Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar in Chile
I groggily open my eyes as the conductor woke me to get off the bus. It is completely dark and for once I wish we had a few more hours on the bus. Chris and I stagger into a small bus terminal where I hug my bags and fall back asleep.
Gordon finds us before we’ve even awaken. He’s holding a park brochure, a correct assumption there would be no other reason for two backpackers to be sleeping in a bus terminal in Chanaral other than they arrived late in the night and were waiting for day light to go to the park. I was completely groggy and we’re already bad enough conversing in Spanish, there was no improvement with lack of sleep. Gordon tells us he is the collectivo to take us to the park. We buy a bunch of bread and some other supplies and excitedly head off to our first park in Chile, Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar.
The park is located roughly by the “X” below Antofagasta.
Our little camping spot with sun shelter – a must have in these arid dessert regions.
The landscape did not provide much shade.
This was the view from our tent site.
To try and cover some distance in the park, we rented bikes from this little shop. Surprisingly, unlike some other places we rented from, these two guys had really nice Trek bikes that were awesome.
We took off around the park and wanted to reach El Mirador, a big look out.
And we wanted to see guanacos, a native llama like looking animal to South America.
We made it to the summit, which was coated in thick clouds.
But there was a still a lot to see. One of the distinctive features of this park was the many cometocino de gay cactus that lean towards one direction as they grow.
There were also these catcus balls, copiapoa longistaminea, that were quite unique to view.
They blended into the wind swept landscape as this whole area was covered with the cactus clumps.
The cactus and fauna was a big attraction here.
There were crazy things happening all over the place like all this white stuff on this bush. I don’t know exactly what this was.
When you look closely there were so many colors to observe.
There were these giant cactus that would look so hairy.
All the grey stuff blowing in the wind made me think of these are the ‘shaggy dog’ cactus.
Looking like they had caught on fire, they would eventually just die and fall into a heap on the ground.
Pretty pink flowers growing in the more protected spots from the wind.
This island was in front of our tent site and you can take a boat tour to get closer.
A colony of Humboldt penguins resides here.
We also got to see a moon fish from the boat! Unfortunately we couldn’t get any pictures, but these fish totally rock! Here’s a photo of what they look like.
Photo courtesy of www.panoramio.com.
One of the main reasons we went to Parque Pan de Azucar was to view the guanacos.
Here’s Chris on our last night in the park looking out over the expanse for guanacos.
We never did see any.
But we did have a great time biking around and Parque Azucar felt like one of the first times we got to enjoy nature in a more off the beaten track. After the hectic and dirty beaches of northern towns, this park offered a great refuge.
***
If you want to go enjoy the Azure Park and have this be you:
All prices in Chilean sole.
Park entrance fee is $4000
The park is more ideal to have your own car. If not, take a bus to Chanaral. Don’t stay in Chanaral. It’s very polluted, you can’t even put your feet in the water at the edge of town. If you can, find some friends to split the cost of a taxi. There’s a set rate of $15,000 sole one way.
Book your departing bus tickets to get you out of Chanaral before you go to the park.
The park does not administer the camping, it’s all concessions. We camped at Pand de Azucar Lodge for $14,000 per night for two people. If you are looking at the water, the campground to the right was slight cheaper, but not nearly as nice. The campgrounds slightly further into the park were more expensive, way more crowded and also not as nice.
You should bring all the food you need, but there are a few small shops that you can bread, pasta and onions in a pinch. There are some restaurants if you want to grab an empanada or fresh fish, but we didn’t eat at any of them to comment on quality.
Bike rentals are just around the corner from when you enter the park. We paid $10,000 for five hours for two people.
To take the penguin tour, hang out around the shipping container. There’s a notebook on the table and put your name down. Captain Stiff, who classically has one arm and a hook for the other hand, will find you and tell you about what time the boat tour will leave. That time will probably change three times. Just hang around. Captain Stiff originally told us about 1 o’clock, but a bunch of French tourists showed up so the boat was going. Luckily we sat down the beach a little ways to eat our lunch and heard all this yelling and whistling, we turned around and Captain Stiff was waving us down like crazy with these bright orange life preservers. Tours cost $6,000 per person.
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What a park! Cactus is one of my favorite plants and to have such a variety right by the ocean if fantastic! Beside them everything looks pretty barren but I’m sure that added to the interest.
This was such an interesting park from a flora and fauna perspective. There were so many different types of cactus we’d never seen before. Although it took some effort to get to, this was a great park to visit.
Wow great pictures and story! I loved the picture of you and chris, it was beautiful my new favorite pic! Have a great time and thanks for sharing, love you both,mom
Thanks. It was a very beautiful park.
Sounds expensive. What is the currency exchange rate?
Chile is the most expensive South American country to travel in. It depends on your travel style, but Chile is not a bargain per say. Roughly $1000 CLP is $1.80 USD, so that very basic camping still cost $25 USD.
wow, look at those rocks on the island. penguins poop a LOT!
It’s true, penguins do poop a lot.
Your last photo cracked me up. “If you want to go enjoy Azure Park, and this be you:”.
I liked your tent spot!
Hey you know, in case you ever find yourself in Chile looking for Guanco’s, you’ll know how to get there. But there are way better places south to find guanco’s, this park is worth going to for viewing the cactus.
Okay, I like your last photo and it’s caption, “………..and you want this to be you:” You crack me up.
Love your tent site!
Haha! Thanks! 😉 Yeah, a sun shelter was a must for that area. All the campgrounds had them with the sites. That campground had the most spread out sites so we were not right by our neighbors. It was some of the most peaceful sleeping we’ve had in Chile.