Eerie And Amazing Photos Of Chile's Atacama Desert (PHOTOS)

That the vast Atacama Desert of northern Chile is the world's driest place is hardly news: One city there, Arica, famously went 14 years without a drop of rain.

But recently more and more photographers and artists are drawing inspiration from the arid moonscapes, creating stunning video homages to one of the world's most unique places.

These artistically-inclined visitors follow the lead of astronomers who've long valued the crystal clear skies for star gazing, both amateur and professional: The European Southern Observatory has set up shop in the Atacama precisely because the sky is almost guaranteed to be free of cloud cover -- not to mention far from pesky light pollution.

The latest batch of photos from Chile to cross the HuffPost Travel desk come from Jacada Travel, a London-based travel company that runs trips to the alluring region.

Comments

[rvheaney]

10:06 PM on 12/18/2011

This is what happens when so many liberalsfart !

[huntingtreasures]

08:46 PM on 12/18/2011

I like how it says launch full screen and the pic is the same size just black around it insted of the words.

[Mark Helfgott]

08:36 PM on 12/18/2011

Number 2, my left knee. I need some lotion.

[vlntyn]

07:41 PM on 12/18/2011

i especially liked the flamingo and reflection shot.

neat to see landscape so different from what we see everyday.

[vlntyn]

09:56 PM on 12/18/2011

especially here in the Northwest!

[vlntyn]

07:37 PM on 12/18/2011

go spam some place else PLEASE!

[hman570]

07:13 PM on 12/18/2011

Nice photos, but still would rather stay here in The Great United States of Amerian and see all the sites that I have not be able to see. But nice to look at photos of other palces as well.

[James Bridges]

06:59 PM on 12/18/2011

Photo of flamingo is special!

[Alan Sporn]

05:45 PM on 12/18/2011

our idiot travel agency, BIG 5 Travel, told us the dessert was the driest place on earth. They were wrong...only parts of the dessert are dry. Where we were, at a nice lodge, several daily sightseeing tours were canceled due to published, annual rains. So, next time, I would go thru a local agency...not someone who has not been there.

[aearthling59]

06:16 PM on 12/18/2011

Desserts are never dry, just deserts.

[terryjones400]

06:27 PM on 12/18/2011

well, a cookie can be pretty dry....and you can have them for dessert.....

[buminthesun421]

07:30 PM on 12/18/2011

Crackers are pretty dry also...

[terryjones400]

08:43 PM on 12/18/2011

Yes...but they are a poor choice for dessert....

[BudMax77]

05:43 PM on 12/18/2011

Reminds one of the view from Sheephole Pass, north of Morongo Basin, in southern California. The salt flats there all the way to Amboy are dry as a bone. Visit Wonder Valley, adjacent to 29 Palms and you can see the same scenery. Desolate waste, and hardly no rain at all. I lived there 30 years.

[Al Schrader]

05:15 PM on 12/18/2011

You might tink this is a useless waste, but everything there is comes from God and he made all of it for us. A place where it's always dry and never rains is pefect for making raisins, dried apricots, salt from sea water, a solar energy plant, on and on....Alfred-

[Mark Wesly Mason]

04:52 PM on 12/18/2011

Hey HP, how come you photos won't advance any more. When I click on the arowo it page locks up?

[paulthamec]

05:58 PM on 12/18/2011

The same thing happens to me a lot on these HP posts pictures....

[James Bridges]

07:01 PM on 12/18/2011

click twice. Once to reset the arrow and again to advance. Both times on the place where the arrow is located. Figured it out in about 20 seconds. And I am 73 years old. Hah.

[MizzJan]

04:47 PM on 12/18/2011

I think the driest place on earth right now is my face. Winter in northern Indiana!!! Ha!

[HarryParatestes]

04:37 PM on 12/18/2011

I thought one woman I dated had the "dryest place on the planet".. good to know though..

[Caketress]

07:43 PM on 12/18/2011

I knew I'd see a post like this the minute I read the header.. LOL I cracked up at this. Funny stuff.. haha

[zonel]

04:35 PM on 12/18/2011

The dry valleys in Antarctica are the driest place on Earth with zero rainfall in the last 2 million years...Atacama is second though....

[paulthamec]

06:02 PM on 12/18/2011

yes this is a dry place...2 million or so years with no rainfall...

[qmgidarap]

07:07 PM on 12/18/2011

unfortunately most folks disregard AQ when compiling information.

[mrvnlimar]

04:28 PM on 12/18/2011

I'm puzzled. If it's the driest place on earth, with no rain, where does the water come from in the pics? Underground streams? Hardly. Runoff from the mts? Hmmm? If it's so dry, why doesn't the water evaporate? Hardly the driest place on earth. There's WATER !!! I'm confused.

[juststeve35]

05:08 PM on 12/18/2011

You nailed it!

It is run off from snow melt from the mountains that border it... the same mountains that effectively steal the moisture and keep it from raining there.

It is dry in the sense of rainfall, not complete lack of water.

[mrvnlimar]

05:18 PM on 12/18/2011

Yhanks. Ive been on here too long. My brain is turning to cottage cheese.

[GrandGayle]

05:24 PM on 12/18/2011

The photographers are celebrating the "dryest place on earth, yet they seem to favor shots of the what water gathers there. hummmm?