day three at explora atacama: lagoons, moon valley, and lots of food

After a leisurely breakfast, which included a very tasty coconut cake-type thing with a biscuit base, we drove to our first destination of the day: the Tebinquiche lagoons.

We walked for about 20 minutes, admiring the near perfect reflection of the mountains behind the lagoon onto the water. It was absolutely stunning, and the ideal combination of a leisurely walk and beautiful views.

After, the van then drove us to a smaller lagoon, where the real fun began. We changed into the fluffy bathrobes the hotel provided for us, and got to go in the very cold lagoon, where due to the high salt content of the lagoon, were able to easily float! (As you can see the guy in the photo doing) While the water was extremely cold at first, once you were completely submerged, it was actually quite pleasant and relaxing, and I was sad when we had to go.

After another quick snack set up by our lovely driver, we drove approximately 30-45 minutes back to the hotel, and soon enough, it was time for lunch.

Just a picture I took of the gap between two rooms. This hotel really is astonishingly photogenic.

To start, I had the tuna causa, which turned out to be basically delightfully acidic and tender tuna prepared ceviche-esque style, and creamy mashed potatoes.

For my main, I had seared tuna, with creamy wheat risotto and yellow pepper sauce. This was probably one of my favorite dishes I had while here, as the I loved how the risotto was creamy, but also had a slight bite, and combined with the meaty tuna and slightly sweet yellow pepper sauce was a perfect combination of flavors and textures.

For dessert I had the chocolate mille feuille, which turned out to be thin layers of dark chocolate sandwiched with chocolate mousse. It was surprisingly not too chocolate-y, and actually delicious. The shards of chocolate lighten up the rich chocolate mousse, and make it an extremely satisfying dessert.

We then spent some time by the pool, just resting. We also discovered there was a bar, where you could get lemonades, dried mango, and most excitedly, those chips I loved so much.

For our afternoon excursion, we went to the moon valley. A lot of the landscape here looks out of this world, but here it was especially true. And because of the unfortunate global pandemic that was quickly unfolding around the world, we barely saw other people, adding even more to the whole otherworldly vibe. If you had told me we had been magically transported to Mars or some other planet, I definitely would have believed you. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

After that amazing walk, we then drove to this cliff area that had a different view of the moon valley to watch the sunset. It was a little more crowded and chilly, but still, amazingly beautiful.

While we were waiting for the sunset, our guide distributed delicious strawberry muffins for us to enjoy whilst watching the sunset. The service here is incredible. The guides are super helpful and full of information, and they somehow always have snacks when you need them.

Soon enough, it was time to head back, where a delicious feast awaited us. That night, the hotel hosted a traditional Chilean barbecue for all the guests, in a yard a little ways off from the main property.

The roasted lamb(s). I loved that you could point to the part of the lamb you wanted to eat.

The hot food buffet set up.

A blurry array of beef and vegetarian cheese empanandas, as well as what I believe were choripan, which are basically mini chorizo sausages in warm, hot-dog shaped, crusty bread. Both were so so amazing, especially the choripan, since I’m a chorizo fiend. The cheese empanadas were also very good, as I liked how they had a baked crust that gave way to gooey cheese.

The salad station.

The salad station part two.

At this meal, I discovered the wonder that is strawberry juice. Like sweet strawberry puree, but more runny and almost better.

Obviously, I had to try a bit of everything. I started with the cold salad table: roasted zucchini and eggplant, cucumbers with a soft, salty cheese reminiscent of blue cheese, tomatoes with caramelized onions, red quinoa, and a candied mango and avocado salad. My favorite was the candied mango and avocado salad, as the creamy avocado, sweet, slippery mango, and crisp mesclun actually all went really well together and was a delicious sweet-savory combination I’d never thought of before.

Next, it was time for the main course round: I had a chicken leg, some roasted lamb, grilled vegetables, and creamy corn pudding. Unsurprisingly, I especially enjoyed the rich, creamy, and slightly sweet corn pudding, although the roasted chicken was a close second.

My second drink of the night: mango juice, which I also tried for the first time. To be quite honest, I liked the strawberry juice more, partially because I had never seen it before and it was just so good.

The dessert selection.

Finally, it was time for my favorite part of every meal: dessert! I sampled some sort of stewed fruit, some sort of condensed milk custard topped with meringue, and some fresh pineapple and watermelon. While I love some good fresh watermelon, I loved the meringue and custard, which tasted a bit like lemon meringue pie filling, minus the lemon.

We also enjoyed a live band and some very interesting dancing.

Our stomachs full and happy, we finally headed back to our rooms, conveniently just as they began enlisting guests to join in on the dancing. In preparation for our 6 am start to get to the geysers, we promptly fell asleep upon getting to our room, another day in paradise quickly come to an end.