It’s the world’s driest desert. We’ve seen flamingos, vicunas, llamas, and beautiful smaller birds. The mountains are stunning. Tierra Atacama is arguably the best hotel experience I’ve had. Cheese on seafood actually can taste good, even in the desert; that is the real Chilean miracle. Bolivia is about twenty kilometers away. I am told there are 100,000 active land mines around (all marked and thus safe); the only question is which neighbor is a bigger worry. The town of San Pedro de Atacama remains in that rare sweet spot between under- and over-touristed. Very good sweaters go for $26. One restaurant advertises that the apples in its "Apple Pie a la Mode" come from the United States; Alex at least will get the joke. A visit here is likely to convince you there is life on Mars.
The Wikipedia article you link to in the “world’s driest desert” link above actually says (barring subsequent edits) that it’s the world’s second driest desert, after the deserts of Antarctica.
Life on Mars has a few other problems to cope with, namely extremes of temperature and extremely thin atmosphere.
If you get a chance to visit the Anglo Chilean telescope in the hills a hundred miles or so from San Pedro, ask for Dr William Sutherland and he’ll show you round.
ship the good apples out!
The dryness makes everything look so clean.
Isn’t the joke that most apples consumed in the U.S. are imported from Chile (experience as a grocery store produce clerk FTW!)?
Surely they did not RE-import apples for the apple pie a la mode.
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