Adios Atacama

I am sitting at the Holiday Inn at the airport of Santiago which means I could be anywhere in the world. But I have just come from 4 days in Atacama in northern Chile which is truly unlike anywhere else I have ever been. My words and pictures can't really convey the magnificence of this area of the world--the silence, the majesty and the overall impression of endless, endless time. There is always a vista that sharply takes my breath away if only for a moment--seemingly boundless oceans of sand, a horizon studded with mountains and volcanoes streaked with snow and colored by the blowing salt and minerals in the desert or huge formations of sand that look like clay sculptures crafted on a superhuman scale.

Yesterday I took a hike along the river scrambling like a goat over rocks and only saved from instant death at several points by my guide. On one side I could see towering walls of sand and rock with age old cacti shooting up to the sky. Down below next to the river, there was a constant swath of pampas grass undulating along the curves of the riverbed. When we emerged from the canyon, an almost full moon was waiting for us along with the van.

Steve, of course did not go on this hike but he did go with me at sunset one afternoon to a lagoon where we saw flamingos and watched the water and the surrounding salt flat turn into an array of brilliant colors as the sun disappeared. It was almost as wonderful as a sunset in Maine!