San Pedro de Atacama, El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile

History | Demographics | Administration | Transport | Economy : Tourist Industry | Sights in town | Outlying sights | Holidays and festivals

🇨🇱 San Pedro de Atacama is a Chilean town and commune in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It is located east of Antofagasta, some 106 km (60 mi) south-east of Calama and the Chuquicamata copper mine, overlooking the Licancabur volcano. It features a significant archeological museum, the R. P. Gustavo Le Paige Archaeological Museum, with a large collection of relics and artifacts from the region. Native ruins nearby attract increasing numbers of tourists interested in learning about pre-Columbian cultures.

History San Pedro de Atacama grew, over centuries, around an oasis in the Puna de Atacama, an arid high plateau. Its first inhabitants were the Atacameños, who developed basketworks and ceramic pottery crafts that can be now be appreciated by tourists in the several souvenir shops as typical products of San Pedro de Atacama.

It was part of Bolivia since independence from Spain until Chile claimed ownership during the War of the Pacific. During that war, the Battle of Río Grande was fought in the surroundings.

Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, San Pedro de Atacama had 4,969 inhabitants (2,928 males and 2,041 females). Of these, 1,938 (39%) lived in urban areas and 3,031 (61%) in rural areas. The population grew by 75.6% (2,140 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration As a commune, San Pedro de Atacama is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years.

Transport San Pedro lies on the main paved road from Argentina over the Paso de Jama, 160 km from the town. The road is paved throughout. There are frequent bus services to Calama, several buses daily to Santiago and buses on 6 days a week to Salta across the Andes in Argentina. Nearby airports are San Pedro de Atacama Airport and Salar de Atacama Airport for private aircraft, and the larger El Loa Airport/Calama 100 km away for scheduled aircraft.

Economy: Tourist Industry San Pedro de Atacama is a popular tourist destination. There are various activities for adventurers in the San Pedro de Atacama area: trekking, climbing, archaeological sightings, amateur astronomy, exploration tours in natural landscapes and even sand boarding in the desert. Because of its altitude, a brief period of acclimatization may be required.

Sights in town In the town are some cultural and scientific sites: • R. P. Gustavo Le Paige Archaeological Museum, displaying ceramics and pottery crafts from the first inhabitants of the area. • Church of San Pedro de Atacama a National Monument, built with adobe, a building material used in the colonial times. • Meteorite Museum displays and explains meteorites of various compositions, from various celestial sources, some of which an international collaboration has gathered in the large, infrequently disturbed collection area of the Atacama.

Outlying sights • Chaxas Lagoon, part of Los Flamencos National Reserve in the Salar de Atacama, inhabited by pink flamingos. • El Tatio, a geyser field with over 80 active geysers. • Llano de Chajnantor Observatory, a radio-telescope site, home of "ALMA", the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. • Laguna Miscanti (Miscanti Lagoon) and Laguna Miñiques (Miñiques Lagoon), two neighboring altiplanic lagoons at the altitude of 4,200 m (13,500 ft). • Licancabur, a notable volcano near San Pedro de Atacama. • Pukará de Quitor (Fort Quitor). A fortification built by the Atacameño people in the 12th century. • Puritama Hot Springs • Salar de Atacama, a giant salt area (3,000 km² / 1,864.11 mi2) in the middle of the Atacama Desert. • Valle de la Luna ("Valley of the Moon"), a moon-like landscape with ruins of old Chilean salt mines, and worker huts. • Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley): a valley where gigantic dunes and rocks abound.

Holidays and festivals The festivals includes typical dances, masses in the street and a little parade through the main street of San Pedro de Atacama. • June 28 - Saint Peter • June 29 - Saint Paul • Feb 2 - Virgin de la Candelaria.

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, San Pedro de Atacama is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Marcos Espinosa (PRSD) and Felipe Ward (UDI) as part of the third electoral district, (together with Tocopilla, María Elena, Calama and Ollagüe). The commune is represented in the Senate by Alejandro Guillier Álvarez (PRSD) and Pedro Araya Guerrero (Ind.) as part of the second senatorial constituency (Antofagasta Region).

Santiago Time 
Santiago Time
Image: Adobe Stock Aliaksei #219101346

San Pedro de Atacama was ranked #547 by the Nomad List which evaluates and ranks remote work hubs by cost, internet, fun and safety. San Pedro de Atacama has a population of over 3,899 people. San Pedro de Atacama also forms part of the wider El Loa Province which has a population of over 142,686 people. It is also a part of the larger Antofagasta Region. San Pedro de Atacama is situated near Calama.

Twin Towns - Sister Cities San Pedro de Atacama has links with:

🇮🇱 Yokneam Illit, Israel
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license | Nomad

Antipodal to San Pedro de Atacama is: 111.8,22.917

Locations Near: San Pedro de Atacama -68.2,-22.9167

🇨🇱 Calama -68.933,-22.467 d: 90.3  

🇦🇷 San Salvador de Jujuy -65.309,-24.18 d: 326.5  

🇨🇱 Iquique -70.15,-20.217 d: 361.6  

🇦🇷 Salta -65.409,-24.79 d: 352  

🇧🇴 Tarija -64.733,-21.533 d: 388.6  

🇦🇷 San Ramón de la Nueva Orán -64.333,-23.133 d: 396.4  

🇧🇴 Sucre -65.263,-19.043 d: 527.7  

🇨🇱 Copiapó -70.317,-27.35 d: 537  

🇦🇷 San Miguel de Tucumán -65.225,-26.83 d: 528.6  

🇦🇷 Tucumán -65.366,-26.944 d: 531.2  

Antipodal to: San Pedro de Atacama 111.8,22.917

🇨🇳 Deqing 111.786,23.144 d: 19989.8  

🇨🇳 Yunfu 112.031,22.934 d: 19991.3  

🇨🇳 Yuncheng 112.044,22.928 d: 19990.1  

🇨🇳 Guangning 112.45,23.05 d: 19946.9  

🇨🇳 Zhaoqing 112.452,23.051 d: 19946.7  

🇨🇳 Duanzhou 112.467,23.05 d: 19945.2  

🇨🇳 Guanghuacun 110.825,23.19 d: 19910.8  

🇨🇳 Kaiping 112.698,22.377 d: 19905.1  

🇨🇳 Yangjiang 111.983,21.857 d: 19895.8  

🇨🇳 Taicheng 112.767,22.25 d: 19891.2  

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