Side by side where Chile and Bolivia meet lie two of the harshest and most spectacular regions on Earth. The Atacama is the driest of the world’s non-polar deserts, a barrier between the Pacific and the Andes “far worse than the most turbulent ocean”, in Charles Darwin’s words. The Andean Altiplano – the largest high plateau outside Tibet – is scarcely more hospitable.
But today, you can cross them both in a 4WD, says Jamie Lafferty in the FT – and even sleep in comfort along the way, thanks to the adventure tourism company Explora. Last year it opened three small luxury lodges in “extremely remote” locations, to support a multi-day, guided crossing it calls the Travesía – an off-road journey from Chile to the fabled Bolivian salt flats of Uyuni.
From the town of San Pedro de Atacama, the route climbs towards the Licancabur volcano, soon rising above 4,500m and never dipping below 3,000m thereafter. At such altitudes, it’s wise to move slowly and stay hydrated. Crossing the Bolivian border, you reach Laguna Colorada, a lake that looks like “melted ice cream”, marbled with streaks of black, blue, red and white. Thousands of James’s flamingos feed in its mineral-rich waters, huddling together against the desert wind.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Then come the Sol de Mañana mud geysers, and not far beyond, the first of Explora’s lodges, Ramaditas. Like the others, it has a simple, “industrial” exterior, but is cosy inside.
There are hikes to enjoy along the rest of the route, along with more flamingo-filled lakes, “outrageous” sunsets, giant cacti and lots of vicuñas (llama-like creatures with famously soft fur). Near the village of San Juan is an ancient necropolis where the bones of pre-Incan people lie untouched in open-sided crypts. And not far north, the salt-encrusted plain of Uyuni stretches to the horizon like a vast ice field – a “bleached void” of such “terrible brilliance” that the distant mountains seem to float over it like islands.
Visit journeylatinamerica.com and explora.com for more information
-
5 cinematic cartoons about Bezos betting big on 'Melania'Cartoons Artists take on a girlboss, a fetching newspaper, and more
-
The fall of the generals: China’s military purgeIn the Spotlight Xi Jinping’s extraordinary removal of senior general proves that no-one is safe from anti-corruption drive that has investigated millions
-
Why the Gorton and Denton by-election is a ‘Frankenstein’s monster’Talking Point Reform and the Greens have the Labour seat in their sights, but the constituency’s complex demographics make messaging tricky
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time
-
American Psycho: a ‘hypnotic’ adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis classicThe Week Recommends Rupert Goold’s musical has ‘demonic razzle dazzle’ in spades
-
Properties of the week: houses near spectacular coastal walksThe Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, Devon and Northumberland
-
Melania: an ‘ice-cold’ documentaryTalking Point The film has played to largely empty cinemas, but it does have one fan
-
Nouvelle Vague: ‘a film of great passion’The Week Recommends Richard Linklater’s homage to the French New Wave
-
Wonder Man: a ‘rare morsel of actual substance’ in the Marvel UniverseThe Week Recommends A Marvel series that hasn’t much to do with superheroes
-
Is This Thing On? – Bradley Cooper’s ‘likeable and spirited’ romcomThe Week Recommends ‘Refreshingly informal’ film based on the life of British comedian John Bishop
-
A Shellshocked Nation: Britain Between the Wars – history at its most ‘human’The Week Recommends Alwyn Turner’s ‘witty and wide-ranging’ account of the interwar years
