If you were asked to name the driest place on earth, what would your answer
be? Probably the Sahara Desert, right? Wrong. The driest place on earth is the
Atacama Desert in Chile. It is also a haven for
outdoor adventurers, with great camping, hiking, and numerous fascinating locales that provide a vivid glimpse of
the region’s complex geology. There are emerald mountain lakes, cracked-dry desert plains, and the saline sprawl
of the Salar de Atacama. I was there back in 1993, and with amazing light and the clearest air in the world (several
major telescopes are found there because the air is so clear) I found it a photographer’s dreamland.