Death Valley

Looks like the rock I'm sitting on could break off any minute! The views were breathtaking - arid and barren but beautiful. The Atacama Desert stretches 1,000k from the Peruvian border down here into Chile and has been described as "one of the most extraordinarily beautiful expanses of wilderness on the planet." It does feel like somewhat other-worldly.

Death Valley

This used to be a submerged lake about 23 million years ago, when ancient horizontal layers of sediment and rock were pushed and folded by the movement of the earth's crust, lifting the Andes mountain range and leaving some layers in a vertical position. It has been shaped throughout time by wind and rain, giving rise to spectacular natural sculptures of various colours due to the minerals here, mainly salt, gypsum and clay.

Death Valley, Atacama Desert

Just outside San Pedro, this Death Valley, like the one in California, is one of the driest places on earth with just a few millimetres of rain a year. You can go sandboarding here (just like snowboarding but on sand), but I preferred to get my mix of pleasure and adrenaline by taking my shoes off and running barefoot down this sandy slope as fast as a I could. Had to put the shoes straight back on 'cause the sand was scorching.