The Driest Place On Earth

The Atacama gets 4 inches of rain every 1.000 years… Never have I ever drank so much water. Sweat evaporates instantly, the harsh desert air snatching all moisture from skin and tongues. Even in late winter both chapstick and sunscreen are revered to slow the desert's leeching. The landscape is unearthly, no animals or insects or plants. The most water around for hundreds of kilometers resides within you, a negligible vitality wandering among towering stacks of sand and mud and salt.

Overlooking some salty lunar landscapes in la Valle de la Luna.

 Hostel life. Adventurers from around the world settling briefly to share their stories, laughter, and wine before taking flight around the next corner.

 Salt canyon adventures. The rock looks twisted and melted and crumbling.

 Salt and sand blown and eroded for kilometers into massive spikes and ridges and dunes.

 Desert days.

 Laguna Cejar, a ridiculously high salt concentration making for some easy floating. It was about 20 degrees colder than it looks.

 Un de los Ojos de Salar. Two deep pockets of sweet water in the literal middle of nowhere.

 Pisco sunsets with the crew.

 Getting charged by goats.

 The view is always better from the top!

 Pukara del Quitor ruins.

 Stars over San Pedro.