San Pedro de Atacama

Estimated that about 11.000 years ago the first towns of the north of Chile were founded, they chose the "puna"region and the gorges of the Atacama desert. The "atacameņos" (people from Atacama) were the founders of the so called "San Pedro Culture" , they established themselves in the Loa's basing and in all the oases of the Atacama's desert.

They were the first farmers and therefore the first sedentary group of the country. As the cultivation zone was very little, they constructed terraces in the mountain slopes which were artificially irrigated and fertilized with Llama's guano. Their main economic activity was therefore the agriculture , standing out the cultivation of seven corn varieties, quinoa, beans, Indian fig, cotton, pumpkins, potatoes, dry beans, etc. This people also raised Llamas and Alpacas and made use of the meat and wool of these animals. Llamas and Alpacas were also used as a mean of transportation in order to keep a constant commercial exchange with other towns from the coast.

San Pedro has a lot of handicraft , because its elaboration represents an ancestral tradition which has been transmited from generation to generation.