The Atacama Desert of Northern Chile is a plateau located in South America covering 1000 km of land. It is 105000 square km.
The Atacama Desert of Northern Chile is one of the most amazing and one of a kind experiences on the planet. Even though there is almost no annual rainfall, the Atacama desert has crystal clear blue lagoons, bubbling geysers, hot springs, rivers and geographically a really unique combination lava flows, salt basins, rock formations and canyons. This unique desert is described as moon-like. The plateau extends from the Pacific ocean, all the way to the Andes Mountains. In the middle of the desert, at an altitude of 7,000 feet, lies the Spanish colonial village of San Pedro de Atacama. Because of the high altitude and the nature of the geysers, small children, pregnant women or anyone with heart problems are recommended not to go here.
It's a cold desert with temperatures ranging from 0 to 25 degrees Celsius. The Atacama Desert is the driest hot desert in the world. The average rainfall is about 15 millimetres (0.59 in) per year. Some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain.
It's a cold desert with temperatures ranging from 0 to 25 degrees Celsius. The Atacama Desert is the driest hot desert in the world. The average rainfall is about 15 millimetres (0.59 in) per year. Some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain.
Cordillera de la Sal: Salt Mountain
The Cordillera de la Sal (Salt Mountain) was formed millions of years ago. It was an old lake and the bottom had raised which was moulded through time by wind, rain and sun in the Atacama Desert. The final form (as we know now days) has a big variety of stratifications and different colorations by the mineral diversity of the place. The name Cordillera de la Sal was picked because the rocks posses a great quantity of calcium sulphate which makes it look like it's been splashed with salt.
Puritama Hot Springs
The Puritama Hot Springs is located 30 km North of San Pedro and has pools of thermal waters (30 degrees Celsius) that are produced by the hot water river Puitama. The constant thermal water is 25 - 30 degrees Celsius. It is named Puritama because in their language Puri means (water) and tama means (warms). Everything in the area smells of purity and spiritual cleaning.
Moon Valley
The Moon Valley is located 17km of San Pedro's downtown in the Cordillera de la Sal (Salt Mountain). The Moon Valley is one of the most visited places in the Atacama Desert. It is an interesting place that has stones and sand formations. Floods and winds have made a variety of colour and texture. The Moon Valley is known to be moon like because of it's texture and dimension. It was formed when the Atacama Desert met the Andes Mountain range. The Earth's crust shifted and after hundreds of years, the wind shaped the moon valley.