San Pedro de Atacama is an active adventure tourism center and in its streets you will hear you speak in all languages. Before the conquest it was the main redoubt of Atacamegna culture and is now known as the Archaeological Capital of Chile. Walking along the Cornisas Trail you reach the Valley of the Moon and death valley, breathing Martian-looking landscapes. And the pukará of Quitor, a 12th-century defensive fortress that withstood the attacks of the Spanish invader, will tell us about the Inca might. Passing through Rio Salado and Rio Grande, two picturesque villages typically Atacameños, we will reach Machuca and its extensive growing terraces. From its Viewpoint there is a spectacular view of the Andes mountain range. In the geysers of El Tatio (the old man who cries in native language) natural forces show all their power: eighty jets of boiling water rise up to ten meters high and become clouds steam shining in the sun. Lunch at the summit of Zoquete Hill at 5350 m? Yes, it’s possible. Then, to the beautiful Salar de Tara and the most visited lagoons of the Andean world, Miscanti and Miñiques, to undertake tomorrow the ascent of Pili or Acamarachi, one of the imposing six thousand in the area. And now to the Llullaillaco! (hot water in Aymara) in the National Reserve. They are no less than 6739 m high that will take three days of staged ascent and acclimatization. The first sporting ascent in 1952 found three frozen mummies there, demonstrating that ritual sacrifices were made to the Inca gods at its summit. From Ollague to the immense Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt desert in the world, more than 10,000 km2 of continuous surface with a unique Cactus Island. Then to the turquoise Coipasa lagoon, the almost defunct Poopó Lake and La Paz, the highest capital city in the world, guarded by the great Illimani protector of the city. At the southern end of the Cordillera Real the imposing nivea blancura massif that is the Nevado Illimani finishes on four summits being the highest of 6,460 meters from which several glaciers are born that descend abruptly into the valleys. The Illimani is the highest peak of the Cordillera Real and the second in Bolivia after Sajama but it is recognized that ascending it requires no high physical demand or technical expertise to make the rock, snow and ice route on an average 50-degree slope. From the summit the Walker receives the prize for a spectacular view: the city of La Paz, Lake Titicaca to Peru, the Sajama to Chile and the wide valleys of the Amazon basin. It’s worth the effort to try. On a trip to Chile, a visit to Sajama National Park and Bolivia’s highest summit is well worth a stoppage. Lake Chungará with the bottom of the Nevados de Payachata is the best landscape and a sample of the incredible biodiversity that underpins the Altiplano. Descending from Los Andes towards the coast is the picturesque village of Putre, typically Aymara, last arrest before reaching the Chilean Jewel of the North: the city of Arica.