In the Atacama

Although the Atacama is one very large, dry and mostly unpopulated place, there is a lot of really interesting stuff to discover there. It can also be surprizingly beautiful. As the time of day and the angle of the sun changes, it produces different effects on the landscape. Viewing the sky at night can be spectacular. There is no other light pollution and the double effect of high altitude and very dry air makes for a brilliant night time sky.

Chile has tons of volcanos. This one is located near San Pedro de Atacama and the view is looking east towards Bolivia, which is close at this point. The volcano rises 3,600 m from the Atacama Salt Flat putting the peak of the cone at just over 5,900 m above sea level. You would find it hard to breathe. In the foreground you can see a bit of the salt flats.

This picture was taken near the former Salt Peter works in Victoria. The geoglyphs are pictures made on hillsides by arranging rocks, or scraping away oxidized material. They are anywhere from 500 to 1,500 years old and can be found at various places in the north of Chile along the Inca Highway. While some are depictions of people, animals or just geometric patterns, others look enough like airplanes and spaceships to make you wonder. These areas have been deemed national monuments but they are not protected. You can walk right up to investigate if you like but something will keep you from disturbing them. We didn't.

We are standing on the border between Arica, Chile's most northerly town and Tacna, Peru's most southerly. Despite the message on the marker, Embracing each other in Concord, both cities are each nations first point of defence against the other. The weather is always the same as you see it here, just another dull rainy day in the desert. Say hello to Isabelle Fuentes, friend and teacher, (and in charge of holding all the cameras) on my right.

Both Arica and Tacna are Zofri's or tax free zones. You can buy virtually anything, from camaras to gold to fine Finnish vodka, so as they say ... well you know ... Don't leave home without it!

During the 1800's, the British came into the Atacama, to mine silver in Bolivia and to mine sodium nitrate (for gunpowder) in what is now northern Chile. With them came important infrastructure in the form of the railway. This is the old whistle stop of PRAT which is located about 45 km north of Antofagasta and is on the FCAB (Ferro Carril Antofagasta Boliva). It is said that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their end when they came all the way down to Boliva to rob trains bringing silver from Bolivia to Antofagasta. The British security force of the FCAB gunned 'em down, so to speak. The FCAB still runs today.

Behind the building is a monument to a Mr. Harold Blakemore of England who had worked on the railroad. Although he died in England, he had such an affection for Chile that he requested that his ashes be brought back here to be sprinkled in the desert.

Another little surprize. You will find this sculpture, Mano Del Desierto, on the Pan American Highway about 50 km south of Antofagasta. It is clearly visible from the highway and appears to be waving goodbye as you head off into the vast nothingness. Why the artist chose to do this, or why he picked this location is a mystery to me. Then again, if we could understand artists we wouldn't think of them as special, would we?

This was taken on Christmas Day, 1997 at the Zaldivar Mine at about 11,000 ft. above sea level. It is looking west towards the Pacific, which you cannot see 140 km in the distance. I got a thing for sunsets wherever you find 'em.