High and Dry in the Atacama Desert

(Navyn) Antarctica is not close to Northern Chile in case you were wondering. Two days, four flights and a car ride brings us to what? Desert as far as the eye can see – even from an airplane? What on earth are we going to do here in the Atacama Desert for four days?

This is the highest, driest place on earth.

Evidence suggests that some places in the Atacama region may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971. This desert is so arid that many mountains higher than 20,000 feet are completely free of glaciers. I am guessing since we brought Paul, it may rain, maybe even snow.

Because of its high altitude, nearly non-existent cloud cover, dry air, and lack of light pollution and radio interference from the very widely spaced cities, this desert is one of the best places in the world to conduct astronomical observations. A new radio astronomy telescope, called ALMA, built by Europe, Japan, the United States, Canada and Chile opened in 2011. If you want to see the story 60 Minutes did, click here.

(January 14) When we arrived at the Awasi Hotel it was clear that altitude sickness had hit us all, that is if a major symptom is the giggles. Our dinner table could not stop laughing and the generally older clientele at this tiny hotel looked at us warily. Halle didn’t want to be near anyone with altitude sickness because she didn’t want to catch it, Zara was handing out diagnoses based on her in-depth knowledge garnered from too many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Jolie couldn’t stop telling blonde jokes (has anyone told her she was born a blonde??) and Maya dropped her ice cream from too much laughing. To make matters worse, all this world travel has somehow made Paul’s Worcester accent resurface. This provides hours of entertainment with Mayer (Maya) belly laughing every time he says “Put on your parker (parka)”, or “Check out these orkers (orcas). After all he is quite the linguist. He just can’t seem to suppress his many years of French study and Italian upbringing while in these Spanish speaking countries, greeting people with “Buenos Nachos” or answering “oui” instead of “si” and “due” instead of “dos”.

We are staying in the small town of San Pedro, which is fifty kilometres from the Bolivian border and consists of about six streets. All of the “buildings” are made from red clay bricks and proudly wave Chilean flags from the doorsteps of handicraft shops, tourist operators and restaurants. The San Pedro River flows through the center, creating a small oasis that sustains the life and activity of the town. Everything beyond is desert. Bright white salt flats lay in the lowlands where water from the mountains once flowed then evaporated leaving nothing but stark white salt crystals. To get a lay of the land we hiked through a heat wave in the Moon Valley. The girls battled through the beginning and the temperature thankfully dropped to a more comfortable level once the sun began to set allowing them to enjoy caves, “rock” climbing and stunning views.

(January 17) Yesterday we spent the morning at a hot springs at the bottom of a gorge. Eight pools dotted the landscape, each cascading into the next. The water was a pleasant 88 degrees and the girls hopped from one pool to the next, swimming through waterfalls as dragonflies buzzed around their heads. In the afternoon we headed out on horseback through the Mars Valley. Our gaucho led us out of San Pedro and up into the highlands through red rock canyons. All four girls are quite comfortable on horses and have got all the basic controls down. They navigated well through a few stinging sandstorms but the sight at the end was well worth it. Towering rock cliffs surrounded us with perfectly formed sand dunes beckoning to traditional snowboarders to try their hand at a new sport, sandboarding. At least we know that if we ever make it to the surface of Mars, we should bring a horse as they are pretty good at managing the terrain.

Today we took a drive to our highest altitude of the trip. We hit 15,900 feet in a drive that ascended two kilometers in a very short time period. I could feel my ears popping as we zigzagged past the Licancabur Volcano. Everything would change as you hit the different elevations. At 13,000 feet yellow carpets of prickly pampas grass are fodder for the vicugnas (similar to the llama). At 15,000 feet everything changes again and flamingos are fishing for shrimp in a rare body of water. We had an amazing picnic at the Tara National Park complete with coca tea, the natural remedy for altitude sickness just in case. On the way home it rained (shocking).

On our last night in the desert we finally got to see the stars. The Southern Cross, an upside down Orion, the Seven Sisters, (one is named Maya) and even Jupiter and four of its seventy moons. Shooting stars, nebulas, and the Milky Way all shone brightly in the heavens. Jolie asked me, “Mom, what do you think the earth looks like from Jupiter?” Very small, I told her. A perfect way to end; left wondering how it all came to be and how insignificant our presence can feel here on earth under the grandeur of the night sky.

Tomorrow we have a quick morning bike ride through a canyon and then time to pack it up and head out for a few more long travel days. Next stop: New Zealand. As Maya checks in on Instagram, she is a little ticked off that she missed the grand opening of Crepelicious in Barrington especially as it is bacon week. Ahhh, the sacrifices we must make.

– Navyn