Jan 8th – Not sure how to describe a desert

We left Copiapo and headed up the Pacific coast for a while before cutting inland through the middle of the Atacama Desert as far as Antofagasta.

This is the driest place on earth. We drove past hills and mountains and valleys and plains just like driving through eastern Oregon; but here there is nothing alive anywhere. No trees, grass, cactus, bushes – nothing but sand and rocks. It just doesn’t rain here – not even during Wimbledon – never. It’s something to do with the coastal currents from the Arctic being too cold to evaporate and create rain clouds. From the Andes to the Pacific Ocean from Copiapo for 1000 km to the north – nothing.

Uninhabitable, inhospitable, sterile, brutal.

Stopped to watch the rally coming though in the middle of a huge 400km stage and ended up at the Hand in the Desert.

The group above (L-R) – Jim Hyde, Michael Ruppert, Wim DeBruyn, Charlie Walton, Gale Browning.

I remember Doug Printz telling me that there’s always one asshole in any group and, if you haven’t figured out who it is, then it’s probably you. That’s the conclusion I am coming to.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert