Chile

The view: wild flamingos on a marshy salt flat in front of the snow capped Andes. This was about a tenth of the scenery, but the camera lens is only so big! The food: salmon [...]

Along the Pan-Amercian highway linking the Pacific to the Atlantic across South America, there is a salt basin. Yes, a salt basin at this high elevation! The mountians on both sides trapped rainwater, which leached [...]

The highest hike we've EVER done was at 15, 500 ft. We had to move slowly to avoid dizziness and nausea. Hard to take a deep breath! Mike is pointing on the horizon to the [...]

Horseback ride around the Estancia (Ranch) near our lodge, even did some trotting. We passed a sweet flock of sheep along the dusty road, tended by their shepherdess.

After yesterday's killer hikes (Kulamar and Valle de la Luna in one day!) we decided to take it easy today and do a short hike to some hot springs at Puritama.   We learned during [...]

Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) is a surreal place. You'd think they film movies here, but none so far. No plants, no wildlife, just sand and rocks twisted by the wind into [...]

Breathtaking in many ways. It was a 10K hike at just over 12,000 ft. altitude - a little easier now that we've been at our 8,000 ft. base camp for a couple of days. The [...]

While there are mountains around us, the flatness of the desert makes for truly dramatic sunsets. This area is without clouds nine months of the year, and receives only 1 centimeter of rain per YEAR. [...]

There are rare spots here in the vast desert where a stream trickles and provides sustanance for a few cacti and some pampas grass. We worked our way through grass over our heads, and scrabled [...]

Running down sand dunes is incredibly fun. It's soft, bouncy and when you get down to the bottom you have to pour sand out of your shoes. It's hard to describe how bright it is [...]

We're in northern Chile, so far north we can see Bolivia in the distance. We're in the Atacama Desert http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/cl.htm along the west coast. It is SO dry here. How dry? Bars of soap dry [...]