Toconao is a small town about thirty minutes south of San Pedro which has a network of orchards tucked in an incised stream canyon. We picked up some local hitchhikers (don't worry Mom, it's safe) from San Pedro who were destined for Tocanao and they insisted that we check out the orchards. After getting stuck in the sand for a few minutes, we parked and hiked in toward the orchards.
The orchards are irrigated by a complex network of rock-lined canals about a foot wide and a foot and a half deep. Each orchard is fed by an individual farm headgate and the individual orchards are fenced and guarded by locked gates. Dan is pretty sure that there is a mutual ditch company philosophy where each user receives and equal share in rotation.
Kate about to give someone a free shot of water.
The source, below the irrigation diversions.
Chilean gaging station (although I couldn't find it)
That's about 0.75 cfs. Oh yeah!
Chilean wasteway (where water that was diverted, but is not needed is returned to the stream).
Desert oasis!
Pre-Colonial dwellings.
After touring the Toconao, we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant. It's clear that not many Americans come through here as there was some hubbub amongst the restaurant staff about where we were from, whether we were taking lots of pictures, etc. Dan's blonde hair also received a lot of funny looks. Lunch was awesome. Chicken soup, beef and mashed potatoes. In small town Chile, restaurant meals are a set menu, so you head to the most crowded place in town, sit down and enjoy!
After lunch, we took a siesta and then headed to Laguna Cejas, a natural salt water pool for swimming that has flamingos on the shores. The water is so salty that you can float, feet down, with your head above water!
San Pedro de Atacama is a very strange town. In San Pedro, rural life is juxtaposed with Chile's most affluent. It reminds me a bit of Queenstown, NZ, but with dirt streets and Spanish language. There are tours selling mountain bike rides, sand-boarding in Valle de los Muertes, hiking volcanoes, etc. The town is bustling with tourists and backpackers. The restaurants are surprisingly swanky for el norte grande. After dinner out our first night in San Pedro, we cooked in at Hostel Puripica today. Our accommodations are on the outskirts of town. Here, we trade the late night parade of tourists for barking dogs. It's lucky that Kate bought earplugs in Dallas.
Not a bad sunset view.
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