The Atacama Desert is not one of the driest place on earth rainfall wise, it is The driest place on earth, with some areas not having received a drop of rain in recorded history.
nothing but the bluest skies and miles and miles of empty space
But unlike parts of the Sahara, the desert is not completely arid as snowmelt from the nearby Andean peaks infuses some life into the otherwise un-inhabitable land.
evidence of water in the desert- often below ground
Salar de Atacama (the desert's salt flat) is spread out over a vast 3,000 square km, making it the 3rd largest salt flat in the world, but still a distant bronze compared the gold earned by Bolivia whose nearby salt flat encompasses more than 10,000 square km.
The region contains most of the world's known supply of lithium, but political concerns and lack of infrastructure prevents 40km away Bolivia (whose reserves are far and away the world's largest) from reaping the economic benefits of mining this element at present time. Chile on the other-hand is the world's second leading producer of lithium, trailing slightly Australia despite having 5 times the known reserves.
white ground= salt
flamingos taking flight in the clear skies
Surprisingly, flamingos are a mainstay of the desert, wading through the pools and salty lakes subsisting mainly on the brine shrimp.
The Chilean flamingo is generally more white than the pink normally depicted in most of my known sources (cartoons.) While other species of this omnivorous bird grow more pink in color as they age. This is due to the algae they consume being loaded with beta carotene, an organic chemical that contains a reddish-orange pigment (literally, you are what you eat,) but alas, virtually no algae grows in the salt laden bodies of water here, and witnessing the white flamingos makes me question whether my world view is truly enhanced by continuing to watch Saturday morning cartoons.
Chilean flamingo wading n the salt flats
20,000 foot volcanos rising in the distance
salty lagoon in the Atacama
The water of Salar de Atacama here has a salt concentration which ranges from 5 to 28% (where the flamingos feed the level is at the lower end) but at the higher end of the range produces an effect of floating like the Dead Sea.
You can pay a ridiculous amount to the local indigenous peoples for access to a floating pool of water. With the high elevation (2500 meters) and the wind howling in the pre-winter atmosphere, combined with the massive amount of fresh water needed to clean oneself off of the salt covered 90% of one's pores once you emerge from the water, and the limited time one wishes to spend in the cold water.
video: the "Dead Sea" of Atacama- floating on water
But beyond that, the desert is positively a uniquely beautiful place in color and landscape, and the sunset over the volcanoes will simply take your breath away.
video: highlights of Sala de Atacama
Atacama sunset over the salt flats
salty salty
all that white on my shorts- salt residue from the Chilean "Dead Sea" flotation experiment
Martian like landscape of the Atacama Desert from above- source NASA
My flight touches down in the middle of the Atacama Desert; I'm startled by the sign outside which states, "Welcome to Mars."
Of course, I made that up, but a few things I am not making up about the region-
it is the driest place on earth. The average rainfall is about 15 mm (0.6 in) per year.
Some areas of the desert have seen ZERO rain in recorded history.
Because the region has clear skies more than 300 days a year, some of the world's largest and most advanced telescopes are positioned here to view the stars.
Something like 75% of the known supply of lithium is located in the Atacama desert, mostly in Bolivia, which has the world's largest reserves, with Chile placing 2nd.
Due to the landscape imitating Mars, it is here where NASA attempted to train the Mars Rover.
The mission suffered a major setback when a government employee forgot to bring water, and the entire crew died of dehydration.
From the airport in Calama, there is exactly one way to traverse the 100km to the small town of San Pedro de Atacama- via shared vans. There are several companies, but each charge exactly the same price; it reeks of collusion, but I'm unsuccessful in finding an alternate route so acquiesce.
the main drag of San Pedro de Atacama
video: Old West streets of San Pedro
The town itself has an Old West feel to it, it's buildings made out of adobe mud, which probably is not the best choice of material in this earthquake prone region. There are 1800 permanent residents, 115% of whom work in the tourism industry, generally under the employment of the restaurants or tour operators which alternate doors as you walk down the streets.
Jefferson and I rent bicycles and head out with a map drawn on a napkin to explore the area, with a friendly perro (dog) who latches onto our plans, trailing us for a couple km until he's attacked by another canine and submits.
Everyone in San Pedro owns a dog, there are so many in the streets that the joke is the town should be renamed to San Perro.
The landscape surrounding is spectacular, from the arid hills, choppy hills to the 22,000+ foot (almost 7,000 meters) volcanoes in the distance. We ride and ride, exploring as much as we possibly can before night falls.
As hard as one might try, it's virtually impossible to get lost here, especially given the fact that there is but one road.
a few km from San Pedro
okay, it's not the Egyptian sphinx, but still pretty cool
the gateway- at the end of a steep road is a small cave
Video: the Martian like landscape of the area
a herd of llamas
clear skies of the Atacama
We ascend a steep mountain path, which was a dangerous and speedy obstacle course of large stones on our way back down, a stupid thrill for us given the associated physical penalties of crashing.
At the top of the trail is a tunnel barreling its way through the mountain. It's fairly long, and too dark to ride through. We walk our bikes through this dim purgatory, until eventually a bright white light beckons us forward.
"Go towards the light!" I yell to Jefferson, "Go towards the light!!" In the below video you will experience and see, not only a NDE (Near Death Experience) but also what it is like to enter the other side of the great divide.
video: Near Death Experience and the entrance to heaven
Heaven, once entered (see video above) is a magnificently quiet place, one of utter solitude, and God's whisper the zephyrs blowing in our ears. Of course, tempting as it might be, we didn't stay, there's still too much of this world to explore. Plus we forgot to bring water.
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