Sand Pedro de Atacama, Atacama Desert, Salar de Uyuni and Potosi Mines

Please dont miss our last two posts. The first (two down) describes the journey across the desert and the setting of these photos. The second is our pictures from the Salar de Uyuni.

This is the small Catholic church in San Pedro de Atacama.


Adam, alone in the desert, trying out sandboarding. (The sun was killing my eyes, so I had to pick up these stylish shades)


This is the Laguna Verde, set against a dormant volcano.


This vortex popped up near us at one of the Lagoons. It appears white because it is circling over a Borax deposit.


This is the Laguna Colorada. It appears red because of a combination of the microorganisms and minerals in it. Another Borax deposit is on the banks and all along the outside, hjighlighting the brilliant color.


This llama belongs to someone who lives in the area, as evidenced by the pretty pink earwear. The llamas are sent to graze in the desert. Laguna Colorada in the background.

Trying to stand up the the gale-force wind.


This is the Rock Tree (Arbol de Piedra) that has its origns from a volcano. There was a lot of lava formations, but this is the most well known as its base is much smaller than its top.


Adam managed to pull together enough lung capacity to climb to the top of one of the lava formations. Tracy stayed below to take the picture, and to continue to breathe in the high altitude.


We saw many lagunas on the second day. The pink flamingos feed on the microorganisms in the water, but they seem a bit out of place in the desert, where they call home.


This was at the hotel on the second night, where everything was made out of salt. All the bricks were made of salt (Tracy had to keep Adam from licking the walls all night long).


We left the hotel at 5 am, so we could experience this:


The sunrise over the salar with our ride in the foreground.


After sunrise we hiked up on the Inca Huasi island, which is in the middle of the Salar, with thousands of cacti.


Us standing next to one of the tallest cactus on the island.


Our journey ended in Uyuni, Bolivia at the ´train cemetary.´ Adam donned the conductor hat for this train.


Tracy with some of the miners in Potosi in the silver mine.