Lunch: Socaire
Back on the Ruta 23 and continuing south and upward, the road climbs steadily toward Socaire, an Atacameño community of some 500 people at 3,500 metres, built from adobe in the manner of the high desert. The village has preserved its system of agricultural terraces and irrigation canals — still used for growing maize and quinoa — along with ritual practices tied to water, which in Kunza, the old tongue of the Atacama people, is called puri. Socaire is a simple, dependable lunch stop, and in early afternoon it sits conveniently between the two halves of the day. Eat well; the next stop is above 4,000 metres.