Farewell to the majestic Torres del Paine, and off we go, flying back to Santiago to catch a connecting flight to Aerodromo El Loa in Peru. Our destination: the world’s “driest place” – the Atacama Desert. As we head north along the Andes, the desolate landscape unfolds like an eccentric poet’s canvas, blending dryness, grandeur, and melancholy into a mesmerizing tapestry.
Here, the arid and desolate terrain stretches out as flat and otherworldly as the surface of another planet. Wind-sculpted rock formations rise from the earth, vast salt flats and dried-up salt pans reveal their mottled, ghostly whiteness, and towering volcanoes stand as silent witnesses to an extraordinary past.
Climbing up a small dune in the desert and gazing out, I marvel at how years of solid rock have been transformed into these fine, undulating sand dunes. Memories of my visit to the Sahara Desert come flooding back; because of “Sahara,” there was Sanmao, and now, every time I encounter a desert, it carries a special, almost romantic flavor. Although desolation and aridity are the hallmarks of any desert, the mention of the Sahara infuses even the Atacama with a touch of enchantment.
Measuring the world on foot [Topic] #Explora crossing the Atacama Desert [Topic] @Explora
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