weltreise 2013: Chile - San Pedro de Atacama

2.9.2013

San Pedro de Atacama - oasis in the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world - is also suffering from global warming. It only rains about once in 12 years; this year, unseasonably, there was rainfall in January/February, which did not fall within the once-in-12-years pattern. The locals are, therefore, also concerned.

San Pedro de Atacama unsere nächste Station.-Oase in einem der trockensten Gebiete der Welt- hier in der Nähe wurde (wegen der trockenen und sauberen Luft) eines der größten Teleskope der Welt stationiert. ( hier regnet es nur alle 12 Jahre- der massive Schneefall der vergangenen Tage wird als Auswirkung der Erderwärmung interpretiert.

View of volcano Ollagüe from hotel in San Pedro de Atacama - unclimable from the Chilean side.

Blick von unserm Hotel Richtung Ollangüe.

Our hotel

San Pedro - nice little tourist destination if you can stand the desert dust, which gets into your eyes, ears, nose, mouth......

Hauptplatz

Seitenstraße

Outing to the Chilean Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley)
Mondtal

Chilean "Death Valley": so-called because animals which found their way in could not get out due to steep sides.

Chilenisches Valle de la Muerte- Tier fanden den Weg nicht mehr aus dem Tal und verdursteten.

Clambering through underground caves, which were pretty narrow for Yours Truly...

Lichtblicke während Höhlenwanderung

Our guide through Valle de Luna, Eric, had the honour of being (for all you English out there) selected by Ken Livingstone a few years ago as his guide for the Amazonas Region due to his knowledge of Amazonian flora and fauna.

Im Valle de Luna

Rock Formation known as the "Three Marias" (before Catholicism hit Chile called the "Three Widows"). The Three Marias are over one million years old, consisting of a combination of gravel, clay, salt and quartz, subject to extreme erosion. Unfortunately several years ago a tourist climbed on the fragile first Maria, destroying it. Since then a barrier has been created to protect the formation.

3 Witwen- von Missionar in 3 Marien unbenannt-vor ca. 1 Million Jahren entstanden- die linke vor wenigen Jahren von einem Tourist zerstört.

Rock formation known as the "Amphitheatre."
Amphitheater

Centre of "Moon Valley"

On the way to the summit to watch the sunset
Wieder eine Herausforderung für nicht schwindelfreie männliche österreichische Touristen - wirkt am Foto weniger steil als meine Wahrnehmung war- Weg zum Sonnenuntergangsbeobachtungspunkt.