Random Photo - Atacama Desert

From just outside of San Pedro de Atacama in Northern Chile.

Random Photos

A few images from just outside of San Pedro de Atacama in Northern Chile.

Random Photo

Image from Humberstone. An hour inland from Iquique, Chile is an abandoned mining town from the mid 1800s with dozens of decaying buildings from old homes and infirmaries to factories, churches and theaters.

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San Pedro de Atacama backroad

Rain drops on the sunroof

Tocopilla homes

Stray dogs in Antofagasta

The Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama VS. the Rain

The weather at high altitudes never ceases to amaze me. Don't get me wrong, weather anywhere can be unpredictable, unforgiving and stop you in your tracks. But once you get up to 7,000-16,000+ feet it seems to change instantly, be way more dramatic and it can even be snowing, raining and sunny all from one vantage point.

This was the case on my last trip to one of the most remote places I've ever been. Where the Atacama desert in Chile meets Bolivia, Argentina and Peru. The Andes reach up to 20,000+ feet which can create rapid shifts in the weather. Here, there are no radio stations, minimal electricity and only one gas station for hundreds of miles.

The Atacama Desert is the driest place on earth where certain areas have a history of 0 inches of rainfall. As in none, at all. It is so dry that the soil in certain areas that have no sign of life have been compared to that of Mars. NASA even does instrument testing for future Mars missions here. The town of San Pedro de Atacama and the surrounding area is certainly not one of those areas though. January and February are the rainiest seasons in Peru and Bolivia and some of the storms make their way down into the Atacama and deposit large amounts of precipitation in (usually) a small amount of time. Being a town that only receives rain several times a year they are never prepared and even the smallest amount can shut most things down.

Camila and I arrived on February 9th with intentions to stay for a month to work on a project documenting the hotels and restaurants in the area. The rain started around 6pm on the first day and didn't end until around midnight (which is very rare for this area). The rain was very heavy, especially for the driest desert in the world. It was heavy enough to shut down roads to all popular sites, all international border crossings, take out the power in the town, knock down some walls and flood at least half of the restaurants, stores and local homes. And this was just the first day. The rain would arrive in the early evening and do even more damage each day for the next 5 days. At night the rain would take over the town and then by the following afternoon the sun was so strong and the air so dry that a good part of the water would evaporate. We left after the third day due to the fact that most things I wanted to photograph were closed or damaged. The town is also very expensive and being the high season we had limited options for long-term stays (and even more limited now that half of the places were damaged).

Even though I didn't get to work on the project I had originally planned, it was wild (and sad) to see what nature could do so quickly to an area that isn't built to withstand what it throws at it.

Sun-baked footprints made the following night in the rain softened dirt

Storm clouds over the road to Laguna Miscanti

Small town farm

Llamas

Washed away road

Protecting the front door from rain

Dirt from the roof running down the walls

San Pedro de Atacama

Flooded street

Last year this was a road...

Ponds formed on the side of the roads

Iquique

Tomorrow Camila and I head to San Pedro de Atacama for a few weeks. There I'll be working on a project documenting the hotels and restaurants in the area. The architecture and design is the exact opposite of anything in New York and I find it very beautiful and inspiring. The town and surrounding area are breathtaking and have a very relaxing, get back to nature sort of vibe. It is also the best place in the world to view the stars. Needless to say I'm very excited to go there.

The week before was spent in Iquique; a small desert city about 5 hours from Peru. Life here is centered around the beach and they have plenty of beautiful views of it from around the city. Iquique is backed by impressive, arid mountains and a massive sand dune creating a unique atmosphere.

View from Above

Playa Cavancha

Playa Cavancha

There are many, very large jelly fish

Apartments

Sunset from the Apartment

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Antofagasta, Chile

Antofagasta, Chile

Bryce Canyon, Utah

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Random Photos

Some photos from Bolivia and Chile:

Hat vendor at the El Alto market - Bolivia

La Paz, Bolivia

La Paz, Bolvia

Isla del Sol - Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

El Alto market - Bolivia

Feeding the pigeons - Plaza Murillo, La Paz

Southeastern Bolivia, somewhere near the Chilean border

Bolivia

Bolivia

La Paz view from El Alto

Atacama Desert, Chile

Using the blown out white line on my camera to my advantage

San Pedro de Atacama

A week and a half in Santiago and it was time to head north to Antofagasta which is a port city in the second region of Chile (Chile is divided into 15 regions(btw, region is one of those words that you can look at forever and it never looks like it's spelled right)). Camila was there to pick me up at the airport and after a short day in Antofagasta we boarded the bus to San Pedro the following morning.
For as long as I can remember I've always been fascinated by deserts, despite the fact they are the least interesting climate on earth(in terms of vegetation and wildlife). But for somebody who had not seen one until he was 20 and had a fascination since he was 5, I was thrilled to be on a three hour bus ride through the driest desert in the world. Having grown up in the area and seen too much of a barren landscape, Camila apologized profusely for the boring ride and ugliness of the scenery, but I loved it.

