An amazing photo from the desert of Atacama.
The author commented: “Today we are going to another extreme, that is the best of all, the point of our planet. We’re going to the Atacama desert — the driest desert on the planet.”.
To get to the Atacama desert there are two most popular ways — either by bus from Bolivia, before that, visiting the Uyuni salt flats and the Park Eduardo abaroa, or through the Chilean city of Calama, which has an airport that regularly take planes from Santiago.
From the airport to the city can be reached by huckster-the taxi drivers or some mythical public transport. Next you need out of this town out. The center of the universe in the Atacama is a small oasis of San Pedro de Atacama. It attracts all the tourists. From Calama to San Pedro buses. A single bus station in town, and if there is, nobody uses them. Buses depart each with his improvised bus station, which is not always notice, just out of the yard taxiing bus and drove off. In General, you need to look for and to ask the natives. Better yet, find out in advance about the schedule and to book places, because you can not leave. We were lucky, in one of the departing buses there were places (most likely from the company there is no website on the Internet, and tourists don’t know about the existence of this bus, and makes use of it local population). The dust on the chair, dust on the glass, dust and heat everywhere, while outside the window the wind turbines.
At sunset we were in San Pedro. The Moon rose and before us was our good old volcano that we saw exactly a year ago, but on the other hand, it forms the border with Bolivia.
Asking those who’ve been here before, we were trying to figure out what Path is best to do. Everyone advised me to see the sunrise in the valley of geysers El Tatio, and hold the Sun over the horizon in the Moon valley (Valle de la Luna). They say that the geysers are most active at dawn, when 15-20 degree cold slowly gives way to the 30-40 degree heat. Therefore, it attracts hundreds of tourists. Here, they have more than a dozen walks, and pulls up right next to the caravan.
It’s all very convenient — places where it’s easy to fall into hell, neatly lined with stones made paths. Near the most active geysers even benches there, sort of. All for the people.
Rains do not happen here for years. But when I am, it turns out funny natural phenomenon — natural ceramic. Rainwater covers the surface, then the sun dries and burns it, resulting in ceramic debris. But the most amazing sights in Death Valley is its stunning sand dunes, with a height of several hundred meters.
