Chile: La Serena, Atacama Desert Bolivia: more Atacama and Salt Flats Peru: Macchu Picchu
“You say ‘Gee-ser’,
and I say ‘Guy-ser’,” one of our tour member, John, joked about the difference in pronunciation of the word ‘Geyser’ between the Australians
and British. Humour aside, the geysers and
thermal springs in the Atacama Desert had made it one of the most interesting landscapes I had ever seen. Largely dominated
by bare red hills that resemble the Hollywood depiction of planet Mars, the monotony in landscape is occasionally broken by
vegetation that resulted from oasis of thermal underground water. Every now and then, smoke from the hot springs will erupt
into the cloudless blue sky.
The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, or Salt
Flats was another major highlight of my South America journey. The
natural phenomenon of a large desert saltpan lies 3653 m above sea level. It occupies an area of approximately
9065 square kilometers, containing a staggering 64 billion tones of salt. As we watch the sun rise across the massive white
terrain surrounding us apparently for ever, the changes in colours brought about a spectacle so breathe-taking that I nearly wanted to weep.
Macchu Picchu, the lost
city near Cusco, Peru that requires no introduction. I did not find the architecture too impressive, though one could hardly
dare contest the achievements of a civilization that built and sustained a city at astonishing heights of over 4000 m above