Pica

On our second day off, Friday, I went with two friends to a small interior town called Pica. It is a desert oasis...it has an underground river which gives them water to create a green spot in the middle of the driest dessert in the word. To get there, we had to drive through the desert about an hour and a half. When we arrived, we went to the natural thermal pools to swim which was amazing, then went to lunch at a typical restaurant with amazing natural fruit juices, bought some of the incredible fruit they grow and sell in the oasis, and headed home. It was a great day trip and I'll definitely have to go back.

Sulfur plant...it's like piles of yellow sand.

The Atacama Desert...still astounding me.

 Vegetation and ruins

Stopped for some empanadas in a little town on the way

What's that green thing out there in the desert?

Get a little closer and realize they are trees...it's an oasis!

The church in the small town of Matilla before getting to Pica.

The famous alfajores de Pica/Mantilla...not sure what it's made of but it's some sort of sweet cream/caramel around the outside with little layers of pastries in the middle. Who knows...but I do know that it was delicious.

On the way to Pica there was this random dinosaur attraction called "The Valley of the Dinosaurs". Supposedly there were preserved dinosaur footprints found somewhere around here, but we didn't see them...all we saw were dinosaur statues and face-holes.

As we were leaving an ADORABLE homeless puppy came bounding up to the car and made me so sad I wanted to take him home. But instead we gave him some alfajores to eat because he looked hungry and left him to hopefully survive alone in this desert oasis. :(

Pica is famous for their fruit trees and here we have some giant representations of these delicias. The best is the natural juices and ice cream...YUM.

At the natural hot springs thermal pool! There are some caves in the back that are pitch dark, but they are super cool. The water was perfectly clear and so warm. I have to go back!

 After the hot springs we went to eat at this restaurant with some delicious natural guayaba juice.

We had to go to the market before leaving so I could get some tangerines, mangos, alfajores, and guayaba jam.