Typical Atacama landscape, mildly accentuated by a polarizing filter

Three hours later we ended up in Calama where we were staying with her uncle for a couple nights. Calama is a small city 40 minutes from San Pedro that reminded me of a smaller, dirtier, Latin version of Reno, without the casinos(well, there was one casino).

One of the only photos I have from Calama. Close to the uncle's casa.

The next day we headed out early for San Pedro, and as usual it was sunny and penetratingly hot. And of course I was thrilled by the dry, bleak landscape.

Getting close

Camila, on the road

Not surprisingly, I fell in love with San Pedro before even being within 15 miles of it. The first sighting of it off in the distance and I knew I wasn't going to be let down. It was a tiny town made up of dirt roads, old one story buildings, many with straw rooves and overall just had a great, laidback vibe.

Typical street

Abandoned car

Street corner

San Pedro de Atacama Church

Myself (again looking confused) in front of the church


There was a meter in the center of town telling you the intensity of the sun. At midday it was more intense than anything I could have ever imagined, and it was only 2 of 5 on the meter. At highest intensity white skinned people should spend a maximum of 22 minutes outside.

After leaving town we headed towards the salt lakes, south of San Pedro. The directions were specific, but not. After passing the last building in town go 7.3km(my estimation from memory), turn right down the sand road and keep going until the road disappears and you see the lone tree. Then go left and keep going until you see the tiny shack. We initially passed the sand road but turned around and took a guess and ended up being correct. After that, the lone tree was pretty obvious, as was the tiny shack.

Local dwellings at the edge of town


The road to the lakes


One of the salt lakes and Licancabur Volcano on the border of Bolivia in the distance


Me, about 60 yards out in the lake

The lakes were beautiful, to say the least. It was an incredible feeling to be completely alone in the middle of the driest desert in the world, standing in a random salt lake (which was no deeper than six inches for at least 100 yards). The darker blue area you see in the above photo is where it gets deeper. You have to cross what looks like coral, but crumbles under your feet, to reach the deep end. It was just like the Dead Sea, you float on the top with absolutely no effort. I had both arms and legs straight out of the water with only six inches of water on my chest. It was a surreal experience, multiplied by the fact that it was the coldest water I've ever swam in, despite the blistering sun.

After a nice swim, Camila and I decided to head towards the canyon. But not before taking an excessive amount of photos of course. Which you will only see one of here:

A salt crusted plant

Upon getting out of the water we began to dry immediately from the sun. The amount of salt in the lake left a white, crusty layer on both our skin and swimwear. The salt felt like it was sucking every bit of moisture from my body and I craved any form of sanctuary. Of course that wasn't part of the plan. We fortunately made it back to the highway but didn't get more than a mile before hearing a weak explosion sound.

It was our back tiring bursting.


We spent the next hour breaking into a faulty trunk and replacing the busted tire with a donut. Just as we were sitting back into the car the chick-chick sound of the warning lights began to fade to a chick-chiiiiiiiiiiiccckk sound. I warned Camila that it was the sound a car would make when the battery was dying. We were one second too late. The battery literally just died on us.
So for the next hour and a half we enjoyed this view before one of the few cars on the road actually had jumper cables.

Where the car broke down

During our few moments of salt covered desperation we talked about how nice it would be to get a lemonade from Tierra, a restaurant we had lunch at earlier that had great food and unforgettable lemonade. So once we were mobile again we headed straight there and got a couple lemonades, which may have been the best limonada I've ever had. We randomly went to the restaurant out of convenience and it was a great choice. The food was cheap (about $7 for the meal below) and nicely presented and very tasty. They also had fresh, handmade empenadas which were unbelieavable (especialmente el champiñónes y queso).

Amazing lemonades


Red wine balsamic chicken and glass noodles from Tierra

same

We headed straight to Valle De la Luna to catch the sunset and unfortunately just missed it, but it was still a beautiful sight to see.

Some turistas invading the area

I was obviously a tourist as well, but I do my best to disassociate myself from everything tourist. I like to think that I am for some reason above them because I am with a local. And maybe it makes me one step above the rest because of insider information, but I'm still just a tourist with a local. Either way it doesn't change my one-sided interpretation of things.

Valley of Death and Licancabur

We didn't make it to the canyon that day, but we went the next day and it was just as unforgettable as the first day in San Pedro. It was a tiny oasis 15 miles north of town, formed by runoff from hot springs miles away.

The walk down from the road


The oasis (notice the people swimming in the middle of the frame)


Our swimming hole


View from our grotto

San Pedro and the surrounding area was a beautiful place that I hope to spend more time at in the future. Two days there was not nearly enough and all it showed me is that it was beautiful and I need to come back asap.