The magical hamlet of San Pedro de Atacama is located a few hours by car from the nearest airport, Calama. This little town is the base for exploring the salt lakes (salares) and the rest of the Atacama Desert. San Pedro boasts four or five streets, three or four places to stay, and four or five eating establishments.

The local altitude (over 12,000 feet/400 meters), combines with the pristine atmosphere to make this area one of the world's best for stargazing. There are international observatories in the Atacama Desert. In this row's pictures, that's the almost-full moon rising.
The picture on the left is from the interior of one of the little, homey eating and drinking establishments in the town.
The picture on the right shows the interior of a reconstructed, native house. These one-story, adobe structures are basic, round, single-family dwellings. Their external starkness, and the rather harsh setting, is offset by the interior warmth.
The pictures on the left show my own lodging, include that textured patio that tickles me. The town is so small and the air is so still that some visitors have problems falling asleep, away from their normal noise levels.
San Pedro de Atacama is also very near the ruins of Pucara de Quitor, a fort and its protected settlement, which flourished during the first seven centuries A.D. It straddled a vital trading route, and served as the agricultural base for several thousand people. Their farming technique in the river valley is shown in the rightmost picture.
I was fascinated to see a single horseman climbing the switchback road beside the Quitor ruins, itself shown on the left. The pictures on the right in this row show his progress, albeit with only a prime 28x70 lens.
This site is optimized for a screen size of 1024 x 768 pixels for a couple of reasons: first, the standardized photos look better; second, that old 800x600 size is soooo 20th century...(yes, it's worth adjusting your settings.)