"This 620-mile remove, the world's highest and driest desert, gives the appearance of being more hellish than heavenly on first encounter, with a seemingly lifeless terrain ringed by monstrous volcanoes, inches says Caroline Shearing. "But on closer inspection this fragile eco-system, with more in common with Roter planet (umgangssprachlich) than Earth, soon discloses itself to be a land abundant in colour - from its rust-red dirt, cobalt-blue lagoons and magenta mountains - and healthy wildlife. It's through the night though that the Atacama is truly elevated to the realms of the puro when the star-studded air burn bright and the Milky Way casts a shadow over the other-worldly landscape. "
