San Pedro De Atacama

This is one of the first buildings to be built after the invasion of the Spanish Conquistadors. A plaque on the church commemorates an early service there in 1557 so it was built before that.

Things are still a little rustic here even after 10,000 years of continuous human habitation.

Too many sheep, no place for a jeep!

There is a little museum in San Pedro that is worth visiting. The desert proved to be a good preserver as some of the mummies are estimated to be more than 6,000 years old. There are many mummies and other artifacts that date from long before the Inca or the Spanish came.

Before the Spanish came the area was conquered by the Inca from the north.There is a room in the museum dedicated to Incan artifacts made from gold.

This shows the ruins of the Quitor fortress, an Incan fortress very near San Pedro. It was built in the 12th century and must have taken years to built as the rocks were all stacked by hand. It fell to the Spanish without even a fight.

Every town and pueblo has a central plaza. San Pedro's is located next to the church. There is shade!

The House of Pedro De Valdivia

A plaque on this house identifies it as being constructed by Fransisco De Aguirre by order of Pedro De Valdivia, before his arrival in San Pedro De Atacama in June of 1540. It is probably the first actual house built there.