy, seafood.

For my main course, I had the fish of the day(again), which came this time with some bland and very oily soba-esque noodles. I’m not sure what this firm, slightly oily fish was, but it wasn’t that bad.

Once again, dessert was the highlight of the meal. Probably because dessert is just always my favorite part of the meal. I had the rica rica panna cotta with mango puree with berries. The panna cotta was perfectly rich and creamy, and I really enjoyed the flavor of the rica rica, which is a plant local to the area and tastes kind of like mint. It went well with the mango and fresh berries, which provided a bright contrast in flavor and texture that made the dessert seem indulgent, but also light at the same time. The hotel uses lots of local ingredients that I’d never tried or heard of before, which I really enjoyed, since we were eating all our meals at the hotel.

Afterwards, we sat in the lounge for a bit, since that was where the wifi was the strongest. Thanks to the bartender on duty, I also found out what brand the chips that I loved so much were, which actually came in handy much later. I’ve added a picture because those were just that good, and I believe everyone should have the chance to try to hunt them down.

After meandering around in the lounge for a bit, it was time for bed, seeing as we were extremely exhausted from our early flight. So it was extra nice to see when we returned that not only had our beds been turned down, but also they had added an extra very fluffy and thick comforter. And to top it all off, they also left squares of hotel branded milk and dark chocolate, a sweet end to an amazing day.