24th-28th April 2024
Unreal landscapes at 4200m and beyond
We finally made it to the Atacama Desert, a place we’d been looking forward to! But as excited as we were, both my friends and I had some concerns. Neither of us had ever been at such high altitudes, and we weren’t sure how our bodies would handle it.
Unlike a hike where you gradually ascend, this time we were driving straight from about 2,400 meters to nearly 5,000 meters in one day. That made things trickier...there was no “step-by-step” way to acclimatize. We spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to handle our accommodations and give our bodies a chance to adjust, especially overnight.
And yes, we felt it. That first day around 4,000 meters, we were pretty tired and slow. But little by little, we started to adapt, and once we did, the rewards were beyond what we imagined.
The landscapes were unreal... otherworldly, vast, and endlessly colorful. One of the most magical moments was arriving at a lake full of flamingos at sunset. The sky turned soft shades of pink, the flamingos mirrored it, and for a moment it felt like the whole world had melted into one single hue.
We also explored Valley of the Moon, an iconic and surreal spot with massive dunes and textured rock formations that made us feel like we were walking on another planet.
But nature still had more surprises in store. On our way back from Argentina, we drove through a snowstorm in the desert. For a few brief moments, snowflakes danced through the air over the driest place on Earth. I managed to take photos, stunned at the contrast. Snow in the desert. Just… wow.
Atacama was a blend of extremes, heat and cold, stillness and wind, dust and snow. And through it all, I was constantly reminded of how wild and unpredictable this planet is... and how lucky we are to witness it. 🌍✨
Unlike a hike where you gradually ascend, this time we were driving straight from about 2,400 meters to nearly 5,000 meters in one day. That made things trickier...there was no “step-by-step” way to acclimatize. We spent quite a bit of time figuring out how to handle our accommodations and give our bodies a chance to adjust, especially overnight.
And yes, we felt it. That first day around 4,000 meters, we were pretty tired and slow. But little by little, we started to adapt, and once we did, the rewards were beyond what we imagined.
The landscapes were unreal... otherworldly, vast, and endlessly colorful. One of the most magical moments was arriving at a lake full of flamingos at sunset. The sky turned soft shades of pink, the flamingos mirrored it, and for a moment it felt like the whole world had melted into one single hue.
We also explored Valley of the Moon, an iconic and surreal spot with massive dunes and textured rock formations that made us feel like we were walking on another planet.
But nature still had more surprises in store. On our way back from Argentina, we drove through a snowstorm in the desert. For a few brief moments, snowflakes danced through the air over the driest place on Earth. I managed to take photos, stunned at the contrast. Snow in the desert. Just… wow.
Atacama was a blend of extremes, heat and cold, stillness and wind, dust and snow. And through it all, I was constantly reminded of how wild and unpredictable this planet is... and how lucky we are to witness it. 🌍✨
